If there is one downside to the Olympics, it’s that years of expectations, planning, hype and hope all comes down to a few seconds, a few inches or even fractions thereof to determine whether or not we celebrate or lament. The “thrill of victory and agony of defeat” that was defined by the genius who first orchestrated what we now know as the modern media coverage of the Games, Roone Arledge, was never more evident than what transpired on the opening weekend of track and field competition in the gorgeous alternative location known as Saint-Denis.
Yesterday, as thrilling and as narrow a margin of victory was somehow achieved by Noah Lyles, a journey emotionally detailed by TIME’s Sean Gregory:
Noah Lyles and his long-time sports psychologist, Diana McNab, have been executing a pre-race routine all season long. Together, they come up with a sort of script, which lays out the psychological game plan on race day—from what Lyles should think when he wakes up, when he arrives at the track, when he’s warming up, when he’s in the blocks, and so on. This mental script is meant to produce strong physical results.
The plan paid off on Sunday night, when Lyles won the most incredible, dramatic, and contested 100-m final in Olympic history. In a photo finish, Lyles edged out Kishane Thompson of Jamaica by five-thousandths of a second on Sunday night at Stade de France.
THE NEW YORK TIMES captured the magical sprint of in meticulous and gorgeous manner in the piece dropped on their site, with further context that demonstrates exactly how narrow a difference there was between the glory of being the first American to become “The World’s Fastest Human” in 20 years and a goat (as opposed to a GOAT):
The race was so close that when it was over, seven of the eight sprinters saw “PHOTO” next to their name on the large scoreboard inside the Stade de France. The term indicates a closer inspection of the finish is required. In this case, the timing was extended to the thousandth of a second to determine the winner. Lyles finished in 9.784 seconds and Thompson in 9.789.
All this happened mere hours after what far too many described as disappointment in the women’s iteration. American Sha’Carri Richardson was, at long last, finally being given the opportunity she was denied in Tokyo. As the NEW YORK POST’s Mollie Walker reminded in her story:
The 24-year-old made her return to the Olympics this summer after a one-month suspension for testing positive for marijuana had precluded her from competing in Tokyo three years ago.
Richardson is anything but a serial doper and was not medicating in Japan. As the NEW YORK TIMES’ Victor Mather reported in July 2021, she was merely doing what a whole lot of other young women would otherwise be doing, especially during a stressful summer knowing she would on the world stage thousands of miles away in an atypically antispetic environment:
The news that the American sprinting star Sha’Carri Richardson faced disqualification from the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana quickly drew an outsized reaction across the country.
And for many people that reaction was: “Wait, you can be kicked out of the Olympics for pot?”
Richardson…said in an interview with NBC that she had used marijuana to help cope with the death of her biological mother a week before the trials. She said she learned about her mother during an interview with a reporter.
But under the rules, her positive test invalidated her result in the trials, keeping her out of the 100 at the Games.
Richardson eventually recovered emotionally as well as athletically, and reignited the degree of expectations in convincing and dramatic fashion, as Walker recounted:
Richardson has won a gold medal in the 100-meter event at the 2023 world championships. She also qualified for the Paris games in the U.S. Olympic trials in late June, with a time of 10:71 before winning her opening-round heat on Friday with a time of 10:94.
But on Saturday, as Walker also chronicled, an early slipup was ultimately too much for even her to overcome:
Finishing the event in 10.87 seconds, Richardson had a middling start before making up time to come in second place. (Julien) Alfred secured Saint Lucia’s first Olympic gold medal with her victory, beating Richardson by the largest margin in the women’s Olympic 100 since 2008. Getting off to a blazing start, Alfred battled through the rain and beat Richardson by .15 seconds.
Yes, it was not what Richardson wanted or built up. And especially in light of Lyles’ victory, her star is further diminished in the eyes of an awful lot of fair-weather supporters and marketers who seem to double down only on those who actually win gold.
I would offer that those that are reporting and opining this as a loss perhaps take the kind of approach that Walker did in her story’s lead paragraphs:
There was still a smile on Sha’Carri Richardson’s face as she wrapped herself in the stars and stripes on a rain-soaked track at Stade de France on Saturday, after the star American runner clocked in for a silver medal in the 100-meter sprint at the 2024 Paris Games. It wasn’t gold…but it was still a redemption race for Richardson.
And in some ways, triumphing in a battle that is decided in years rather than split seconds is as much the definition of a true champion than merely finishing first.
Celebrate them both. Light up something in both their honors. A cigar, if you’re so inclined. Or anything else you might consider apropos. After all, we all need to deal with disappointment at one time or another.
Courage…