Best of the Olympics (Part 2)
The second week of the Olympics was filled with more amazing moments.
Wow. Sunday wrapped up an extraordinary Olympics. Over the last 16 days, more than 10,000 athletes from 206 nations competed in 329 different events across 32 different sports. There was so much goodness going on that it’s impossible to fully appreciate every accomplishment.
Take Scottie Scheffler for example. Scottie Scheffler is considered to be the best golfer in the world. In April, he won the Masters for the second time in three years. When Scheffler is competing in a major tournament, he’s at the center of the sports universe for four days. Yet his gold medal winning performance for the United States this past week received less attention than the gold medal winning performance by a 14-year-old female skateboarder from Japan.
Or take Novak Djokovic as another example. Novak Djokovic is considered to be the best tennis player of all time. Last year, he won the Australian Open (for the 10th time), the French Open (3rd time), and US Open (4th time) in the same calendar year. The year prior he won Wimbledon (7th time). When Djokovic is competing in a major tournament, he’s at the center of the sports universe for a fortnight. Yet his gold medal winning performance for Serbia this past week received less attention than a Turkish pistol shooter who casually fired his way to a silver medal with a hand in his pocket.
Every day at the Olympics offers up dozens of new and wonderful stories. One moment belongs to gold medal winning Tahitian surfer Kauli Vaast, who had the good fortune of surfing waves that he’s been surfing his entire life since France decided to have the Olympic surfing competition take place in Tahiti. Another moment belongs to gold medal winning American cyclist Kristien Faulkner, who didn’t take up competitive cycling until she was 25 years old, and only entered the 157 km road race because one of her teammates decided to drop out of the race to focus on her upcoming triathlon.
The Olympic spirit was on full display wherever you looked.
It could be seen when Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis attempted to set a new world record while silver medalist Sam Kendricks from the United States pumped up the crowd on his behalf.
It could be seen when Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem won the first individual gold medal in his nation’s history, beating Neeraj Chopra of India who won a similarly historic gold medal at the Tokyo games. Pakistan and India don’t exactly have a warm relationship, but Nadeem and Chopra are friendly rivals with one another and their mutual respect and appreciation helps us all to imagine a better world.
Speaking of imagining a better world, hats off to the DJ at the women’s beach volleyball final who had the good sense to cue up John Lennon’s Imagine, helping break up a contentious argument at the net between the Canadian players, the Brazilian players, and one of the officials. Once the crowd started singing along, competitors on both sides responded with smiles, perhaps remembering these are the Olympic Games.
There is so much I want to write about from this past week, but I’m going to try to focus on a few favorite moments.
Best Track Moments (American Division)
To keep myself from writing about every single race from the past week, I decided to limit myself to three favorite moments for American runners and three favorite moments for non-Americans.
From an individual perspective, my favorite race was Cole Hocker’s victory in the 1,500m. For one thing, Cole Hocker is a former Oregon Duck and I always take an extra amount of joy in rooting for someone who honed their craft in Track Town. But this was also just a fantastic race as Hocker was in 7th place after the first lap and 5th place entering the final lap, sandwiched between a couple of his American teammates. Then Hocker kicked into extra gear and surged past Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway (gold medalist in Tokyo) and Josh Kerr of Great Britain (bronze medalist in Tokyo) on the final homestretch. It was one of those races where if you watched a replay, knowing Hocker would end up winning gold, there would still be moments when you would wonder whether Hocker was going to win.
(Because I’m limiting myself to just three races, I’m not going to mention Quincy Hall’s stunning victory in the 400m, in which Hall was in such bad shape coming off the final turn that NBC analyst Sanya Richards-Ross exclaimed, “Watch Hall, he’s fading badly at this point!”)
As great as it was watching Hocker surge to a surprising gold, my two favorite moments for the Americans were watching our women’s relay teams dominate the opposition. First, the American women won the 4x100m with Sha’Carri Richardson coming from behind to take the lead on the anchor leg, punctuating the victory with a dismissive look over her shoulder just before crossing the finish line.
While there was some question as to whether the American women would pull off the 4x100 relay, there was absolutely no drama as to whether they would pull off the 4x400 relay. The American foursome of Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabbie Thomas, and Alexis Holmes were heavy favorites to win. After all, the Americans were looking for their 8th consecutive gold medal in the event, going back to the 1996 Olympics.
Yet the American foursome didn’t just win the gold medal, they broke an American record that was set in 1988 by a team including the legendary Florence Griffith Joyner. Team USA had such a lead over the field in the middle of the race that there was one point where no other runners were within sight of the American runner. Just as Katie Ledecky appeared to be swimming in a private pool during a portion of her 1,500m swim, the American women appeared to be running on an otherwise empty track.
