Filipino short track speed skater Julian Macaraeg is on a (financial) quest to compete at Beijing 2022. Will biathlete Emilien Claude graduate to a full-time season on the senior IBU season after a successful junior year in 2021? Erika Lindgren is another short track-ster to watch, as she looks to put the sport on Sweden's radar. Hallie Clarke is just 17 years old, but a rising star with big ambitions in skeleton for Team Canada.
Greg O'Shea surveys Greece...
...as does Timo Barthel...
Jack Laugher throws back to a calendar time.
Eliud Kipchoge strolls Portland.
PV Sindhu dresses up.
The World Athletics U20 Championships ConcludeFavorite moment? France's Sasha Zhoya sets a new U20 world record in the 110 meter hurdles (twice!). A sport that needs a successor in big, engaging personality to Usain Bolt...he may be it. Runner-up moment: Maja Askag becomes the first to win both the European and world junior championship titles in both the long and triple jumps. Some thoughts on what I loved...the exposure of Nairobi as a track & field destination, and what looked like a quality stadium...the infield musicians playing during the distance races...the Kenyan-style flourish of the volunteers, especially ceremony models and starting block kit carriers...and especially the depth and quality of competition despite the lack of athletes from the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, China, Japan, Ireland, and others. What did I not like? That the current pandemic still impacts accessibility and attendance for spectators and participants. And, that the post-win celebrations of draping oneself in your flag has become dso choreographed that it lacks a sincerity and spontaneity. Elsewhere...Paris 2024 or not, sprinter Su Bingtian still has plans to go fast after his Tokyo 2020 semifinal high.
Count tennis' world number one Ashleigh Barty a fan of the Olympic experience after Tokyo. Greece's tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas gets a feature in Vogue. He has his own font! Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt confirms his status as the best triathlete with the world title, just after Flora Duffy did the same on the women's side. After Carli Lloyd's retirement from the USMNT in soccer, is Megan Rapinoe next? More soccer: Team Canada's women's hockey team finds inspiration from their soccer counterparts. And, the Tokyo 2020 BMX racing champions also duplicated their gold success at their own world events. Swimmer Simone Manuel reflects on Tokyo 2020 and a "tough year" with For the Win. And in Australia, the swimming Campbell sisters weigh their futures after still coming down from Tokyo 2020 highs. Table tennis player Dorka Szekeres leads Hungary's needed representation at the LGBTI+ EuroGames. Boxer Troy Isley gets a special hometown recognition after his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020. Meanwhile, boxers Lauren Price and Karriss Artingstall take their relationship further public after their Tokyo 2020 medal success. Hosting Olympic Events Remotely Will Impact 2024 SurfersThe end of the Tokyo 2020 Games has thankfully provided me back some free time to catch-up on much-needed Olympic-related viewing and reading. These last few days, this has meant watching HBO's "100 Foot Wave" documentary series released last month. Recounting Garrett McNamara's big wave search in Nazaré, Portugal from a few years ago, it's an engaging saga of athletes looking for more. McNamara and his cadre of big wave surfers tackle notorious conditions to reach an ultimate challenge. Will the team find its 'white whale' of a 100-foot wave to surf? I've got one episode left to watch in the six-part series tonight, but...spoiler...he eventually does. Of course, these athletes aren't your Olympic surfers. Tokyo 2020 (as will Paris 2024) featured shortboard paddle surfing (athletes paddling out to waves along the beachhead), while big wave surfers are towed-in on jet skis to the larger waves further out. Think of it as extreme skiing vs your alpine skiing Winter Olympics events. In any case, watching these surfers tackle their passion - religiously, enthusiastically, competitively, despite injury and other setbacks - just emphasizes the appropriate inclusion of surfing as an Olympic sport. These are professional athletes in a global sport, performing year-round to hone their craft and receive recognition. Tokyo 2020's competition has to be seen as a success. The waves cooperated, thanks to an offshore wind system, and a diverse field - five nations won the six medals - put on a good show for television. (IMHO, just missing a dash of sunshine, though...) And, the athletes proved passionate. But that passion and excitement from surfers about being Olympians might be a little dampened by the next Games' competition. In Paris 2024, the surfing events will be held in Tahiti, more than 9,000 miles away. (!) Tahiti, part of the French Republic via French Polynesia, beat out mainland French options such as Biarritz and Lacanau. While Tahiti offers a perfect made-for-television surfing backdrop, and it's waves at Teahupo'O can be thrilling, I can't help but think the remoteness might detract from the athletes' sense of Olympism. How will those athletes and their families even feel a part of the Games so far from the Olympic Village, the other athletes, the other sports? Or, will it, for the athletes, feel like just another large tournament stop around the globe? Perhaps the usual rigid and limited qualification for the Games - and some Olympic bunting and procedure on site! - will help tilt the experience toward an Olympic feel. Tahiti will represent the furthest distance an event is held from a host city, ever. The previous record was equestrian having been held in Stockholm during Melbourne 1956 due to quarantine concerns. Most recently, Tokyo 2020 held its marathon and race walking events almost 700 miles away in Sapporo. And typically, many team sports' games (particularly soccer) are held in multiple sites for scheduling convenience. Paris 2024 will also host sailing away from the Games' landlocked center, in Marseilles, almost 500 miles away.
Understood, the Games are massive, and finding venues for 30+ sports in one limited geographic location is tough. But, mostly, these decisions, have come after the Games were awarded to a specific host. I would have thought that the host city's ability to host all the planned events within a somewhat reasonable geography be a condition of hosting...otherwise, should it not be called Japan 2020 and France 2024, for example? Regardless, to Tahiti will go Paris 2024's surfing Olympians. Luckily, Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 should offer prime local venues for the sport..and more opportunities for surfers to be better, fully, integrated as Olympians. Athletes Are Still on a Break Edition...
Artur Dalaloyan enjoys a ride on the water.
Rudy Rinaldi's looking good in recovery.
Lucas Eguibar explores the Canary Islands.
Maarten Hurkmans goes for his James Bond beach moment.
Alex Szoke takes a holiday.
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Above: Athens' Kallimarmaro, the site of the 1896 Summer Olympics
About This BlogAn Olympics fan blog celebrating all things Olympic sport athletesRead about me.
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