Paris 2024 Olympics 09: Athletics & Weightlifting

Thursday, August 8, 2024

This morning dad said he was still not feeling well and that he would stay behind at the hotel once again. Mom and I were disappointed by this news because today’s events at the Olympics were some that he had been looking forward to attending. I tried to convince him to just get out and join us, but he was steadfast about skipping today’s events.

Mom and I went to Gare de Lyon to get some breakfast, but we were disappointed in the options at the bakeries there. Nevertheless, we found something to eat for a light breakfast before catching our train. We had tried to find a local bakery near the hotel, but most of them were still closed so early in the morning.

We took the metro north to reach the Stade de France, located next to the aquatic center where we had attending diving last week. Before heading inside to find out seats, we grabbed some drinks at the concession stands. Upon enter the stadium, we were pleased to discover that our seats were located in the lower section, giving us amazing views over the field where the various events this morning would be taking place.

Event 15: Athletics

The athletics event consisted of several different events occurring simultaneously, similar to gymnastics. Closest to our seats was the shotput, at the far end of the field was the high-jump, and the purple -colored track ran around the entire field. We would be seeing several races throughout the morning, all while the shot put was taking place.

Today, several events for the women’s heptathlon would be taking place as well: 100m hurdles and high jump. At 10:00, the three heats of the women’s 100m hurdles got underway as part of the heptathlon. During the warmup prior to the start of competition, a German woman was practicing with the hurdles and suddenly fell over. It wasn’t clear what exactly had happened to her, but it appeared that she may have landed wrong on her ankle and injured herself. She remained on the ground while medical assistance was brought over to help her. She was eventually escorted off the field by the medical personnel and she did not take part in the day’s events. The 100m hurdles was great fun to watch – it is incredible how quickly they can run down the track, while also jumping over the hurdles!

In between heats of the 100m hurdles, mom and I watched the women’s shot put qualification. The sheer strength of the athletes was amazing, especially seeing how far they were able to throw the heavy metal ball – the shot. Watching this on television doesn’t really convey how far they are able to throw the ball.

Soon, the women competing in the heptathlon moved on from the hurdles and began their rounds on the high jump. Even though we were seated at the opposite side of the stadium, we were still able to see everything quite well. Each athlete would jump over the bar and once all of them had cleared a certain height the bar was raised to the next level. The athletes would then have to clear this height in turn, and the bar would be continually raised higher and higher as the competition went on. Those athletes who failed to clear the bar would be finished, and the competition continued until the final athlete was eliminated. The high bar eventually reached 1.92m high, which only two women were able to successfully clear. When the bar’s height was increased, neither of the two remaining competitors were able to clear it and the high jump event came to an end.

Throughout the high jump, which took quite a long time, several other races were taking place. The women’s 100m hurdles (regular round, not part of the heptathlon) took place. This was the repechages round, where the athletes who had been eliminated in earlier rounds were able to complete one final time for a spot in the semifinals. Only the final two in each of the three heats would be able to advance further in the competition.

Shortly after 11:00 the first of the day’s relays rook place: the women’s 4x100m relay. The relay consisted of two heats, with the top three teams in eat heat moving on to the final rounds. Each of the heats was very exciting to watch as the runners sprinted around the track, handing off the batons to their teammates throughout the race. The crowd in the stadium was cheering energetically for the runners, especially during the second heat when Team France was competing. In the end, the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Jamaica, and Switzerland all moved on to the finals.

The relay races were taking place simultaneously with the high jump, with the two areas crossing over one another. The jumpers began on the opposite side of the track, dashed across it and then jumped over the high bar. When the races were taking place, the high jumpers had to pause their competition so as to not interfere with the runners.

The next round was the men’s 4x100m relay, again made up of two heats. Team France was again competing, which elicited raucous cheering from the crowd. Mom’s favorite, Team Japan, was also taking part in the first heat. As with the women’s relay, the fastest three in each heat, plus the next two fastest across both heats, would move on to the finals. Mom and I enthusiastically cheered on the runners in both heats – the speed with which they were able to circle the track was just unbelievable. After both heats concluded, the USA, South Africa, Great Britain, China, France, and Canada all advanced, with Japan and Italy joining them as the next two fastest teams in the heats.

The final event of the day was the men’s 800s repechage round, made up of four different heats. Each of the men racing in this event were insanely fast, completing the 800m race in well under two minutes! The fastest two in each heat moved on to the semi-final rounds. We got to see an American runner compete, winning his heat (and overall the fastest time in the event). When the race was over, we had only a few more women to watch do the high jump before the competition came to an end.

Athletics had proved to be a very exciting event – both mom and I had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was a shame that dad had not been able to attend because he would have loved it as well.

