2024 Olympics in Paris: Looking back at special moments

Vorlauf über 3000 Meter Hindernis. Olivia Gürth, deutsche Meisterin und Trainingspartnerin von Gesa Krause, spurtet in der Spitzengruppe um Platz vier. Fünf schaffen es in den Endlauf. Auf der Ziellinie wird sie kurz von einer Läuferin blockiert, zwei Läuferinnen rennen ins Ziel. Das Ergebnis: Sechste in 9:16,47 Minuten. Für Olivia Gürth ist Paris 2024 vorbei. Um eine Hundertstelsekunde geschlagen von Norah Jeruto.

Die Kenianerin, die für Kasachstan startet, hat eine Geschichte. Im April 2023, gut ein halbes Jahr nachdem sie in Eugene (Oregon) Weltmeisterin wurde, suspendierte die Integrity Unit der Leichtathleten (AIU) sie. Jerutos Blutwerte deuteten darauf hin, dass sie mit Eigenblut dope und mit Epo. Ein weiteres halbes Jahr später der Freispruch. Ein Arzt hatte ausgesagt, dass Jeruto an Darmgeschwüren leide, die stark bluteten, wenn sie sich in Kasachstan aufhalte.

Kehre sie heim nach Kenia, hörten die Blutungen auf. Deshalb schwankten die Werte. „Man muss das Vertrauen haben, dass das alles mit rechten Dingen zugeht bei ihrer Wiederzulassung“, sagt Olivia Gürth.

Her face is a rigid mask, her pupils are dilated. Her American colleague Emma Coburn tweeted at the time: “Friendly reminder: If a performance seems too good to be true… it is.” It is not Olivia Gürth who is running in the final, but Norah Jeruto. “You just have to believe in the system,” the German repeats, “that they know what they are doing.” What if you don’t believe? (mr.)

When Bruna Alexandre stepped up to the table, hardly anyone paid her any attention. France’s table tennis team had just made it through the first round, and most of the 6,000 spectators in the arena were busy celebrating their 17-year-old prodigy Félix Lebrun and his brother Alexis with the “Marseillaise” and the usual French nonsense.

At first, the rest of the spectators only had eyes for Timo Boll, who was taking part in the team competition to say goodbye to international sport. But after the new and old world stars of table tennis had finished their games, Bruna Alexandre was given the stage for herself and her happy Olympic message. It is: Don’t let a disability get you down, you can still make it to the top!

The audience, as they turned their eyes to table two, were taken aback, amazed – then they began to cheer for the Brazilian. Alexandre is missing her right arm; it had to be amputated after a thrombosis when she was an infant. She will therefore have to serve differently against the South Korean Lee Eun-hye, as she does at the Paralympics, where she has won four medals.

Alexandre struggles in vain to avoid defeat, but manages to score 19 points. Everyone in the hall recognizes the dedication and passion with which the number 182 in the women’s world rankings practices her sport: Long live inclusion! “Sport is a good way,” she encourages everyone to follow her example. The message has been received. Bruna Alexandre wants gold at the Paralympics in Paris soon. (kle.)

Done. Third. Bronze. Noah Hegge hits his kayak with his paddle and screams his joy. He has been fighting his way down the whitewater channel for a minute, against three competitors. First a free fall of almost three meters from the starting ramp, sitting in the boat, then, landing in the water, a capsize roll lengthways around his own axis, submerged with his head, and continued paddling around the thickly padded boat poles. The new Olympic discipline of kayak cross is spectacular.

Elena Lilik is already standing in the finish area, waiting for Noah Hegge. A few days earlier, she won silver in the canoe slalom at the Stade Nautique in Vaires-sur-Marne, in the east of the French capital, but narrowly finished fourth in the cross country.

The two 25-year-olds from Augsburg have known each other since they were children, competed in their first canoe competitions together, experienced the highs and lows of their sport, fought their way to Paris. They are experiencing their first Olympic Games together.

After Hegge’s race, Lilik jumps into the water, swims to him and hugs him. The disappointment over her own fourth place disappears and gives way to relief over her friend’s success. Both go home with a medal and the certainty that shared joy is still the best joy. (jbc.)

For boxer Roumaysa Boualam, the Olympics were over after the first fight. Lost. Eliminated. But the fight continued. On Monday, August 5, the Algerian was sitting in the ‘Salon des miroirs’ in the ninth arrondissement in the early afternoon. The International Boxing Association (IBA) had rented the mirror salon for a press conference to explain why the IBA excluded the Algerian boxers Imane Khelif and the Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting from their world championship last year.

The IBA is led by Umar Kremlev, a Russian agitator with at least a criminal past, who is connected via video link and spreads hatred. Three IBA officials are sitting on the stage, whose obvious incompetence does not overshadow their equally obvious ruthlessness. It is a reporter’s luck that Roumaysa Boualam is there to speak out in favor of her teammate Imane Khelif.

A crowd of journalists gathers around the Algerian, who have not yet left the hall in view of the IBA performance. Roumaysa Boualam sums up what is happening here this afternoon: “It is disgusting.” And the reporters who hold up recording devices to her can later hear on the recordings how, while Roumaysa Boualam is speaking, the IBA ends its press conference because it is unsuccessful. (chwb.)

It is the last award ceremony in gymnastics: Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles have already received their medals around their necks, silver and bronze respectively. The announcement is made by the Olympic champion: Rebeca Andrade. The Afro-Brazilian is about to climb to the top step; at that moment the two Americans turn to her and kneel down in front of her, their heads bowed, their arms outstretched towards the winner.

You can see how they laugh as they bow, and Andrade is in tears. She holds out her hands to both of them, asking them to stand up, then they hold hands and laugh together. The IOC member with the gold medal in her hand has to be patient.

Perhaps something like this is not uncommon in other sports that do not place such great importance on etiquette and tradition, and is not even worth mentioning. But in gymnastics, this scene was simply unimaginable. An Olympic podium with women who are 25, 27 and 23 years old; as recently as 2012, gymnastics was dominated by underage teenagers. The first black Olympic podium in women’s gymnastics ever.

“It was a completely black podium, that’s exciting,” said Biles later, who has often given insight into the countless hate comments she receives because she is black. Jordan, who could still lose her bronze medal after an appeal was apparently submitted a few seconds too late according to a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), had the idea to bow – “absolutely,” she replied. And last but not least, an Olympic floor final in which Simone Biles, indisputably the greatest gymnast of all time and three-time Olympic champion from Paris, competes and does not win. (sans.)

Victories, medals, good performances are important for athletes. But what is important for the audience, especially for the little ones, who look expectantly at the sport with wide eyes, at a world that is perhaps still unknown to them? A key moment. In the preliminary round match against France, professional basketball player Franz Wagner receives the ball well in front of the basket, dribbles into the French defense, jumps off, accompanied by three opponents, and slams the ball into the basket for a dunk.

Even cool observers are amazed. This move will stick. Do you remember back in Lille? Franz, what a thing! Just a tiny snippet. It can trigger big things in children: I want that too! They run out with the ball under their arm. Play Wagner.

Some will need a trainer at some point. People who inspire and offer solutions when things get difficult. Anyone who saw Coach Samir Suliman being embraced by the golden girls of the German 3×3 team behind the arena could guess what is important when something unique grows out of curiosity and enthusiasm: the interaction between people. (ahe.)