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PARIS — It was Jacques Rogge, before he became head of the International Olympic Committee, who had the vision to bring the very best athletes in the world, professional and amateur, all together at the Games.
He was in with the corporations. He wanted Tiger Woods golfing. He wanted Serena Williams and Roger Federer playing tennis. He wanted NBA players in the summer and NHL players in the winter. He wanted to take care of his sponsors and those at home watching on TV.
And Rogge, who passed away in 2021, would have loved these Summer Games of Paris for the star-studded lineups
almost everywhere.
Novak Djokovic, who has won everything that matters in tennis, treated his Olympic gold medal here as something larger than winning Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. And it wasn’t an act.
Scottie Scheffler, far and away the best golfer in the world today, won a gold.
You add Leon Marchand, the national hero here, and his four gold medals in swimming for the host country to the three golds won by Summer McIntosh and these have been a Rogge-like Games.
With Steph Curry and LeBron James playing basketball in a tournament against MVP Nikola Jokic — in maybe the greatest basketball game ever played — and watching these hugely paid professionals celebrate like they’ve never won anything before tells you much about what the Olympics mean.
There is nothing cynical about a love for sport. The greats came out to play at these Olympics on the grandest stage of all.
And so many performances — across the many venues of beauty — were absolutely breathtaking.
THIS AND THAT
I wasn’t surprised to see Shai Gilgeous-Alexander be the best player on Team Canada at the Olympics. I was surprised to see how poorly Jamal Murray played, considering his NBA playoff pedigree … Not a great Olympics for Canada’s teams. The women’s basketball team played badly. The men’s squad was knocked out before the semifinal round with a draw working in its favour. At least give credit to the women’s soccer team, in the midst of a controversy not of their making, pushing the limits about as far as it could … The best, of course, was the 4×100 relay team, winning gold out of Lane 9, qualifying last, the Canadian gold that almost fell from the sky … Expect Soccer Canada to go through a Hockey Canada kind of reorganization post-Olympics, with many top people being shown the door … With three gold medals and a silver in swimming for McIntosh, and Connor McDavid with a Conn Smythe Trophy, a playoff scoring title and a Stanley Cup loss in seven games, the Canadian athlete-of-the-year race is going to be a tight one. The bet here: McIntosh will win in a tight race in December and if she’s willing to fly back from the cottage for the closing ceremony here, she’ll carry the flag for Canada as the Games conclude on Sunday … Time was, when you won something big, the prime minister or the president called. These are the new Olympics: When American Gabby Thomas walked out of the 200-metre winning press conference, she was handed a phone. On the other end of the line was Snoop Dogg, which these days is a lot more meaningful than the traditional call from any P.M., or current president.
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HEAR AND THERE
I miss Olympic boxing, the way Olympic boxing used to be. And I miss the talent that it used to bring. What a spectacle this once was: I got hooked on Olympic boxing watching Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael Spinks, Leon Spinks and Howard Davis at the 1976 Games in Montreal. Leonard and the Spinks brothers went on to Hall of Fame careers and, over the years, at the Games we got a chance to watch Roy Jones, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Wladimir Klitschko, Felix Savon and they came after Olympic gold was won by Teofilo Stevenson, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Who, really, is even paying attention to boxing here, save for those caught up arguing about the gender controversy that isn’t on the women’s side. Is there anyone worth knowing or remembering here? Anyone? … I have to be one of these ‘wasn’t it better in the old days’ kind of guys, but with Olympic boxing, it was, especially when the Americans were great … It’s a lot the same with Canadian boxing. And congrats to Wyatt Sanford, the only Canadian to win a boxing medal here in Paris. He was, in fact, the only member of the Canadian men’s team. Same with the women. They had a one-woman team. How does a country the size of Canada send only two boxers to an event such as the Olympics? … The first Olympics I ever covered had Willie DeWit, Shawn O’Sullivan, Lennox Lewis, Dale Walters and Billy Dunlop all fighting for Canada … On the subject of whatever became of: How about Canadian rowers? This used to be one of our Olympic givens. Canada is winning more medals in a wider array of sport disciplines than ever before, but some long-term staples are hurting. One rowing medal was won in Paris. In the history of the Summer Olympics, Canada has won 67 medals in track, 54 in swimming and 43 in rowing. And after that, a big drop-off. Here, swimming and track more than held their own: Rowing, not so much … The real medals race here is for most gold medals won by a country. Heading into the final day, China led with 39 gold medals, while the U.S. had 38 … This is where Canadian sport truly takes on another side as an Olympic nation. Canada has just nine gold medals here, which is a lot considering the history of the country, but not good enough for top 10 in the world. Italy sat in 10th place as of Saturday with 11 gold medals and in fairness has 25 million more people than Canada has.
