It always is amazing to me how quickly the magic of an Olympic Games takes over my life. As someone who studies and writes about sport, the Olympics are a busman’s holiday of sorts for me — I’ve been on the ground at eight Games, written countless editorials, features, and even a book about the mega event, and always take a critical eye on everything from the organizing committee to the international sports federations, the IOC to the media coverage.
I generally wait for the hubbub about the Opening Ceremony to die down -- and there is always noise about the Opening Ceremony and it is usually hysterical and misinformed and, well, stupid (Marjorie Taylor Greene, I’m looking at you and your merry band of followers). But once the competition gets started? I’m all in. And in just its first few days, Paris 2024 has been no different.
We can and should start with the biggest of headlines, and that, for me, was watching Simone Biles on vault in the qualifying rounds of the women’s team competition in gymnastics. To be sure, the team’s eventual, dominant, gold medal — the pinnacle of their so-called redemption tour — was thrilling and joyful and, well, all the things and all the feels. But for me, seeing the great one return to the apparatus that ended her team and all-around bid in Tokyo was a moment. This wasn’t, of course, a return to gymnastics for Biles — that happened last year at the U.S. Classic, followed by new national and world titles added to her historic coffer and a vault — the Yurchenko Double Pike, or YDP if you want to be one of the cool kids — that became the fifth skill named for her. But seeing her throwing her body calmly and joyfully through the air in Paris, something she could not do in Tokyo because of a case of the twisties, was the victory before the victory.
The women’s team gold came just a day after the U.S. men nailed down a medal of their own, bronze — something they hadn’t done since Beijing 2008. While everyone’s favorite bespectacled pommel horse specialist stole the show, for me the most thrilling moment was Fred Richards on the high bar — nailing a nearly perfect landing and sending his team into a realm of possibility that few thought possible.
While gymnastics is always an expected marquee sport for any Olympics, 66,000 record-breaking rugby fans made their own mark in the first days of Paris. The capture of a bronze medal by the American women, social media star Ilona Maher (and if you aren’t following her on Instagram and Tik Tok, what, seriously, are you doing?) and her new wingman Jason Kelce front and center, was only outdone by New Zealand’s gold medal celebration: a haka, the traditional Maori dance that exudes passion and pride for custom and culture.
Tennis player Andy Murray knows a little something about pride, his gold medal back at the London Olympics in 2012 one of the great moments for any host country. Murray declared that Paris would be his last go before retirement, ensuring that every match he plays with doubles partner Dan Evans is potentially his last. Rafa Nadal, too, partnered with young gun Carlos Alcaraz for Spain, is looking toward the end of his own tunnel, although he has yet to announce when exactly that will be. But any day we get to see the clay court great, he who is so revered by the French because of his time on the storied red clay of Roland Garros, an unprecedented 14 French Open titles, that they made him part of the final torch relay during the Opening Ceremony, is a good day.
There are so many things about the Olympics that have added a smile to the last few days: walking out of the gym and seeing a notification on my phone that Guatemala just won gold in trap shooting; logging in to my computer to watch the final moments of the women’s triathlon, French fans draped over the city’s bridges to see their own Cassandre Beaugrand cross the line first; seeing swimmer Ryan Murphy’s face just moments after grabbing a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke when he sees his wife in the crowd holding up a sign that read “RYAN IT’S A GIRL”; or just about any time British diver Tom Daley, who added a silver medal to his treasury, is found knitting, his husband and two small children not far away.
I revel in all of it as it takes over each day, each night. Thank goodness it doesn’t happen every year. I’d get utterly nothing done.
Amy Bass is professor of sport studies and chair of the division of social science and communication at Manhattanville University. Bass is the author of ONE GOAL: A COACH, A TEAM, AND THE GAME THAT BROUGHT A DIVDED TOWN TOGETHER, among other titles. In 2012, she won an Emmy for her work with NBC Olympic Sports on the London Olympic Games.
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