Suffering from post-Olympics withdrawal? Turn on USA channel to find Law & Order instead of table tennis? Don't know what to do without sports on 24/7? Unsure of how to schedule out a day that doesn't revolved around a combination of live streaming, DVR recording, and spoiler avoiding? Yeah, me too.
Which means it's the perfect time to talk about the Olympics that just happened! One week out, here are four of my biggest takeaways -- two about Athletics in general and two about the distance slate specifically.
1. Athletics (because that's what the rest of the world calls it) remains the premier event in the Olympics. While in America NBC played up the swimming and women's gymnastics competitions -- because American dominance plays into the "America #1 heck yeah!" narrative -- the Athletics events were by far the most prestigious of the games. From the iconic marathon final on the last day (with the medal ceremony at the closing ceremony) to the World's Fastest Human and World's Best Athlete competitions, nothing else really holds a candle to Track & Field. Not only that, but in an international competition like the Olympics, Athletics is also the most international of all disciplines. Every continent was represented on the medal stand -- not even soccer has that much international parity.
2. Not counting sports like golf, tennis, basketball, etc., athletics is also clearly the most professional of the sports in the Olympic movement. Outside of the actual Olympics, most sports in the Movement suffer from the legacy of amateurism that comes with being tied to the IOC. And while many in the Track & Field world (myself included) lament the lack of professional opportunities compared to other fully professional sports, Athletics is most definitely ahead of the game compared to nearly every other Olympic sport. This sport offers more opportunities for more athletes from more parts of the world than any other sport -- Olympic or not. And while there is still a ways to go towards full professionalism, to be leading the charge at the forefront of the rest of the Olympic sports is a nice place to be.
3. American distance running is back, baby! Most astounding was a near-twelve-hour stretch at the culmination of the Games which saw Americans medal in the Marathon (bronze), 5,000m (silver -- first medal since 1964), and 1500m (GOLD -- first since 1908!). I have never been more fulfilled as a sports fan. I was psyched four years ago when US runners won two medals and were within striking distance of a handful more -- but then to come up with seven this time around?! Incredible. Even the races which didn't see an American medal were fantastic: from Molly Huddle's brave American Record in the 10,000m to placing three (3!) runners in the top-nine of the women's marathon (not even Kenya or Ethiopia could do that), American distance runners across the board were on point. The only weak race may have been the women's 5,000m, but even on that an American came away with the story of the meet -- and the Pierre de Coubertin sportsmanship medal. The progress American distance runners have made in 16 years has been nothing short of amazing: the expectation has shifted from just qualifying to the Olympics to making the finals to challenging for medals. America is one of three distance running powerhouses -- right alongside Kenya and Ethiopia.
4. Has the rest of the world given up? Speaking of distance running powerhouses, where has the rest of the world gone? Outside of East Africa, North Africa, and the USA, there were remarkably few competitive distance runners. Due to a variety of factors (debatably genetic, most definitely cultural, and probably chemical), we've come to expect East African dominance in the distances -- which we saw again in Rio. And while Moroccans, Algerians, and Tunisians have consistently challenged at the front of races, American distance runners were consistently the only other ones to challenge African dominance. Even after even played out as a string of East Africans (Kenyans, Ethiopians, but also runners from Burundi, Uganda, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania...) with North Africans and Americans to challenge them. With a few exceptions (Nick Willis [NZ], Laura Muir and Mo Farah [GB], Melissa Bishop [CAN]), no one else from the rest of the world stuck themselves into the race. PC or not, Athletics needs Western (and Japanese) athletes to be competitive, because that's the part of the world that consumes the sport. Where are the next great non-American Western athletes? Where is the next Mottram, DeCastella, Monaghetti, Snell, Walker? The next Coe, Cram, Ovett? Coghlan, Jazy, Norpoth, Baumann, Baldini, Bordin, Cruz, Juantorena? Where is Japan's proud marathoning tradition? Besides lighting the Olympic flame, where are the great Brazilian marathoners? It seems like the rest of the world is where America was in the 1990s...here's hoping they can get their collective acts together.
