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A Paris 2024 Recap

8/10/2024

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What I Got Up To At Paris 2024...

And just like that…my live Paris 2024 experience is over, as I’m back home now after a combined  10-night stay in Paris and Lyon, France. Thrilled to have been in person for another Games, and to check off some new sports.

Now it's time to grab a box of tissues for watching a final set of competition on PST time tonight and tomorrow and then the Closing Ceremony.

What's next for Games & Rings now that Paris 2024 is ending? Stay tuned...but in the meantime, here are some of my favorite in-person shots from these Summer Games. Separate closing thoughts to follow.

Merci, Paris 2024!
​xx
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Landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport provided some anticipation for Paris 2024!
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The men's synchronized 10-meter platform diving podium included Team Great Britain's Ton Daley & Noah Williams (silver), Team China's Yang Hao & Lian Junjie (gold), and Team Canada's Rylan Wiens & Nathan Zsombor-Murray (bronze).
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Stade de France was alive with 'Allez Les Bleus' chants for Team France vs Team USA in rugby sevens round-robin play.
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Michaela Corcoran was one of the early competitors in the women's C-1 slalom event.
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The Olympic flame was displayed at the Jardin de Tuileries near the Louvre museum.
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Team Poland defeated Team Brazil in men's volleyball group play at South Paris Arena.
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Casimir Schmidt eventually finished 13th in the men's artistic gymnastics individual all-around at Bercy Arena.
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The Eiffel Tower loomed large at the beach volleyball stadium.
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Team Qatar's Cherif & Ahmed defeated Team Australia's Nicolaidis & Carracher in group play; they eventually finished fourth in the tournament.
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Signs of Paris 2024 were common on the streets of Paris!
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Team Australia's Hodges & Schubert lost to eventual siulver medalists Ehlers & Wickler of Team Germany in group play.
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Team Spain's Liliana & Paula took the beach for a match against Team Egypt's Marwa & Elgohbashy.
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Team Ecuador's Casa Ecuador in Le Marais hosted cultural performances during the Games.
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The Centre Culturel Irlandeis featured a look at Team Ireland's 100 years in Olympic history, including Melbourne 1956 running champion Ron Delaney.
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Paris and the Pont Alexandre III bridge were festooned with Olympic glory during the Games.
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In front of Les Invalides, archery took place...here's early elimination matches in the men's competition.
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Cian O'Connor competed for Team Ireland in the equestrian team jumping competition outside the Chateau de Versailles.
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Team France eventually found a way to score against Team Egypt in the men's soccer semifinal at Stade de Lyon.
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A last Olympic event visit for me and Games & Rings at Paris 2024 (outside Stade de Lyon)...
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Paris 2024, Here We Come!

7/27/2024

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Games & Rings Heads To The Paris 2024 Olympics

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Paris 2024, here comes Games & Rings! Opening Ceremony watched, now Games & Rings is off to Paris for a week's worth of in-person Olympics-watching.

Follow along with the adventures by keeping an eye on Games & Rings' Instagram channel; from diving on the 29th to soccer on the 5th, and multiple other sports and Paris action in between, the Games fun is about to become even more real for Games & Rings...

Can't wait to get on the grounds and start cheering.

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Olympics Opening Ceremony Fashion 2024!

7/26/2024

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What Will National Teams Be Wearing At The Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony?
​(A Let's Get Social Special Edition)

A look at a selection of the Olympic Opening Ceremony outfits to watch for as Paris 2024 is about to officially begin...

Ralph Lauren created uniforms for Team USA athletes.

For opening ceremony, the athletes will wear a classic navy wool blazer with red and white accents, a striped oxford shirt, a navy knit tie, tapered light denim jeans & suede shoes.#Paris2024 #ParisOlympics2024 #TeamUSA #usa pic.twitter.com/rpypiwBQSr

— Team USA at Paris Olympics 2024 (@TeamUSAatParis) July 22, 2024

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Sport-by-Sport Burning Questions For Paris 2024

7/12/2024

 

What Answers Am I Looking Forward To Being Answered At Paris 2024?

