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There’s something captivating about the quadrennial spectacle of the Olympics. The coming together of the world’s best athletes in the purest expression of human competition. Individual stories of athletes training their whole lives, their families scrambling for the resources to support them. Tiny countries wildly celebrating any single medal win with overflowing national pride. Since the Games began, I’ve kept the TV on in the background while working or reading, one eye on whatever event was up next.
We’ve witnessed many exciting events, but here’s a recap of the most memorable I’ve seen so far.
1. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) – Men’s Tennis Gold Medalist
NBC didn’t even carry this (live or tape-delayed), but as a big tennis fan, I really wanted to see this match. At age 21, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz is the future of tennis, while 37-year-old Novak Djokovic, among the oldest active pros, is arguably the sport’s GOAT. Watching these two play on any surface, anywhere, any time, inching the sport closer to perfection, is just sublime.
I love what Djokovic has done for tennis, but throughout his career, he has given a more detached vibe, an assured arrogance in winning, rarely showing emotion as he crushes opponents like a heartless machine.
But maybe Djokovic tapped into something powerful and emotional about playing for Serbia. Maybe it’s that he’s staring at the twilight of his tennis career. Or maybe it’s that he’s never medaled in any previous Olympics. Whatever it is, this experience brought out something unguarded and raw in him. He won a tight two-setter against Alcaraz, both tiebreaks. A match that could have gone either way, with just a few tense points making the difference.
The victory was sweet, but so was the celebration. I loved seeing this side of him….
2. Noah Lyles (USA) – Men’s 100m Sprint Men’s Gold Medalist
Now this is… just… INSANE.
Eight competitors all running practically side by side. To the uninitiated eye, Lyles, (lane 7) looks like he just came in third, with Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (Lane 4) and USA’s Fred Kerley (Lane 3) having a foot over the line first. But viewers learned that the winner is whose chest crosses first, not any body part over the line on the track. How adeptly Lyles leans in this instant makes the most miniscule, life-changing difference.
3. Women’s Gymnastics – Lots and Lots and Lots
Women’s gymnastics were full of star power, particularly for Team USA. For those of us at home, these events all look so frighteningly impossible, which makes their mastery all the more impressive. Simone Biles, triumphant in her return to the sport after withdrawing from the all-around competition in the 2021 Tokyo Games, looked confident, almost relaxed on her way to an all-around gold medal. Seeing Biles compete with joy and build a positive culture for her teammates was such a demonstrable difference from the Károlyi culture, which essentially amounted to systemic child abuse. Even as the most decorated gymnast of all time, her impact on changing the sport’s toxic culture might go down as her most lasting achievement.
Biles (silver) and USA teammate Jordan Chiles (bronze) bow down to celebrate Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade, who took gold on floor exercise,
What struck me most was how much of a supportive community these elite athletes seemed to form, how they hug their opponents each time they complete an event. Like soldiers, perhaps only this community appreciates just how dangerous what they do really is. When other countries won specific events, the whole community seemed to celebrate it, no matter which one of them emerged.
Italians Alice D’Amato and Manila Esposito shocked the competition, taking gold and bronze on the balance beam.
4. Celine Dion – Opening Ceremony finale – CRUSHED IT!!
I remember being on duty in the wardroom of my Navy ship nearly 35 years ago. It was a very cold Sunday night in a Canadian port. Super Bowl XXV was about to begin. Some of the guys were talking loudly as the national anthem came on, which at the time was not such a big deal. Whitney Houston began singing, and I just froze and got lost in it. Nobody else there even heard it. I remember turning to a couple of the guys and saying, “They will talk about that performance for the next 50 years.”
I don’t know if that will be true of Celine Dion’s opening night show-stopping closer. But considering we just saw her in a documentary looking and sounding practically near-death, Dion killed that song (“L’Hymme a L’Amour,” a French classic). With the typical over-the-top drama she reliably brings to every vocal performance, I looked past all that and heard something that, juxtaposed by the tricked out Eiffel Tower and the just-lit Olympic caldron, gave me a similar tingle as that iconic Whitney Houston moment.
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