Well, that's all I got today. Let the countdown to Tokyo 2020 begin!
Which means it's the perfect time to talk about the Olympics that just happened! One week out, here are four of my biggest takeaways -- two about Athletics in general and two about the distance slate specifically.
1. Athletics (because that's what the rest of the world calls it) remains the premier event in the Olympics. While in America NBC played up the swimming and women's gymnastics competitions -- because American dominance plays into the "America #1 heck yeah!" narrative -- the Athletics events were by far the most prestigious of the games. From the iconic marathon final on the last day (with the medal ceremony at the closing ceremony) to the World's Fastest Human and World's Best Athlete competitions, nothing else really holds a candle to Track & Field. Not only that, but in an international competition like the Olympics, Athletics is also the most international of all disciplines. Every continent was represented on the medal stand -- not even soccer has that much international parity.
2. Not counting sports like golf, tennis, basketball, etc., athletics is also clearly the most professional of the sports in the Olympic movement. Outside of the actual Olympics, most sports in the Movement suffer from the legacy of amateurism that comes with being tied to the IOC. And while many in the Track & Field world (myself included) lament the lack of professional opportunities compared to other fully professional sports, Athletics is most definitely ahead of the game compared to nearly every other Olympic sport. This sport offers more opportunities for more athletes from more parts of the world than any other sport -- Olympic or not. And while there is still a ways to go towards full professionalism, to be leading the charge at the forefront of the rest of the Olympic sports is a nice place to be.
3. American distance running is back, baby! Most astounding was a near-twelve-hour stretch at the culmination of the Games which saw Americans medal in the Marathon (bronze), 5,000m (silver -- first medal since 1964), and 1500m (GOLD -- first since 1908!). I have never been more fulfilled as a sports fan. I was psyched four years ago when US runners won two medals and were within striking distance of a handful more -- but then to come up with seven this time around?! Incredible. Even the races which didn't see an American medal were fantastic: from Molly Huddle's brave American Record in the 10,000m to placing three (3!) runners in the top-nine of the women's marathon (not even Kenya or Ethiopia could do that), American distance runners across the board were on point. The only weak race may have been the women's 5,000m, but even on that an American came away with the story of the meet -- and the Pierre de Coubertin sportsmanship medal. The progress American distance runners have made in 16 years has been nothing short of amazing: the expectation has shifted from just qualifying to the Olympics to making the finals to challenging for medals. America is one of three distance running powerhouses -- right alongside Kenya and Ethiopia.
4. Has the rest of the world given up? Speaking of distance running powerhouses, where has the rest of the world gone? Outside of East Africa, North Africa, and the USA, there were remarkably few competitive distance runners. Due to a variety of factors (debatably genetic, most definitely cultural, and probably chemical), we've come to expect East African dominance in the distances -- which we saw again in Rio. And while Moroccans, Algerians, and Tunisians have consistently challenged at the front of races, American distance runners were consistently the only other ones to challenge African dominance. Even after even played out as a string of East Africans (Kenyans, Ethiopians, but also runners from Burundi, Uganda, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania...) with North Africans and Americans to challenge them. With a few exceptions (Nick Willis [NZ], Laura Muir and Mo Farah [GB], Melissa Bishop [CAN]), no one else from the rest of the world stuck themselves into the race. PC or not, Athletics needs Western (and Japanese) athletes to be competitive, because that's the part of the world that consumes the sport. Where are the next great non-American Western athletes? Where is the next Mottram, DeCastella, Monaghetti, Snell, Walker? The next Coe, Cram, Ovett? Coghlan, Jazy, Norpoth, Baumann, Baldini, Bordin, Cruz, Juantorena? Where is Japan's proud marathoning tradition? Besides lighting the Olympic flame, where are the great Brazilian marathoners? It seems like the rest of the world is where America was in the 1990s...here's hoping they can get their collective acts together.
Well, that's all I got today. Let the countdown to Tokyo 2020 begin!
Comments
Post a Comment