Bobbing for Medals: 2024 Edition

We spend most of the day watching the Olympics, so you don’t have to.

My favorite quote from Katie Ledecky after winning the Gold (again) for the 1500m freestyle race that she owns (she has the top 20 times in the world in the event!) was “I kind of let my mind wander during the race, thinking about all the people who helped me train.”  When Michael Phelps, the most medaled swimmer – in fact, athlete – in Olympic history heard this, he was flabbergasted, saying he couldn’t even imagine letting his mind wander during a race.  Though he then laughed and said, “Of course, I’ve never had to swim 1,500 meters.”  NBC had a great graphic on Ledecky – they determined from all her races and training during her career, she has swum 23,291 miles!  That’s almost the circumference of Earth.  Or one-tenth the way to the moon.

As I’ve noted, I love the whitewater kayak and canoeing events.  They had the women’s canoe slalom finals scheduled on the USA Network, but it got pre-empted when the preceding event ran long.  I almost let it pass, but then decided to track down the replay streaming on Peacock.  And boy, am I glad I did.  It was wonderful, exciting and emotional.

The USA canoer, 20-year-old Evy Leibfarth was not expected to do much in the race, but had a tremendous run that temporarily gave her the lead, though later was pushed to second place in Silver medal position.  The way the sport handles things, have all three racers in medal spots sit in a waiting area, and she was so excited being there, watching the other racers, that at one point when the camera showed them all, she burst into tears, just being there for however short a time that might be.  (To put her reaction in added perspective:  the last American to win a medal in canoe slalom was 20 years ago – the year Evy Leibfarth was born!)  But her position held – until there were three racers left.  If two of them beat her time, she’d be pushed out of the medals.  Though if only one did, she’d hold on and win the bronze.  Unfortunately, they rank things, and those final three were not only the top three contenders, but they included the legendary Australian Jessica Fox, who I love and wrote about the other day, when she won the Gold in the kayak slalom, and Gabriela Sakova, who is ranked #3 in the world.

The first of the three had a bad run, though.  But that brought up Fox – who was spectacular, with a run that put her in first place.  And if her time held up, she would be the first Olympian to win the slalom in both the canoe and kayak – and furthermore, she’s do it in the same Olympics!  But this pushed Evy Leibfarth down to Bronze position, with the #3 racer in the world left to go.  As all three of the potential medalists sat together waiting.  To win, Sakova had to top Fox’s amazing run of 98 seconds (101 with penalty points), though to push Leibfarth of the medals, she only had to beat 109 seconds.

And…#3 in the world Sakova, to everyone’s shock, had a terrible run.  It was clear she wouldn’t beat Fox for the Gold, though Leibarth’s place was still in doubt.  But as the clock ticked on, it seemed like she wouldn’t even get past Leibarth.  And then…this photo below is the moment when Jessica Fox realized it was clear she’d be the first person ever to win Olympic Gold in both canoe and slalom…and when Evy Leibfarth realized Sakova couldn’t beat her time, and she would actually win the Bronze.  (And Germany’s Elena Lilik knew the medal she unexpectedly won would be Silver.)  That’s Fox in the middle, and Leibarth on the far right. 

But let’s make it even better for you.  I reran the streaming footage and recorded the last 40 seconds of the race on my mobile phone, all the way through to when the results become official.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  As you watch the clock tick away in the lower right, know that the racer Gabriela Sakova has no chance for the Gold, but she has to beat 109 seconds to push Leibfarth out of the medals.  Again, when they cut to the waiting area, the overjoyed Jessica Fox is in the center, but keep your eyes on 20-year-old Evy Leibfarth, who in total disbelief is exploding in tears on the right.

This, in part, is why I watch the Olympics all day, including the obscure events, so you don’t have to.  And why I love the whitewater races.

In a tune-up before the Olympics, the USA men’s basketball team, made up entirely by NBA players, had a game against South Sudan, which doesn’t have a single indoor basketball court in the entire county.  Though the USA won, it was shockingly only by a single point, and came down to the last show.  As a result of that, many commentators yesterday were wondering whether the game between the USA and South Sudan that afternoon would challenge the Americans.  I would listen to this commentary and wonder if their bosses might be asking to be reimbursed for their salaries.  Stunning as the pre-Olympic game was, it wasn’t hard to see it as the USA team not caring much about a meaningless game and not taking South Sudan seriously – a really bad perspective to take, which almost backfired on them.  And it was easy to see that, in an Olympic game, the team of NBA all-stars would take the return match very seriously.  And win easily.  And so they did, leading by 19 points at the half, and then easing their way the rest of the game, winning 103-86.  (By the way, South Sudan played solid basketball, which shows how deeply international and successful basketball has become.)

There was a very funny comment by the analyst during the USA-England women’s field hockey match.  (Though she didn’t mean it was a joke, just to be descriptive.)  In order to not touch the ball so that it would go out of bounds, the American goalie Ashley Hoffman twisted her body in a convoluted manner that laid herself horizontal to the ground.  The analyst describe this as “having a Matrix moment.”  And so it was!  Hilarious.  (Making my photo all the better is that the speed of the ball caused that Matrixy flash in the frame.)

Finally, okay, I get it.  Snoop Dogg will be hosting a show for NBC this year.  And if I recall correctly, he’s helped fund a low-level Olympic sport, and he loves sports.  But the network is putting him on all over the place to do pretty much nothing. And if they want to use him to promote his coming show, at least give him something to do that would help make it look interesting and, in fact, promote it.  Last night, for instance, he did a featurette with the USA men’s basketball team, taking their bus with all these NBA all stars – LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and more -- to the arena.  And the entire piece largely consisted of him getting them all to sign a basketball for him and then, after noting that athletes need to rest (fascinating!), watching them sleep.  (Even more fascinating!!)

Now, if NBC would let Mary Carrillo do more of her great featurettes...and at the very least if they would post them on their Olympics website so more people could actually see those few that they aired...that would be a big step in the right direction.

​Let the Games continue...