Going for the gold
With can-can dancers, opera singers, and athletes sailing down the Seine river in the rain, the Paris Summer Olympics were officially opened Friday.
For the next two weeks we’re all going to be armchair experts on sports we rarely follow.
We’ll be quick to judge whether a dive was truly vertical and we’ll shake our heads in disapproval if the diver made an unsightly big splash instead of slicing gracefully through the water. We’ll nod knowingly each time a gymnast performs a pak salto (a release move on the uneven bars), applaud a well-done wolf turn (a deceptively tricky turn usually done on the balance beam) and still gasp every time the great Simone Biles hits her signature Yurchenko double pike vault.
We’ll analyze hurdling and sprinting techniques, casually toss out the term “repechage” to impress listeners while explaining why rowers get a second chance to advance, and we’ll make comparisons to hockey’s penalty box when water polo players are sent to the re-entry (or exclusion) area after they commit something worse than an ordinary foul. Like hockey players, they also go to the box and feel shame. But for water polo players, that’s only for 20 seconds.
We’ll empathize with runners who get lapped in longer track races and we’ll hold our collective breath at the start of the men’s 100-meter dash final, the glamorous event that traditionally carries with it the title of World’s Fastest Human.
We will say goodbye to Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber, who have said they will retire after the Olympic tennis tournament, and we’ll look forward to a potential second-round match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on the famous clay at Roland Garros, where Nadal has won the French Open a record 14 times. Nadal, injured thigh muscle permitting, is scheduled to play doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, a pairing made in tennis heaven. Nadal was one of the final torchbearers Friday, a genuinely touching moment.
We will say hello to breaking (breakdancing), one of many sports added over the course of the past few Games in order to appeal to younger audiences. Does it belong in the Olympics? The Games must evolve to stay relevant, but the program seems to be straying very far from the traditional faster-higher-stronger motto.
We’ll see surprises on the field and pitch and in the pool, and maybe in the Seine River, too, if it’s deemed clean enough for marathon swimming events and triathlon. During NBC’s broadcast of Friday’s opening ceremony and the rain-drenched, boat-borne parade of nations, announcer Mike Tirico mentioned (with surprising but welcome honesty) that the E. coli level in the Seine was so high that any event scheduled for Friday would have had to be postponed. Peyton Manning, a member of the network’s roster of unlikely commentators, strangely followed that by suggesting that some athlete should jump in the river. Um, maybe not.
Surprises are sure to emerge. That’s what makes live competition so compelling. But no one will be surprised when some weightlifter tests positive for a banned substance. One almost always does at international competitions. Staying ahead of dopers and doping techniques is a perpetual battle.
Before Friday’s opening ceremony sailed down the Seine, complete with can-can dancers, a song from Lady Gaga, a headless but singing Marie Antoinette, movie Minions attempting Olympic sports, and production numbers that took full advantage of classic Parisian landmarks, competition had already begun in rugby, handball, and soccer. The sheer size of the Paris Games program—329 events in 32 sports involving approximately 10,500 athletes—meant that some preliminary round games had to start early in order to free up the facilities for other sports and to be sure everything will finish by Aug. 11.
Security will be tight everywhere. The threat of disruptions remains real, as evidence by a reported arson attack on France’s rail system. And a couple of controversies developed before the Games were officially declared open: In a shocker, Bev Priestman, coach of the defending gold medal-winning Canadian women’s soccer team, was suspended by the Canadian Olympic Committee after two members of the team’s staff were sent home for allegedly deploying a drone to spy on a practice session conducted by its first opponent, New Zealand. Canada won its opener, but the implications of the cheating are chilling.
Also, fans of Morocco’s men’s soccer team stormed the pitch to protest an apparent goal scored by Argentina late in the opening match of the men's soccer tournament, leaving play suspended for nearly two hours. The goal was disallowed and the match was finished without fans in the stands.
That’s idiotic behavior. But the gold medal for idiocy goes to the Dutch Olympic authorities—with tacit approval of the International Olympic Committee—who allowed convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde to participate in the volleyball competition. He’s apparently not staying in the athletes’ village and he won’t be made available to the media. He shouldn’t be competing at all.
NBC’s coverage promises to be comprehensive, and to include more than a few dashes of annoying. Expect to see a lot of Snoop Dogg being, well, Snoop Dogg. Not sure what Kelly Clarkson will bring besides gushing. She might have set the first record of these Olympics on Friday: Most uses of the word “cool” in one telecast. Hopefully, the coverage will include many more reports from Mary Carrillo, who has a knack for finding and telling interesting, off-beat stories.
Not knowing what event will be shown on which of NBC’s networks is confusing, but spreading out the coverage allows viewers to see more events. Thanks to the magic of Peacock, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team’s podium training session was aired around 4 a.m. Thursday—and, thankfully, without overbearing commentary. The microphones picked up gymnasts’ chatter, amplifying the sound of them hitting the vault table before they soared into the air and the squeak of the uneven bars as they flew from one bar to the other. It was the next-best thing to being there—and better, in some ways, because small sounds that otherwise would get lose in crowd noise were clearly audible and were enlightening.
Swimming, gymnastics, track and field, and basketball are the traditional main sports at the Summer Games and will dominate NBC’s coverage. But many lesser-known sports are worth watching over the next two weeks. Here are a few recommendations:
I fell in love with water polo at the 2000 Sydney Games. It’s fast-paced, intense, usually high scoring, and it requires incredible athleticism. The athletes aren’t allowed to touch the bottom of the pool, so they’re in constant motion. Try sampling 3x3 basketball, climbing, diving, cycling in its various forms, volleyball (especially beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower), and handball.
What will organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics take and adapt from the sports and logistics of the Paris Games? Alas, a boat parade along the Los Angeles River probably wouldn’t work as well as the journey Friday along the Seine, but the cultural elements of the opening ceremony were interesting. Having Nadal, Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, and Nadia Comaneci take turns carrying the Olympic torch while cruising along the Seine was inspired, as was the initial handoff from French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane to Nadal.
Nadal, Lewis, Williams and Comaneci handed the torch to retired tennis star Amalie Mauresmo, who handed it off to retired basketball standout Tony Parker and other French Olympians and Paralympians. The lighting of the Olympic cauldron—restyled as a hot air balloon—by former track star Marie Josee Perec and judoka Teddy Riner was stirring. So was a post-lighting performance from Celine Dion.
How will the L.A. Games top that? No doubt, organizers are already taking notes.
Watching the opening ceremony from home instead of being there was strange. The last Olympics I didn’t cover was in 1996. I had hoped to cover these Games for the L.A. Times, but life took some unexpected turns.
To the athletes, I wish you a clean, fair competition and easy sleep on those cardboard beds. To the journalists, I wish you good stories, efficient transportation, and editors who don’t examine your expense reports too closely. Let the Games begin, indeed.
oh my god I said exactly the same thing about Kelly Clarkson but also feel that she redeemed herself with her emotional response to Celine Dion’s performance. Looking forward to more of your commentary!
Watching today’s Opening Ceremony sure made me want to visit Paris again!