Paris: The endless cycle of news stories, social media posts and video clips from an event as overwhelming as a Summer Olympics means you can overlook the things that matter most.
A brief interview with Team USA’s Kevin Durant following his team’s come-from-behind semi-final victory over Nikola Jokic’s Serbia on Thursday night was a reminder that the Olympics — expensive, dysfunctional and often unfair — holds relevance like never before.
“How can you not celebrate a win like that?” Durant told USA Basketball as he ate his dinner, with a glass of red wine in front of him, hours after the 95-91 victory. “Look at our families. That’s what it’s about. Coming together on the other side of world like that. It’s special tonight, man. You gotta celebrate. We want to win the gold, but you need to celebrate the small moments, too. Everyone here will remember this night for the rest of their lives. We showed in that fourth quarter how special we are.”
Those who argue the Olympics have run their race, that they’re no longer relevant, and too much of a financial impost on the host country need only look at the emotional celebrations of superstar athletes who make hundreds of millions of dollars in their day jobs.
After the USA’s victory, Durant and teammates LeBron James, Steph Curry and others hollered and hugged like they’d just won an NBA championship – which they’ve each done multiple times with and against each other.
The result sets up a showdown with host country France and their gun rookie, Victor Wembanyama, who along with his teammates was in shock, like the rest of the Bercy Arena, after they beat Germany in their semi-final. They seemingly didn’t know what to do.
United States’ LeBron James and Kevin Durant celebrate a basket against Serbia during a men’s semi-finals. Credit: nnaKCampbell
Then there’s Scottie Scheffler, the American golfer who earlier this year won his second US Masters to go with his US PGA Championship, US Open and British Open titles. He’s also won the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.
Most would argue he didn’t have much left to win before winning gold at Le Golf National with wife Meredith, three-month-old son Bennett and parents Scott and Diane in the stands.
But he openly wept on the podium when the Star-Spangled Banner was played.
“It was just very emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national anthem,” he explained.
Then there’s Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, who contested the men’s tennis final at Roland Garros.
They both cried after the final, with Serbia’s Djokovic winning 7-6, 7-6 – just a month after Spain’s Alcaraz had beaten him in straight sets at Wimbledon.
“Everything I felt in that moment when I won surpassed everything I thought or hoped that it would,” Djokovic said. “Being on that court with the Serbian flag raising, singing the Serbian anthem, with the gold around my neck, I think nothing can beat that in terms of professional sport. It definitely stands out as the biggest sporting achievement I have had.”
A reminder: Djokovic has won a record 24 grand slam titles.
The visceral response from superstar athletes who are so famous and successful they are global brands in their own right underlines an important point: that the Olympics still means a lot of things to a lot of people.
If this is how they feel about the Olympics, what of those who compete in sports for which this is their greatest measure of success? In which they earn very little money in comparison to basketball, golf and tennis icons?
When it was revealed that the Rio Olympics had cost $US13.2 billion – a huge burden for a country weighed down by poverty and struggling with crime – the debate cranked up about whether the over-hyped sports carnival was still worth it.
The good folk of Brisbane are still arguing about whether hosting the Games in 2032 is a good thing and will be for the next eight years.
Fair enough, but the chat about whether the modern Olympics still carries enough interest with the people of world can stop now.
And if you’re still not convinced, consider Cindy Ngamba, who competed in the 75-kilogram division in women’s boxing.
Ngamba, 25, came out as gay in 2018 and didn’t want to return to her native Cameroon where homosexuality is illegal. She feared persecution.
Here she was on Thursday night, at a packed Roland Garros, with the crowd chanting her name, fighting Panamanian veteran Atheyna Bylon.
She looked overawed in the first round but came storming home only to lose via a controversial split points decision.
But her bronze medal is the first for the IOC refugee team, which has competed at the last three Olympics.
“I want to tell the refugees around the world to keep on working hard, keep on pushing yourself and you can accomplish anything,” she said.
Tell me again the Olympics don’t matter.
Dogg with a Boney
When the wonderful Channel Nine reporter Brooke Boney turned up to the breaking event at La Concorde, she noticed the heavy security detail and said to her cameraman that either French President Emmanuel Macron or US rapper Snoop Dogg was in the house.
Brooke Boney and Snoop Dogg.
Turned out it was Snoop, who has been everywhere at these Games.
“When we got to the press zone there was a bit of movement in one of the tunnels and I was like, ‘He’s gonna pull up here so get your camera ready,’” she recalled. “Then it all happened so quickly so I just walked over as soon as I saw his car pull up and started talking to him.”
They chatted for five minutes before one of his peeps said it was time for Snoop, who is here for US broadcaster NBC, to leave.
Boney snuck in a quick photo and then asked if he’ll come to Brisbane in 2032. He said he would before adding: “Alright baby. Be sweet.”
THE QUOTE
“You have to live with it and file a complaint, show that you won’t let yourself be pushed around or intimidated.” — Closing ceremony executive director Thierry Reboul on the death threats directed at him since the controversial opening ceremony.
THUMBS UP
Perth’s Maddison Keeney became the first Australian diver ever to win an individual Olympic three-metre springboard medal, a well-deserved silver. When she received her medal from one her heroes, Oscar-winning actress and IOC member Michelle Yeoh, she told her “I love you!” She admitted later: “I probably embarrassed myself.” Not at all.
THUMBS DOWN
USA sprinter Noah Lyles had me on board all the way up until he finished third in the men’s 200m, hugged everyone then dramatically collapsed and required a wheelchair to leave the track. He later declared he had COVID. He stole the moment from Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.
It’s a big day in Paris for … Kenya’s Benson Kipruto, who will line up in the men’s marathon as one of the favourites and will be running in the memory for countryman Kelvin Kiptum, who died in car accident earlier this year.
It’s an even bigger day in Paris for … Australia’s women’s water polo team as it takes on Spain for the gold medal. Sitting in the stands will be former Wallaby Phil Kearns and Canterbury Bulldogs goalkicker Daryl Halligan cheering on their daughters Matilda and Bronte.