(Again, since I’ve limited myself to discussing three races, I won’t even mention the American men also winning the 4x400m in a much more competitive race).
(And since I’m only focusing on gold medal winning performances, I’m definitely not going to mention the tragedy that befell the American men in the 4x100m as a botched pass of the baton led to a disqualification. And since I’m really trying to focus on all that is happy and wonderful about the Olympics, I’m definitely not going to point out that the American men haven’t medaled in this event since 2004, or that they’ve been disqualified from four of the last six Olympics, or that they’ve also been disqualified from five of the last ten world championships. The inability of American male sprinters to execute a routine passing of the baton is one of the most puzzling phenomena in sports, but we don’t have time to get into all that.)
Best Track Moments (International Division)
Since both the American men and the American women won their respective 4x400m relays, you would think that they would have fared pretty well in the 4x400m mixed relay in which two men and two women compete in the same foursome. The Americans certainly appeared to be on their way to a victory as 19-year old Kaylyn Brown held a commanding lead entering the final leg. Yet Femke Bol of the Netherlands had other plans. Bol, a two-time bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles, entered the final leg in 4th place but closed with an astonishing final kick that was described by Leigh Diffey in this way:
“Kaylyn Brown had this feeling yesterday. She’s got it again…But here comes Femke Bol! And the Netherlands, right at the end, is going to steal the gold away from the United States!”
Yet again, this was a race in which knowing the outcome ahead of time actually made the feat even more impressive. I think I’m going to start calling these types of sporting moments Apollo 13s. Remember the first time you watched Apollo 13, and your brain told you that the astronauts returned safely to earth, but halfway through the movie you have no idea how they are going to make it home? That’s the feeling I had watching a replay of Femke Bol chasing down the rest of the field.
The Netherlands’ shocking win in the mixed relay was far and away my favorite relay moment, but choosing my favorite individual moment is much tougher. I thought about Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic cruising to a win in the 400m and becoming the first Dominican woman to win gold in any sport. I thought about Leslie Tobogo of Botswana winning the men’s 200m, becoming the first African to win that event. But ultimately, my single favorite individual moment was Julien Alfred of St. Lucia winning the 100m dash and becoming the first gold medal winner of any kind for her country. While the men’s 100m was a thrilling finish that was ultimately won by American Noah Lyles in a photo finish, there was something even more breathtaking about Alfred pulling clear of the field to reveal herself as the fastest woman on the planet.
Paulino, Tobogo, and Alfred all offered incredibly inspiring stories, but the most inspirational effort at the Paris games may have come from Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands. Three years ago, at the Tokyo games, Hassan took gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m and also took bronze in the 1,500m. After medaling in three events in Tokyo, Hassan came to Paris with similar hopes but decided to swap out the 1,500 for the marathon.
Who in their right mind would want to run 26 miles for the same prize they could earn for running less than one mile? Sifan Hassan, I guess.
She ran her first competitive marathon last year in London and won. Then she entered the Chicago Marathon and won that too. She only finished fourth in the Tokyo Marathon earlier this year, but she had clearly established herself as a threat to medal in the Olympics. The lingering question was how much gas Hassan would have left in the tank after racing in the 5,000m and 10,000m earlier in the week.
It turns out that Hassan measured her energy accordingly. After claiming bronze in the two shorter races earlier in the week, Hassan won the marathon, pulling into the lead during the final kilometer. She is now a six-time medalist and is the first woman to claim career gold medals in the 5,000m, 10,000m, and the marathon. I think it’s safe to say that she’s the greatest female distance runner of all time.
US National Teams Survive
In a typical year, noting that the Americans took gold in women’s soccer, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball wouldn’t be that noteworthy. But in this particular Olympic year, all three squads faced major tests.
Since 1991, the US women’s soccer team has won four World Cups and they entered Paris aiming for their fifth Olympic gold medal. They have been a dominant force in women’s soccer for the last three decades, but one could rightfully ask whether they had lost their mojo. They hadn’t taken gold in either of their last two Olympic appearances and their most recent World Cup appearance ended with a loss in the round of 16.
Once a prolific scoring outfit, team USA struggled to find the back of the net in each of their knockout games. But their defense, led by stellar goaltender Alyssa Naeher, could not have performed better in successive 1-0 victories over Japan in the quarterfinals, Germany in the semifinals, and Brazil in the gold medal match
Seeing the USWNT pull out a tense victory wasn’t especially surprising given their recent history. But seeing the US women’s hoops team in trouble? That was downright jarring. The US entered Paris having won gold in the last seven Olympic tournaments, going all the way back to the Atlanta Games in 1996. They haven’t just won those tournaments, they have dominated. Entering Paris, team USA had won 54 consecutive games in Olympic play and only two of those games were decided by single digits.
