Thoughts on ’24 Olympics: Steph got hot, Sabrina got hosed, U.S. track and field foes got hammered
Updated 8/13/2024 2:42 PM
I have to say, the 2024 Summer Olympic Games held my rapt attention almost from start to finish.
Maybe it is because at my advanced age, life is slowing down. But also, these Games seemed as compelling as any we have seen in recent memory.
It was a wildly successful two weeks for the United States, which ruled the medal count with 126 to 91 for runner-up China. The countries had 40 gold medals apiece.
This has been the norm in recent Olympiads. Three years ago at Tokyo, the U.S. led with 113 medals (39 gold) to 89 for China (38) and 88 for Japan (27). In 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, the U.S. piled up 126 medals (46 gold) to 70 for China (26) and 67 for Great Britain (27).
Looking at some of the sports …
• I had more interest than usual in men’s basketball, with the latest version of “Dream Team” winning gold but getting all it could handle before vanquishing Serbia in the semifinals and host France in the finals.
These Olympics reminded me of the kind of defense NBA players have the ability to play. Defense won it for the U.S. in its games against Serbia and France. Seeing players such as Devin Booker and Jrue Holiday hustling their buns off in shut-down mode was impressive to watch.
LeBron James won the Most Valuable Player Award, and it was deserving. Wire to wire, he was the best player on the floor. He held things together through rough patches, scored when necessary and got the ball to the right people throughout the tournament. That this literal graybeard can play like he does at age 39 defies the aging process.
There is something to be said for experience. The three best players for the U.S. were James, Stephen Curry (36) and Kevin Durant (35).
Through four games, Curry shot .357 from the field and .250 from 3-point range and looked a bit lost. In the medal round, he was sensational, scoring 60 points and sinking 17 of 27 3-pointers in the final two games, including four 3’s in the final three minutes with France refusing to go away. The prayer he knocked down that proved the dagger for the French reminded me of the final 3-point shot Magic Johnson sank during his MVP appearance in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game.
I was struck by how emotional Curry was to win gold in what will almost certainly be his only Olympic experience. Afterward, he used a term to describe his feelings about adding Olympic gold to his four NBA championships that made me smile.
“I’m smiling ‘cheese’ and having the best time of my life,” he told reporters, “because this might not come around again.”
It wasn’t just the Americans who drew my interest. In the finals, I saw France’s Victor Wembenyama play a complete game for the first time. The 7-4 French native scored 26 points, including three 3-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds and showed well on the biggest of stages. The stutter-step move that froze Joel Embiid and led to a Wemby dunk looked like something you might expect from a player a foot shorter.
I was also impressed with 6-8 forward Guerschon Yabusele, who scored 20 points, dunked on LeBron and stood toe to toe with his U.S. foes throughout the game. (Yabusele, 28, played 74 games over two seasons with the Celtics from 2017-19, averaging 2.3 points and 6.6 minutes. If he wasn’t ready then, he is certainly capable of playing in the NBA now.)
France basketball is on the rise. Three of the first six players in this year’s NBA draft — Zaccharie Risacher (No. 1 to Atlanta), Alex Sarr (No. 2 to Washington) and Tidjane Salaun (No. 6 to Charlotte) — are from France, and none of them were on the Olympic team. Add those three to Wembenyama and Yabusele and a few others and France could provide a major challenge to U.S. supremacy in Los Angeles in ’28.
Bogdan Bogdanovic has been a double-figure scorer and solid player in each of his seven NBA seasons with the Kings and Hawks, but I loved the way he competed for Serbia in the semis against the U.S. The 6-5 sharpshooter scored 20 points and didn’t back down from physical play by the U.S. team. It was why James made a special effort to offer a semi-long embrace and a few words for him in the post-game hug-a-thon.
• Women’s basketball didn’t captivate my interest. I watched parts of three games but did not see a single second of the U.S. team’s 67-66 win over France for the gold medal. Good for the Americans for rallying from a 10-point second-half deficit, but how did it come to be that they scored 25 points in the first half?
Ex-Duck Sabrina Ionescu helped the U.S. to the gold medal in women’s basketball, but she should have played more (courtesy UO sports communications)
Judging from what I saw, former Duck All-American Sabrina Ionescu got hosed by coach Cheryl Reeve, who played the former Oregon All-American only 13 minutes a game — and eight minutes per over the final three contests. Ionescu was reduced to a bit role despite playing pretty well in her brief appearances, dishing 20 assists, knocking down 6 of 15 treys and playing smart basketball. The U.S. could have used her savvy and competitive fire.
Not sure, either, why Brittney Griner played fewer than five minutes in the finale. But she has had bigger things to worry about this year.
• Track and field was sensational to watch, and the U.S. dominance was suffocating. The Americans took 34 medals in all — 14 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze. Far back in a tie for second were Kenya (4-2-4) and Great Britain (1-4-5) with 10 medals apiece.
There were so many magical moments provided by U.S. athletes, including:
— Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaking her own world record in the women’s 400 hurdles, then running the fastest leg of the U.S. team’s victory while setting the American record in the 4 by 400 relay. When McLaughlin-Levrone grabbed the baton and took off like a rocket in the second leg, the race was over.
— Sweden’s Armand Duplantis touching the sky at 20-6 while breaking his own world pole vault record. I had an interview with “Mondo” and wrote a story on him when he was a 17-year-old high school junior in Louisiana in 2017. He had greatness written all over him.
