KYQ4: Paris Olympics

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone - another Gold and World Record

Ever since the Rome Olympics in 1960, I have been a fervent watcher of the Olympics. Munich in 1972, Moscow in 1980, Barcelona in 1992, Sydney in 2000, Beijing in 2008, and London in 2012 being the standouts. I can now add Paris 2024. With France in the political doldrums, the Ukraine war, the continuing Israeli devastation of Gaza and Biden and Trump competing in their own domestic inarticulate Olympics, there was no reason to believe that the Paris Olympics would lift us out of global pessimism, but it did. The world came together and proved that nations can live, work and play together. We can only hope that by 2028 Russia will have had some remorse, a change of heart and leadership and can re-enter the global community under the Olympic goal of peaceful co-existence.

As with London, we had an opening ceremony that offered a spectacular celebration of place, heritage and sport. The weather was less kind as the slow cruise of athletes in ponchos along the Seine in a flotilla of boats dampened their exuberance It would have been spectacular in more clement conditions as the various Parisian attractions were embellished by amazing displays of history, art, and music laced with laconic French humour.

Best of all, the French had made the Olympic Games accessible to all and the Olympic Flame was lit in the Tuileries Gardens so that everyone could visit and watch it, its ascent as darkness fell was stunning. And following the French motto from the Age of Enlightenment, Liberté, égalité, fraternité, there were an equal number of male and female athletes and events. At the closing ceremony, the joy of the thousands of athletes, and spectators was electric when they segued into a stadium-wide karaoke culminating in "We Are the Champions" with Freddie Mercury providing his pre-recorded backing.

As for the highlights, it is usually down to individuals, in 1960 it was Peter Radford (100 metres Bronze) and Herb Elliot (1500 metres Gold), and by 2012 it was Allyson Felix (200 metres Gold), David Rudisha, Kenya (800 metres gold) and Chris Hoy, two cycling Golds. I missed quite a bit of the Olympics during the first week. Still, Remco Evenepol winning the cycling time trial and road race was an exceptional achievement with the entire route including the finish across the Seine below the Eiffel Tower showboating both Paris and cycling at their very best.

Swimming dominated the first week, and the UK 4 x 200 metres men's freestyle team repeated their Tokyo win. Leon Marchand took four swimming golds for France before the Australian and American teams took the majority of medals. I enjoyed BMX racing, gymnastics, sailboarding and watching Alex Yee win the Triathalon Gold in the first week. It was perhaps inevitable and deserved that Novak Djokovic won the tennis gold medal, although I am not in favour of the world's richest sports like tennis, golf and football being part of the Olympics. They have more than enough major tournaments and divert attention from the less sponsored but exciting new sports like sailboarding and mountain biking. Toby Roberts displayed his spectacular gravity-defying skill in winning the sport-climbing gold medal aided by the nerveless innocence of youth. These sports are for extremely skilled young participants, not the Nike-heeled mega-rich sports celebrities who are anxious to add an Olympic gong to their already extreme wealth. It devalues the philosophy of sports for all.

The repurposed National Stadium for athletics was a superb amphitheatre, far better to do it this way than the London model of building a new stadium for athletics and then repurposing it for a football team at enormous expense. My standout performance in athletics was Mondo Duplantis, the Swedish pole vaulter who having won the gold, raised the bar 20 centimetres to 6.25 metres to break the world record as a bonus for the crowd.

Julien Alfred, Saint Lucia (female 100 metres Gold), Letsile Tobago, Botswana (male 200 metres Gold) and Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan (male Javelin Gold) provided evidence that small or developing countries were making huge strides in competitiveness. Keely Hodgkinson (800m Gold) was impressive and positive in her interviews, very much in touch with the Olympic spirit unlike Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebritsen who were too arrogant and deservedly beaten by the unrated USA athlete Cole Hocker in the 1500 metres. The most complete athlete was Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, winner of the olympic women's 400m hurdles with a world record against Femke Bol of the Netherlands who had earlier lit up the stadium in mixed 400 metres relay when running down the American team in the final leg.

Two other UK medalists, Caden Cunningham, (Taekwondo Siver), and Emily Campbell, (weight lifting Bronze), expressed their achievements with modesty reflecting the Olympic values of respect and friendship to their fellow competitors. Perhaps the best example of conjoining the Olympic values with the French motto was in the women's marathon on the final day when Kinzangin Lhamo from Bhutan, was the last to complete the marathon in 3 hours 53 minutes. She was given a rousing reception by the crowd. " no time for losers, 'cause we are the champions of the world."