One of the reasons I started a blog was to record what I was doing and thinking at a particular point in time. I looked back at my post on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were postponed until 2021. There were so many things about the Tokyo games that I’d forgotten. The most glaring being the absence of spectators because of Covid. Also, I had Covid myself, which prompted me to start watching the games whilst isolating at home.
In Tokyo, there were several new events: skateboarding, BMX, and climbing. These events returned. Climbing was split into two events: bouldering/lead climbing and speed climbing.
The speed climbing was likened to spiderwomen and spidermen climbing up a wall. They seemed to be pulled up by the rope but were actually climbing.
I’ve picked some of my favourite moments of Paris 2024.
Best comeback
I had written about Simone Biles in my post on the Tokyo Olympics. Some people had unfairly criticised this extraordinary athlete, the likes of which we’ve never seen. I was so nervous watching her. This was on top of my normal trepidation when the gymnasts are on the beam. How do they not fall when performing crazy flips?! The difference between success and failure at this level is so small. A small slip is the difference between a medal and going home empty-handed.
The scene was set. After a two-year break, Simone Biles had returned last year to win the 2023 World Championships.
Although she looked nervous, Simone Biles also looked happy. So, I was incredibly relieved and delighted that she won the team and all-round gold medals. She went on to win the vault gold and the floor silver. She missed out on the beam altogether after she fell off (as did many others). And although she might have walked away with five golds, what she achieved was a triumph.
Most gracious moment
Continuing with Simone Biles: her biggest rival was Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. She had pushed Simone Biles right to the end in the all-round competition. In the floor exercise, Simone Biles stepped out of the perimeter twice, which scuppered her chance of winning the gold. She and her teammate, Jordan Chiles won silver and bronze. At the medal ceremony, the crowd cheered for Receca Andrade. Jordan Chiles asked Simone Biles, “should we bow to her”, and Simone Biles replied, “absolutely!”
Receca Andrade said afterwards, “It was very cute of them”. She added, “They are the world’s best athletes and what they did means a lot to me. We’re always rooting for each other, the final is very difficult for everyone.”
In a twist, Jordan Chiles, who had been promoted to third place at the last minute after an appeal by the USA, was stripped of the bronze after the medal ceremony. Romania appealed against the USA’s appeal: they claimed that the US appeal had been outside the one-minute appeal window — by four seconds! After Romania won the appeal, the USA provided evidence that they had, indeed, appealed within the one-minute window! However, the ruling body said that once the Court of Arbitration for Sport makes a ruling, it can’t be overturned — even when new conclusive evidence emerges! The Swiss Federal Tribunal could order the case to be reopened if the USA appeal to them.
Best recovery
Britain’s Tom Pidcock punctured his tyre in the mountain biking. It looked like he would not retain his gold medal from Tokyo. Remarkably, he recovered and caught the leading rider before a controversial clash. The Brit emerged in front and won the gold.
Crucial moment missed by camera
Being the French Olympics, the producer, quite naturally, focused on French athletes. This resulted in one extremely unfortunate oversight.
The men’s triathlon was a thrilling race. By the end of the swim and cycle, it was a head-to-head race between Britain’s Alex Yee and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. For the final segment, the 10K, Hayden Wilde gradually pulled away from Alex Yee. It looked like the Brit had run out of steam. The gap was too big to close — or so we thought. The camera focused elsewhere. Then, just before the end of the race, the producer cut back to the two front-runners. Suddenly, Alex Yee had closed the gap. It had been a sensational sprint — which we’d missed! Very shortly afterwards, Alex Yee cruised past Hayden Wilde. He never looked back as he won the gold, an improvement on his silver in Tokyo.
Controversy
The Algerian and Taiwanese boxers, Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, were the centre of the biggest controversy of the Olympics. The row about gender had begun before the Olympics. The boxing federation, the IBA, had disqualified them from the Women’s World Championships last year. The IBA said both boxers had failed gender eligibility tests. The IBA promised to explain the disqualification. Instead, they held a chaotic press conference and no one was any the wiser!
To add to the confusion, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in 2019, had stripped the IBA of its role. It was no longer boxing’s governing body.
Someone from the IBA told the BBC that both boxers had XY chromosomes. They said the tests were sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency, who said that they didn’t oversee gender tests!
A possible clue to the issue may be that the fighters have DSD: differences in sex development. Most females get two X chromosomes (XX) and most males get an X and a Y chromosome (XY). However, those with DSD can get, for example, XY chromosomes but be female. There are other variations too.
In the case of Imane Khelif, she was born a female. She has lived her life as a female. She has a female passport. When young, her father didn’t want her to become a boxer. He subsequently came round and, in a recent interview, said, “My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl”. He added, “She is a strong girl. I raised her to work and be brave”. He even produced an official document that stated his daughter was registered as a female at birth.
Some people thought, incorrectly, that the two women were transgender. The two boxers were attacked on social media. This is clearly a complicated issue but hounding and persecuting the two boxers cannot be the answer.
Some might argue that the boxers had a genetic advantage even though the IOC disputed this. It could also be said that many elite athletes have a genetic advantage. For example, the height of a basketball player makes a difference. Some swimmers have feet that are like flippers! Fast-twitch muscle fibres give you speed over a short distance, like the 100m sprint. Slow-twitch fibres give you endurance, which is helpful in a marathon or triathlon. There are many other examples.
