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What an action packed Olympics it has been so far! We have seen some truly incredible feats so far, witnessed magical and emotional moments, seen dreams realised and others shattered to pieces. Today is another big day, with lots on the agenda, beginning with the men’s marathon, which is being held at a very Australian-friendly time. We see you and we appreciate you marathon organisers.
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There was plenty of excitement on day 13 and perhaps nothing lit up the internet more than Australian breaker Rachel ‘Raygun’ Gunn with a performance that sparked a million memes. We’ll come back to those a bit later on!
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The women’s beach volleyball wrapped up under the gaze of the Eiffel Tower with Brazil winning a hard-fought gold medal match, while Canada took silver and somehow famously landlocked nation Switzerland won bronze? Spain added to their football dominance with gold in the men’s competition, but couldn’t add a medal in the women’s to their trophy cabinet, going down to Germany in the bronze medal match.
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Imane Khelif fought back against the storm of online and real world hate she has endured with an inspirational performance to win gold for Algeria, Nafi Thiam put in a brilliant ‘jack of all trades’ performance to win the heptathlon gold for Belgium and the 4x100m relays were full of drama, with Canada winning the men’s event ahead of South Africa and Great Britain and the US taking out the women’s event with Great Britain getting silver and Germany bronze.
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Today is going to be another huge day, so keep up to date with everything that’s happening by visiting our live schedule, which will give you up to date timings for all the events in your timezone.
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Main Events
Sport climbing was one of my favorite events in the upcoming Olympics, so I thoroughly enjoyed Ewan Murray’s article about British teenager Toby Roberts and his incredible gold medal effort. The article includes this great quote from Roberts:
I’ve always loved climbing things.
I think there are a lot of advantages to sports that are won by teenagers who just want to mess around and do something (see also skateboarding and breaking) rather than rigid programs that rob you of your childhood, like gymnastics or swimming. While these newer sports certainly involve some pretty rigorous training, the young athletes still seem to have that childlike joy and true love of just trying.
Now, let’s move on to one of my favorite moments so far of Paris 2024. It happened during the beach volleyball gold medal match late last night/early this morning depending on your time zone. Let me describe the scene…
Folks, the import sand was angry that day. The atmosphere was boiling as Canadian and Brazilian players stormed the net, screaming in each other’s faces, and the umpire stepped in to try and get them back to their respective ends. They resisted relentlessly, growing more and more enraged, until finally they retreated. The umpire gave one of the Canadian players a yellow card, and both teams stood furious at their respective ends. Suddenly, the opening bars of John Lennon’s “Imagine” filled the air, and the angry players couldn’t stop small smiles from forming on their faces, but eventually they gave in to laughter and the tense atmosphere evaporated. There hasn’t been a more perfect Olympic musical moment since the injured, last-placed 50km race walkers entered the Stadium Australia to the tune of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Now, let’s talk about Rae Gunn. This morning, Australians learned that the women’s breaking (or B-girl) championship took place and was won. However, it wasn’t the winner that the world was watching, nor was it the 18 Australian gold medallists. It was Rachel “Rae Gunn” Gunn that everyone was talking about. The story mentions “online hate”, but I’m not sure I’d describe it that way. I might feel differently if I was on the receiving end of it. Mockery might be a better word, but even that seems a bit too strong. From what I’ve seen, it’s more like gentle teasing, which I think most Australians can understand.
After my 5-year-old niece said, “Check this out!” pic.twitter.com/KBAMSkgltj
— Alex (@alex_abads) August 9, 2024
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Speaking of medals, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. It’s no secret that Americans like to rank by medal totals, not gold medals. Here in Australia we’re a big proponent of the status quo, as medal totals would drop us down the rankings faster than the 10m platform. But we’re also big supporters of the “per capita” argument, especially after the swim is done.
There’s no surer sign that the Olympics are nearing an end than Australians uttering the word “per capita”
— James Colley (@JamColley) August 6, 2024
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There’s no surer sign that the Olympics are nearing an end than Australians uttering the word “per capita”
— James Colley (@JamColley) August 6, 2024
But a new challenger has entered the field, with the Goldilocks method devised by Robert C. Duncan, a retired astrophysicist from the University of Texas, and Andrew Parres, a strategic consultant and vice president at Charles River Associates in Boston, Massachusetts.
This ranks countries based on how unlikely it would be for them to win medals if all competing nations around the world had the same per capita medal propensity. Thus, the expected number of medals a country would win is Expected The chances of winning are proportional to population size: for example, the US population is about 13 times that of Australia, so the US is expected to win 13 times more medals at the Olympics.
Read all the details in Jackson Ryan’s fascinating article and let me know what you think. The link to email me is at the top of the page.
Before we dive into the analysis of the matches, let’s take a look at the medal tally. “Gert” Sports With the tournament over, Australia maintained its third place position behind the United States and China. Both of these countries have won an incredible number of medals. Japan, Great Britain, and France are close behind, and there is still plenty of room for a medal, so anything could happen. Well, nothing is going to happen, and no country is going to come close to the United States and China, but something is sure to happen.
preamble
Hello everyone and welcome to our live coverage of the 15th day of official competition at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
It’s been an action-packed Olympics so far. We’ve seen some truly amazing achievements, witnessed some magical, inspiring moments, seen dreams come true and some shattered. Today is another big day, and there’s a lot going on, including the men’s marathon, which is at a great time for Australia. To all the marathon organisers, we see you and we thank you.
Day 13 was a blast, but perhaps it was also the day Australian breaker Rachel ‘Raegun’ Gunn set the internet ablaze with her performance that sparked millions of memes – but more on that later.
In the women’s beach volleyball tournament, Brazil won the gold medal after a hard-fought battle, under the watchful eye of the Eiffel Tower, followed by Canada taking silver and landlocked Switzerland winning the bronze. Spain furthered their dominance in soccer by winning the gold medal in the men’s competition, but the women’s team was unable to add a medal to their trophy shelf, losing to Germany in the bronze medal match.
Imane Kherif fought back against the torrent of hate he endured online and in real life with an inspiring performance to win gold for Algeria. Nafi Thiam delivered a brilliant jack-of-all-trades performance to win heptathlon gold for Belgium. The 4x100m relay was full of drama as Canada won the men’s event ahead of South Africa and Great Britain, while the USA won the women’s event, with Great Britain taking silver and Germany taking bronze.
Today is shaping up to be another big day, so make sure you stay up to date on everything that’s happening by visiting our Live Schedule, which will give you the latest times for all events in your timezone.
