Let’s just say it: The Summer Olympics in Paris have been great fun to watch.
America is ahead in the medal count and is likely to hold that lead until the games end this coming Sunday. U-S-A! U-S-A!
Television coverage has forged the usual cast of stars: multiple members of the gymnastics and swimming teams, 100-meter dash winner Noah Lyles, women’s 200 winner Gabby Thomas and LSU pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who set a world record competing for Sweden, come to mind. Wait — the pommel horse guy!
And don’t leave out Femke Bol, a 400-meter runner from the Netherlands. Her stunning come-from-way-behind win Saturday in a relay race may be the single most amazing performance of the entire Olympics, even though the U.S. runner was the one she beat at the wire.
The organizers deserve a gold medal for their creativity. Beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower. Fencing at the Grand Palais, a 1900 building that usually hosts art exhibitions and fashion shows. And the best one of all — the surfing competition through majestic waves in Tahiti, the South Pacific territory that is part of French Polynesia.
But if there’s an athlete who has truly stood out, it’s got to be Simone Biles, the amazing gymnast who finished with three gold medals and a silver, cementing her status as a legend of the sport.
Her performances in the Olympics are even more memorable because of what happened to her three years ago at the Games in Tokyo (delayed to 2021 by the covid-19 pandemic).
Everyone expected Biles, who had won five medals at the 2016 Olympics, to deliver more superb routines in Tokyo. But it didn’t happen. She dropped out of the team competition after a vault went awry. She said later she wasn’t physically injured, but she was dealing with mental health issues — her body refused to perform the gymnastic elements that she wanted.
Her withdrawal from the Olympics brought plenty of “quitter” criticism, but it also made it easier to talk about mental health and to treat its problems.That was a huge leap for sports, where athletes generally try to take one for the team, to tough it out and play, no matter what the risk.
Biles also deserves credit for walking away from gymnastics coaches who continually berated their young athletes. Her parents opened a gym in Houston where coaches focus on mental fitness and have developed new training methods. She also was among the gymnasts who testified to Congress about the unwillingness of USA Gymnastics to protect girls from sexual predators like Dr. Larry Nassar.
Finally, Biles, along with most of the women’s gymnastics team in Paris, have helped to diversify the participants. That can only help the sport continue to grow.
These gymnasts are relatively small women. But they are making a big difference. The perpetual smile on Biles’ face shows it.