The most decorated Olympian of all time is Michael Phelps. His “height, wingspan, and large hands and feet give him an advantage in swimming. His body also produces less lactic acid than his rivals, which shortens his recovery time.”
Of course, other factors, like willpower, dedication, mindset, skill, and training, all contribute to success.
Most chilled-out participant
On a more uplifting note, the most viral moment was provided by Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec. His relaxed style of shooting and casual look launched a thousand memes on social media. Especially funny was the contrast with those competitors who wore elaborate contraptions. The Olympic Games’ tweet was pitch perfect:
Best new event
I admire the IOC for attempting to keep the Olympics fresh and appealing to a new generation. The BMX events and skateboarding, introduced in Tokyo, are a testament to that. This year, breaking made its debut.
Breaking, also known as breakdancing, was such a different event. Competitors took turns to dance to music they’d not heard before. It was great fun. The competitors sometimes did moves that would not have looked out of place in the gymnastics!
I’ve also noticed how the new generation of competitors are so much more supportive of each other. This was especially noticeable in the BMX freestyle, climbing, skateboarding, and breaking.
Déjà vu
I wrote in my Tokyo post about the heartwarming high jump final between Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi. They were friends off the field and chose to share the gold medal instead of having a jump-off.
In Paris’ high jump, something similar happened. New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr and USA’s Shelby McEwen were tied for the gold medal. As in Tokyo, the leading two could not be separated, even allowing for missed jumps.
Hamesh Kerr later said the shared gold in Tokyo had a unique place in high jump history. So, this time, he and Shelby McEwen decided to have a jump-off. This would also cater for those who wanted a single winner.
A final moment of poignancy was that Mutaz Essa Barshim, who shared the gold in Tokyo, was there to win the bronze, his fourth Olympic medal. He said, “[Next time] you will see me with popcorn, a few more kilograms and watching the guys. This is my last Olympics for sure”.
Style
The Games’ mascot were the Phryges. They resembled the French Phrygian cap — a symbol of freedom, revolution, and the French Republic. These small, red, cuddly hats featured on the set of BBC programmes showing the Olympics. Sometimes, they would be adorned with a country’s flag.
The mascot exemplified how stylish the Games were. Everything from the colour schemes to using iconic Paris buildings as a backdrop to events added panache to the Games.
The BBC coverage in the UK was excellent, especially since they didn’t have full rights to the Olympics. The full rights in the UK were held by Discovery+, who showed every moment of the Olympics. The BBC had bought some rights from Discovery+ but could show only two events live at one time. The BBC, however, pulled off the trick of appearing to show every event by some clever scheduling on their two main channels and streaming app, iPlayer.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony had a mixed reception.
Whether it was loved or not, it will be remembered. The French broke with convention by not holding the ceremony in a stadium. The River Seine was the focus and there were twelve themes that highlighted aspects of French culture, history, and values. The themes included harmony/unity, liberty, equality, fraternity, sisterhood, sportsmanship, solidarity, and solemnity.
The ceremony may have worked more as a TV show than as an in-person spectacle. Because events were going on in various places, it lacked some cohesion. As the Chinese media put it, “If there was a downside to the ceremony, it is that any event performed over such a long distance has to struggle with continuity, and the big difference between this ceremony and others is that the parade of athletes was mixed in with the performances”. Spectators had to wait patiently for something to happen near them.
By having the ceremony outside a stadium, more people could see it live. About 320,00 tickets were sold, most of which were allocated to volunteers, younger people, and low-income families.
Not every set piece worked aesthetically. But it was wonderful that the French had the flair, imagination, and audacity to attempt this complex outside event. They injected something new into the opening ceremony. So much could have gone wrong, since there was no rehearsal, but they pulled it off. They managed to define Frenchness in a bold and broader way.
A German newspaper summarised it well: it was “as beautiful as it was mad,” wrote Frankfurter Allgemeine. “France revolutionised the opening ceremony… by the end even the rain had been defeated.”
There were so many highpoints of the opening ceremony: Zinedine Zidane and other stars carrying the torch, Celine Dion, the Minions stealing the Mona Lisa (which was bonkers!), a crocodile in the sewers (!), and the breathtaking mechanical silver horse galloping along the Seine. I also loved the opening when smoke shot up over a bridge in the colours of the French flag, which gradually faded as the smoke dispersed.
A unifying motif was the masked torch bearer, who appeared in various places. Some expected the masked person to be revealed at the end. However, the torch bearer was a depiction of several masked characters in French life: the Man in the Iron Mask, the Phantom of the Opera, and Ezio from Assassin’s Creed, a computer game.
There was one final flourish left: the cauldron. As it was lit, it ascended to close the opening ceremony. Then, every night at sunset, it was drawn up into the sky for two hours by a 30-metre helium balloon. The cauldron appeared to burn the Olympic flame, but the actual flame was elsewhere. The cauldron’s flame was not fire at all but instead made up of clouds of mist lit by LED rays.
It was a spectacular end to a unique and audacious opening ceremony.