We're only 14 days away from the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games! (And only 12 days from the start of actual competition!)

And I've got loads of sport-by-sport questions needing answers as the Games unfold. Who will make the podiums? Who will be the breakout star(s)? The underdog hero? On and on...

But there is definitely a lead story line I'll be following across each of Paris 2024's 32 sports - check them out below. I can't wait to find out what transpires...and to see some of these unfold in person at the Games!

What are yours? Let me know in the comments...

And keep an eye on my 'A Little Roundup' posts on this site to stay in touch with select news items and headlines featuring Olympic sports' athletes as the Games approach.

It goes beyond sport.
It's the Olympic Spirit.#MoreThanSport | #Paris2024 | #Olympics | @Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/f1x1hvT8rH

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 12, 2024

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"SPRINT" Teases Us For More Track & Field

7/5/2024

 

Netflix Scores With It's Latest Sports Documentary Series

SPRINT (2024)
A Quick TV Review

Well, here's a 'quick review'...I loved SPRINT, Netflix's latest sports-focused documentary series premiering this week.
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As an ardent track & field fan and an Olympic sports athlete fan, what's not to love. Track gets the Netflix sports series treatment, and right on schedule with the Paris 2024 Summer Games approaching in a few weeks.

Sure, passionate track aficionados may quibble that there isn't anything particularly new presented in SPRINT...similar to fans' concerns about Netflix's Break Point on tennis. But what we do get is Netflix's good-looking production and some behind-the-scenes access to personalities and process.

Across six episodes, SPRINT (subtitled "The World's Fastest Humans") focuses on Team USA sprint stars Noah Lyles and Sha'Carri Richardson as they target success at the 2023 Word Athletics Championships in Budapest, with Gabby Thomas, Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes, Italian Marcell Jacobs, and Jamaicans Shericka Jackson, Elaine Tompson-Herah, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce getting star turns as well.

Along the way, track legends Michael Johnson, Allyson Felix, Usain Bolt, and Ato Boldon are used liberally for expert commentary, while the long list of fellow current stars making appearances includes Fred Kerley, Twanisha Terry, Paul Chelimo, Wayde van Niekirk, Ferdinand Omanyala, and Dina Asher-Smith. Triple Olympian Dennis Mitchell gets screen time as Richardson's current coach,  and we get rare States-side glimpses of Barcelona 1992 champion Linford Christie and the vaunted Jamaican coaches Paul and Stephen Francis.

Yes, we already know that Lyles and Richardson have outsized personalities. But even those of us who followed the road to the Budapest Worlds and know the results can appreciate seeing new insights and footage. Lyles' emotion on the Budapest podium, Hughes relaxing with a flight simulator, Jacobs' acknowledging awkwardness with new-found fame, the Jamaican sprint queens' training camp drama, Christie revealing his competitive use of rival Carl Lewis' image, and the frequent looks inside the entrance tunnels and on the warm-up tracks are all elements that bring a fresh look that we rarely see in the United States with track & field's airtime getting squeezed tighter and tighter.

I will admit to two criticisms: For one, SPRINT ends with its stars wrapping up their individual races in Budapest; Richardson charmingly, specifically noting that the road to Paris 2024 has begun ("Y'all got Olympics next year? Oh no...I gotta get my training on."), leaving a glaring miss that both Lyles and Richardson also won golds in the sprint relays - as well all know were key story lines from the competition.

And, secondly, SPRINT just whets the appetite for more. I want a beautifully-filmed documentary on Armand Duplantis and the pole vault, the long hurdlers, the 1500-meter runners, the colorful Yulimar Rojas, on and on. Us fans are starved for more!

In the meantime, track fans can't go wrong tuning into SPRINT for a quick fix to help set the stage for more showdowns in Paris.

p.s. Who agrees with me that Lyles' mom Keisha is the breakout star from Sprint? And I nominate the Jamaican Patois as a close second...

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