Yet the Americans found themselves in a dogfight with the host nation France in Sunday’s gold medal game, trailing by as many 10 points in the third quarter. The game came down to the final seconds when France’s Gabby Williams, needing a three-pointer to send the game into overtime, hit a shot at the buzzer but did so with her foot squarely on the three-point line. As a result, the US was able to escape with a 67-66 victory.
Seeing a team of future Hall of Famers struggle to put away a spirited team of French underdogs gave me a case of déjà vu as the US men’s basketball team had a very similar experience the day before. The US came out victorious in a 98-87 victory that was closer than the final score indicated. The French upset effort was ultimately thwarted when Steph Curry, the greatest long-range shooter of all time, drilled four consecutive three-pointers in the final three minutes (something he has never done in his remarkable professional career), the last of which was an off-balance heave over two defenders while teammates Kevin Durant and LeBron James both stood wide open.
LeBron and KD, who both had great moments of their own, seemed to understand that Steph had the hot hand. The final dagger against France was his 8th three-pointer of the gold medal game, which would be even more impressive if he hadn’t hit 9 three-pointers two days before in a semifinal win over Serbia in which the US had to overcome a 17-point deficit. This was somehow Steph Curry’s first Olympic appearance as injuries forced him to miss out on the 2016 and 2020 games. He certainly made up for lost time, delivering the greatest shooting display in Olympic history.
Snoop Dogg
The Atlanta Olympics in 1996 is the first Olympic games I remember being fully locked in on. Specifically, I remember staying up late into the evening with my siblings and watching as much Olympic content as possible. A recurring piece of content during those games involved NBC broadcaster Ahmad Rashad having the time of his life visiting different Olympic venues, messing around with different athletes, and bringing a sense of levity to the festivities. My siblings and I agreed that Ahmad Rashad had the best job at the Olympics.
If you had told me in 1996 that eventually the Ahmad Rashad gig would become the Snoop Dogg gig, I never would have believed you. Had I tried to buy a Snoop Dogg CD in 1996, it would have been marked with an explicit lyric warning and my mother surely would have prohibited my 13-year-old self from listening to “Gin and Juice”.
Somehow, Snoop Dogg has maintained his persona as the “Doggfather” of gangster rap, while also forging a multitude of different personas to the point that his career defies categorization. A quick browsing of Snoop Dogg’s wikipedia page reveals the following resume:
Snoop Dogg has pursued an acting career, starring in projects such as the critically panned Half Baked with Dave Chappelle and the critically acclaimed Training Day with Denzel Washington.
Snoop Dogg starred in a sketch comedy show called Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, a reality show called Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood, and a variety show called Dogg After Dark.
Snoop Dogg converted to Rastafarianism, joined the Nation of Islam, and became a born-again Christian (I’m guessing his 2018 album Bible of Love wasn’t slapped with an explicit lyric label, but I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if it was).
Snoop Dogg is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame (for professional wrestling) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Snoop Dogg has performed at the Kennedy Centers Honors concert (in honor of jazz pianist Herbie Hancock) and the Players Ball (performing “A Pimp’s Christmas Song”).
Snoop Dogg provided voiceover narration for nature videos on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that were so popular that a change.org petition was launched, advocating for Snoop to narrate the entire Planet Earth series.
Snoop Dogg hosted a basketball fundraiser called “Hoops 4 Water” in Flint, Michigan and coaches youth football in southern California.
Snoop Dogg somehow endorsed Ron Paul and Barack Obama in the same election year.
Snoop Dogg hosted a cooking show with his good friend Martha Stewart (Martha and Snooop’s Potluck Dinner Party) and later released his own cookbook (From Crook Cook: Platinum Recipes from the Boss Dog’s Kitchen).
Snoop Dogg was once a contestant on The Price is Right and will be a judge on the upcoming season of The Voice.
I’m convinced that all of these side quests were just detours on the road to Snoop discovering his true calling as NBC’s beacon of Olympic joy. Snoop Dogg was everywhere during these past two weeks.
One night he’d be watching swimming alongside Caleb Dressel’s wife and infant son, the next night he’d be inspiring an impromptu dance party with the American gymnastics team. He showed up to a beach volleyball match with an Olympic jacket that featured Sara Hughes’ face and a shirt underneath which featured Kelly Chang’s face. He showed up to support American skateboarders Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston, with Huston opting to listen to a Snoop Dogg track during his medal-winning routine. When Snoop Dogg wasn’t in the studio with Mike Tirico breaking down badminton or team handball, he was in the pool with Michael Phelps, or trying his hand at fencing, or feeding horses alongside Martha Stewart in full equestrian regalia.
I never would have anticipated Snoop Dogg’s becoming our country’s unofficial Olympic ambassador, but now I can’t imagine an Olympics without him.