— Barlow High grad Ryan Crouser becoming the first three-time Olympic shot put champion, winning at 75-1 1/4 despite dealing with an array of injuries through the season. Crouser will be 35 in 2028 when he seeks a fourth straight crown in what will likely be his final year of competition. It says here that he gets it.
— Cole Hocker’s gutsy kick and victory in a personal-record 3:27.65 in the men’s 1,500, knocking off world record-holder Jakob Ingrithausen and 2023 world champion Josh Kerr in the process. Hocker was fortunate that down the final stretch, Ingrithausen was totally focused on Kerr and inadvertently opened the first lane by which Hocker was able to pass both runners en route to the tape. But what a run it was to glory for the ex-Duck.
— Grant Fisher’s breathtaking kicks that earned him bronze in both the 5,000 and 10,000, allowing the Stanford grad to become the first American male to win medals in both races in a single Games.
— Speaking of great finishes, there were two others that come to mind.
One was by Sha’Carri Richardson, who saved the U.S. team’s bacon with her anchor leg in both the semifinals and finals of the women’s 4 by 100 relay. Richardson had to make up ground in both races to finish first and carry the Americans to gold.
The other was by Femke Bol of The Netherlands, who came from nowhere to pass three competitors down the stretch and anchor a run to victory in the mixed 4 by 400 relay. Bol later used another frantic kick to secure silver for her country in the women’s 4 by 400 relay.
— Then there was Rai Benjamin holding off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a stirring duel to lead the U.S. to gold in the men’s 4 by 400 relay. Both were Olympic champions in other events — Benjamin in the 400 hurdles, Tebogo in the 200.
— When she is on the track, it is hard to take your eyes off of charismatic Gabby Thomas, who raced to gold in the 200 and ran legs on both of the U.S. winning relay units. The Harvard grad is charming in interviews and a tiger in competition.
— Kudos, too, to former Oregon runner Jessica Hull, who trailed Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon to the tape and earned silver in the women’s 1,500.
— The Americans showed dominance in the short races, winning on the men’s side in the 100, 400, 1,500 both hurdles and 4 by 400 relay and on the women’s side in the 200, both hurdles and both relays.
— Only major blemish was the botched baton exchange that earned the favored U.S. unit disqualification in the 4 by 100 relay. The U.S. hasn’t won gold in the event since 2000 or even a medal since 2004. That’s hard to believe from the country that has by far more depth than anyone else in the sprints.
• I watched nearly every bit of the swimming and gymnastics competition.
The U.S. dominated swimming with 28 total medals, eight of them gold. Australia was second with 18 medals, including seven gold.
Leon Marchand won all four of France’s gold medals and was the swimming star of the Games. The Arizona State Sun Devil, 22, emerged as the favorite son of the host country and a young man who won’t have trouble finding a date on campus in Tempe.
Meanwhile on the women’s side, Torri Huske (three gold, two silver), Regan Smith (two gold, three silver), Kate Douglass (two gold, two silver), Katie Ledecky (two gold, one silver, one bronze) and Gretchen Walsh (two gold, two silver) all made their mark for the Americans.
Beaver senior-to-be Jade Carey came up big for the U.S. in gymnastics, helping earn a gold in team all-around and claiming bronze in the vault (courtesy OSU sports communications)
• Simone Biles was the star of the gymnastics competition, claiming three gold medals and a silver. It was also a successful week for Oregon State’s Jade Carey, who helped the U.S. team to the team all-around title and earned bronze in the vault. It was a measure of redemption for Carey, who had placed eighth in the vault in the 2021 Olympic Games. I just wish the Beaver star would have had the chance to defend her floor exercise title in Tokyo.
• Most simple solution to the controversy that first gave the bronze medal in floor to Vancouver native Jordan Chiles, then returned it to Romania’s Ana Barbosu and is now back in the appeal process: Award both of them a bronze.
• And a shout-out to the U.S. men’s gymnasts, who pulled off the bronze in team all-around, ending a 16-year medal drought. And in particular to Stephen Nedoroscik, the “Clark Kent of pommel horse,” for his clutch performance to nail things down.
• What has happened to U.S. boxing? The men managed one medal, a bronze by Omari Jones at 156. The women got shut out. The American men haven’t won a gold since 2004. What in the name of Cassius Clay, Sugar Ray Leonard and Andre Ward is going on here?
• I’m scratching my head at the lineup of sports in Paris. 3-on-3 basketball? Beach volleyball? Surfing? Breaking? Skateboarding? Sport climbing? Trampoline gymnastics? All are activities enjoyed by many that require a degree of skill. But isn’t that what the Summer X Games are for?
• NBC did an excellent job with its coverage and Mike Tirico was peerless as host, but here is a quibble. All marks in the field portion of track and field were posted graphically in meters — the system recognized by the “Athletics” world and also by the home country of France.
That’s fine, but how about also converting them to the imperial system of feet and inches to its audience back home in America?
To be fair, a couple of the NBA broadcasters — I believe Eugene’s Paul Swangard was one — verbally offered conversions at times. It should be standard. It’s no stretch to say that, when watching Duplantis pole vault, “20 feet, six inches” means more to U.S. viewers than 6.096 meters.
• No matter what you think of him, the 2024 Summer Olympic Games are the greatest thing to ever happen to Snoop Dogg.
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