For lunch today, mom and I wanted to go to a Georgian restaurant. I had mentioned trying Georgian food to her when we first arrived in Paris, but we had not had the opportunity to eat at one of the restaurants in the city until now. The restaurant we chose was south of the River Seine, quite close to Notre Dame; it was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall place and it was not very crowded when we arrived. The waitress was a bit… strange and not overly welcoming or friendly. I ordered khachapuri and mom ordered the ravioli. My food was brought out first and it was exactly like the ones that I had enjoyed when I visited Georgia. Mom tried it as well and really liked it too. When her ‘ravioli’ arrived, it turned out to be perogies that was served with a shot of vodka. We were both a bit surprised by her food, and it turned out to not be very tasty. I was disappointed that her lunch was more enjoyable, especially since this was her first time trying Georgian food.

After lunch, we decided to walk back to the hotel, walking by Notre Dame along the way. The walk, while not short, was quite nice. When we reached the hotel, dad was lying in bed watching television and said he was still feeling unwell. Mom and I both started to get our things together and packed away in our suitcases. Since we would be out at the Olympics the entirety of the next day, we needed to get started on packing now.

We still had quite a bit of time before this evening’s event, so I suggested to mom that we visit Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. We hopped on the metro and rode it over the Montmartre, where we found the area packed with tourists! The metro station was located at the bottom of the famous staircase the leads up to Sacre Coeur, so we soon began the trek up to the top. Despite the intimidating look of the stairs, it didn’t take us very long to reach the top of the hill where the church was located.

The view over the city of Paris from the top of the hill was breathtaking – the only thing we couldn’t see was the Eiffel Tower, which was hidden behind the many trees planted around the church. Mom and I got in the queue to go inside the church, which neither of us had ever visited before. It was pretty inside, but nothing overly remarkable. We then made out way back down the stairs to return to the metro so we could head off to this evening’s event.

Tonight’ venue was located in the south of the city, in another building of the complex where we had attended indoor volleyball. Both mom and I were a bit worried about the stands at the venue since the ones at volleyball had swayed quite a bit due to the crowd’s cheering and movement. Thankfully, the stands for this evening felt sturdier. We grabbed a bite to eat and a drink before heading to our seats.

Event 16: Weightlifting (men’s 73kg)

The weightlifting event tonight was the final, medal round of competition, which added quite a bit of excitement to the event. I had been on the fence about attending weightlifting when we bought the tickets, but it proved to be a surprisingly fascinating and captivating event to watch! The weightlifters had to complete in two separate rounds, showcasing two different lifting styles: the snatch, and the clean & jerk. Neither mom or I could really tell much of a difference between these two styles, but that didn’t detract from our enjoyment of the event. The lifter with the most points between the two events would win the gold medal.

Snatch was up first and began with the French athlete lifting 138kg. After each athlete competed, the remaining athletes and their coaches would submit their desired weights and the athlete with the lowest submission would then go out to do their lifting; each time they had to lift more than the previous competitor. This was confusing to us at first because we could not understand how the athletes were selected, but we quickly figured it out. The 12 athletes each had three attempts to lift as much weight as possible throughout the round. The Chinese weightlifter ended up lifting 168kg, which was more than the other competitors in the snatch round, and made him the leader going into the clean & jerk round.

When the clean & jerk round began, the French weightlifter again started things off and lifted 145kg, which was not a bad start to the round. The weights quickly increased from there though. The Chinese athlete consistently submitted a desired weight far higher than that of his fellow competitors, so he remained in the warmup area while the others came out to lift. This came across as pure arrogance on his part because his desired weights were around 20kg+ more than the others were submitting. When he finally came out to lift, his desired weight was 191kg – and he failed to complete the lift in each of his three attempts. This removed him from the competition since he failed to complete a clean & jerk lift! It was a surprise to many Chinese fans in the crowd, who soon left the competition before it had ended.

The final three weightlifters were from Bulgaria, Thailand, and Indonesia. With China eliminated, there was a lot of tension and excitement in the area as we all waited to see who would win gold. The Bulgarian completed his round with a successful lift of 190kg, which cinched the bronze medal. Thailand and Indonesia continued lifting more and more weight though. The Thai weightlifted maxed out at 198kg, setting a new junior world record in the process. The Indonesian managed to surpass that during his second attempt, lifting 199kg to win the gold medal – and also setting a new Olympic record for the clean & jerk. He attempted to lift over 200kg for his third try to possibly increase his Olympic record, but he ended up passing on it instead.

It was a very exciting finish to the event – not only seeing the three medal winners, but also the two different records being set! When the competition ended, there was a short break while the medal ceremony podium was setup on stage and the flags were brought out. The medal ceremony soon followed, with the crowd enthusiastically cheering on all three winners. Once the anthem of Indonesia had played, mom and I began to make our way to the exit. We were both amazed by how much we had enjoyed weightlifting – definitely the surprise hit of the Olympics!

We took the metro directly back to the hotel, where we did some more packing before heading to bed. It had been a long and eventful day, and we were both exhausted. Dad was not feeling any better by the time we got back, though he wasn’t feeling worse, which was at least a good sign. Our time at the Olympics was rapidly coming to a close, with the next day being our final day in Paris.