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The 2024 summer Olympics began last week in Paris, with the typical, if a bit unconventional, pomp and fanfare.
The flashy opening ceremony on the Seine River and throughout the city marked the start of two weeks of intense competition among the world’s top athletes.
Millions of Americans are tuning in to watch gymnast Simone Biles defy gravity with amazing grace and athleticism. They’ll watch with awe as swimmer Katie Ledecky races in her fourth Olympics, seeking to add to her already impressive gold medal haul. They’ll cheer for the men’s basketball team, once again led by LeBron James and other NBA stars, as they seek to continue their dominance at the Olympics.
They’ll find new unexpected heroes, like Stephen Nedoroscik, a bespeckled engineer and gymnast, who has now been compared to Clark Kent, Superman’s alter ego. The 25-year-old from Worcester, Massachusetts, performed a nearly flawless routine Monday on the pommel horse to help lead the American team to a bronze medal, its first podium finish in 16 years.
In other words, the Olympics could be just the break the world needs from the daily catalog of disheartening and unsettling news.
Sure, there are more important things happening in the world, and we shouldn’t completely tune them out, but the athleticism, sportsmanship and international showcase of the Olympics may be the diversion we need now.
Slate correspondent Justin Peters captured this sentiment very well in a recent article.
“There is always something more important than the Olympics happening somewhere in the world,” he wrote last week. “But the Olympics has pole vaulting and water polo and endless displays of athletic excellence and countless small moments of beauty and grace. The Olympics are fun, and the Olympics are brief, and all the terrible and important things in the world will still be there when the Olympics are over.”
The Olympics are fun. You could watch a sport that you’ve never seen before. Perhaps water polo, rhythmic gymnastics or skateboarding. Breakdancing is new this year.
It’s also fun to see what is happening on the sidelines or in the stands. British diver Tom Daley knitting, for example, became a sensation during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when fans weren’t allowed in the stands. He’s back winning medals and knitting again this year.
Watching the athletes support and cheer for one another, whether from the same country or not, is inspiring and a reminder that we can set aside our differences when we all have a similar goal.
The Olympics, as Peters wrote, are also brief. All of our problems, unfortunately, are likely to still be with us in August. So, for now, enjoy a bit of a respite by watching some of the world’s best athletes twirl, run, score and soar in pursuit of medals and their personal best.
And, if you’re worried about a post-Olympic let down, the Paralympic Games start on Aug. 28 in Paris and run through Sept. 8. These competitions also feature world-class athletes with amazing feats of athleticism and determination. A historic number of Paralympic events will be televised and streamed from Paris this year.
As the editorial board of the Virginian Pilot wrote last week: “What we may take from the Games, though, is an understanding of our common humanity and the importance of every moment. Let these athletes and these Olympics inspire us to not just dream of a better world, but to commit ourselves to building it.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
