HPN will be covering the 2024 Paris Olympics, with something coming here every day before or during competition.
The Olympics has a way of finding early stars that shape the nature of the Games. Usually it’s an athlete with a breakthrough performance, or a moment of light relief taking away from the intense competition at hand.
In 2024 it has arguably has taken the form of a non-human object – the Seine.
The river was at the heart of the Opening Ceremony – the world’s first glimpse of Paris 2024. It’s been a source of gossip, controversy and confusion regarding it’s potential role in the Triathlon. It’s gone from being safe to swim in, to probably not so safe.
The fact that a body of water is the star of the Games so far makes sense considering how much water has come to embody the Olympics.
Athletics has been the showpiece and dominant force for much of the modern version of the Olympics. For over a century track and field had the highest number of medal events of any Olympic sport.
A quick note – a sport in Olympic terms is a little broader than many would consider. It is generally made up of disciplines overseen by one body. For “aquatics”, this includes swimming, open water swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming.
In the early days the water bound events in Aquatics weren’t even the second most awarded sport. Gymnastics, shooting and cycling all had more medal events than swimming in the first Olympics.
Sailing was the second most common event sport the first time the Olympics went to Paris in 1900 – a brief stay at the top before Aquatics took hold behind athletics in 1904.
Early Olympic games had vastly different schedules from cycle to cycle, but Aquatics (mostly swimming) established its lofty positioning by the second time the Olympics went to Paris in 1924.
But recent years have seen a dramatic change at the top. The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 saw a sport other than Athletics hold the top spot for gold medals award for the first time – a trend continued into Paris in 2024.
That new standard bearer? Aquatics of course, assisted by the gender based equalisation policies of the IOC in recent years and the introduction of a mixed gender relay.
How much longer Aquatics will remain the dominant force is anyone’s guess but at Paris the water is the true star of the show.
Event of the day
Cross-country mountain biking – men’s
Cycling is a sport – like Aquatics – that has dramatically expanded over the years from a humble Olympic start. Cycling is now contested in four different disciplines: track, road, BMX and mountain bike (MTB).
It’s the last of these that is the focus of today, with a winding course filled with climbs and downhill descents the focus of the riders. Bike handling comes to the absolute fore, with positioning and balance critical to remain near the top. The courses look frankly terrifying to most mere civilians.
At its best XCO riding (or Olympic Cross Country in longhand) is pulsating riding requiring as much speed and endurance as its road colleagues alongside this insane level of object and course focus. Courses often involve line choices combined with singletracks – making overtaking hard to nail at times.
Tom Pidcock – the defending Olympic and current world champion – comes into this race as the favourite despite only ranking ninth in the world. A big reason for the low ranking is down to the fact that the 24 year old spends much of his time on the road riding for the elite Ineos Grenadiers squad. Pidcock has also won a world title in the Cylcocross category – showing his versatility and bike handling abilities.
Pidcock will also feature in the road race later in Paris for Team GB where he will be a shot at an additional medal.
Alternative medal tally
It’s not just the aquatics sports that make use of the water, with sailing, surfing, rowing, canoeing, triathlon and modern pentathlon all based in or on the water bodies of the hosts as well. Australia targets many of these events and has had great success – to the point that it stands on the brink of a milestone.
Australia could well sit second behind only the Americans in water medals by the end of the Olympics, currently equal on gold medals with Germany (including former West Germany) and just one gold behind the combined Russian and Soviet teams. With the reduced Russian presence this year, German prowess in various watercraft looms as the obstacle for the Australian team.
Also performing historically very well in and around water are the former eastern bloc powerhouses of East Germany and landlocked Hungary, while China no doubt stands to surge up the standings in years to come.