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Amidst the thousands of athletes competing in the XXXIII Olympic Games in Paris, France, U.S. stars Simone Biles, Noah Lyles and Sha’Carrie Richardson have all medaled, and U.S. swimming coach Anthony Nesty has seen his swim team leadership translate into people on the podium.
Biles closed out her 2024 Olympics with three gold medals and one silver to add to her monumental legacy. There will be critics who will point to her poor performances on the balance beam, where she finished fifth after slipping off the apparatus, and her stepping out of bounds twice in her final floor exercise as a difficult end to her legacy. These missteps opened the door for the favorite, Rebeca Andrade of Brazil to win the gold medal in the floor exercise by just 0.033 of a point.
Italy’s Alice D’Amato won gold on the beam, and Biles’ teammate Jordan Chiles added a bronze to her U.S. team gold. At first, Chiles’ routine put her in fifth place, but an inquiry by USA Gymnastics claiming her routine was more difficult than previously noted moved her up to third place. It was the first time in Olympic history that three Black women were on the medal podium for gymnastics.
Simone Biles and her medals from the Paris Olympics. PHOTO: SIMONE BILES
After all that Simone Biles has endured, particularly since the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, she should be roundly applauded for her overall performance in Paris, France. At age 27, she has not ruled out competing in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Lyles became the first American sprinter to capture gold in the 100-meter event since Justin Gatlin in 2004. He pulled off the feat by edging Kishane Thompson of Jamaica by 0.005 seconds in a photo-finish that has been described by many track experts as ‘the greatest 100-meter race in history’ to date. Lyles thought he had been beaten by Thompson and said as much when he came up behind him after crossing the finish line and told him, “Hey Kishane, I think you got it done.” Seconds later, the scene took a dramatic and shocking turn, when Lyles was named the winner by the ‘lean of his torso,’ the technical procedure used to determine the winner in a photo-finish, which had to be explained several times to the global-viewing audience. To the naked eye it looked like Thompson was the winner, but the finish line camera made the final decision — a decision that was too quick for human eyesight.
Jordan Chiles in action for UCLA. PHOTO: UCLA
Lyles went off the chain in his postrace celebration, which was disturbing to many people who are from a different era and expect a more dignified celebration than his mugging for the camera and repeatedly stating, “I told you, America, I got this.” This was from a man who just seconds before thought he had lost the race of his life, only to be gifted a victory by the slimmest of margins. Later, the gold medal winner took to Twitter, now called X, to explain, “I have asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become.”
I don’t know if Noah Lyles will ever come close to making an impact in this life other than as a track and field star, but there is hope. Kishane Thompson, a silver medalist, and American Fred Kerley, a bronze medalist, exhibited poise in defeat. Lyles will compete in the 200-meter individual sprint, his best event, the 4×100-meter relay, and the 4×400-meter relay events in an attempt to win four gold medals in these games. He claims that he wants to raise track and field to a higher global level. Less histrionics on his part would help that process.
Sha’Carrie Richardson failed in her attempt to be the fastest woman in the world when she was beaten by Julien Alfred of St. Lucia in the women’s 100-meter sprint event. Richardson, the favorite, was blown away by Alfred, who won the first-ever medal for her country.
And then there was the ‘gimmick’ event entitled “the mixed 4×400 meter relay,” where the United States lost the gold medal to the Netherlands when 17-year-old Kaylyn Brown was run down by the Dutch sprinting star Femke Bol in the final meters of the race. The U.S. relay team had set a world record in the earlier stage of qualifying, only to be upset by the Netherlands in the final. Criticism must be leveled on the U.S. track officials for placing such pressure on the young runner.
Anthony Nesty, coach of the U.S. swim team and the Florida Gators. PHOTO: U of Florida Athletics
United States swimming coach Anthony Nesty, a Black man who is the only Olympic medal winner from Suriname and only the second Black athlete to win an individual Olympic medal in swimming following Enith Brigitha from Netherlands-Antilles, is receiving plaudits following the recent exploits of his star pupils Katie Ledecky, Bobby Finke, and Kieran Smith, three major stars under his direction on the U.S. Olympic swimming team.
Nesty is a quiet, humble and dignified man, whose victory in Seoul, South Korea, was such a momentous social and political event to Afro-Caribbeans that the Suriname government commemorated his gold-medal performance on a stamp, gold and silver coins, a 25-guilders bank note, which portrays an illustration of a butterfly swimmer printed in his honor, and a plane. The indoor stadium in Paramaribo was also renamed for him. While Bobby Finke was enroute to winning the only individual gold medal for the U.S. men’s team in world record time of 14 minutes, 30.67 seconds, in the 1500-meter swim Nesty was seen shedding tears of joy. This is one of the most compelling stories of these Olympic Games as we head into the final week of competition.
Track and field, along with U.S. men’s and women’s basketball are the featured events of the final week of the 2024 Olympic Games. Stay tuned.