SCENE AND HEARD
The Paris subway system should be the envy of the world. It is incredible. It gets you everywhere, in every direction possible, rather conveniently. It sure puts the Toronto subway system to shame … With the Metro here, getting to Olympic events has never been easier. What’s not so easy is getting into Olympic events and sometimes finding your way around once you’re inside the venues. You know the old hit song ‘Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.’ That’s not these Olympics. There are signs, just not enough of them, especially in and around the venues. The two great challenges of two weeks of Olympics coverage was getting into buildings, navigating your way around fences, and getting out of buildings. Once you did that, the Metro takes care of the rest … Some Olympic rules just don’t make sense. For example, at Bercy Arena, where playoff basketball was being played, they close the concessions stands and lock the washrooms between games. In other words, in a hot arena, I couldn’t drink or relieve myself between games. Not sure who thought of that one. Sometimes you gotta go when you gotta go … Was there a better team and a smaller story at these Games than the U.S. basketball women? They got next to no coverage around the world and the decision to leave Caitlin Clark off the team looks worse now than it did when they made it months back … Just as has happened in the past, most recently in London in 2012, many of the local residents chose to leave the city during the Games. But what happened here is unusual: Many of the locals have seen how much fun these Games have been and how alive the city has been and they’ve returned home early from vacation.
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AND ANOTHER THING
My favourite summer Olympics was Sydney in 2000. But Paris comes close. These were a great Games overall … London, as a major city, did not take to the Olympics in 2012 the way Paris has here. The crowds, venue-to-venue, have been impressive. Nothing will ever match Sydney for the spirit of the Games of 2000, but this is close. The stands have been electric in many of the venues — and it’s not just the French fans, but from those all over Europe … Best venue for buzz: Roland Garros at tennis. Best venue for look: Beach volleyball at night, with the Eiffel Tower lit up in the background … There may be more pizza per capita available in Paris than any place I’ve ever been. And that includes Italy and New York. Great late -night indulgence for those of us who can’t avoid the world’s most perfect food … Completely unrelated to the Olympics, but I keep seeing more of the Daulton Varsho catches that have highlight-reeled this Blue Jays season without a whole lot of highlights otherwise. And every time the camera does a close-up on Varsho, I think of Steve Thomas. He almost looks like Stumpy’s little twin brother … Sometimes statistics don’t lie: When the basketball tournament ended for Team Canada’s men’s side, Jordi Fernandez’s group finished 11th in assists among 12 teams, 12th in rebounds and 11th in three-point-shooting. That explains more than a few things and more than just lacking size and toughness … And on the flip side, when the tournament ended for Canada after four games, Gilgeous-Alexander was second in scoring, second in fouls drawn, second in two-point shooting … There’s nothing wrong with 3×3 basketball as a sport. It’s something you should play in the park or on your driveway with your friends. It’s just not an Olympic sport. Not if I’m deciding on what makes an Olympic sport … And neither is break dancing … The next Summer Games in Los Angeles will have men’s and women’s flag football. I already think that’s ridiculous … And every Olympics, in my view, should have women’s softball and men’s baseball. How those rank below break dancing, pairs race walking, rock climbing and surfing is beyond me … Dick Chubey, the former wisecracking sports writer with the Edmonton Sun, once declared: “The only thing more boring than track is field.” That was long before Canada took over the hammer-throwing world and won a medal in pole vaulting. For now, until further notice, we kick hammer-throwing ass … And honestly, for the record, have you ever known anyone who threw hammers? Other than at IKEA instructions? I’ve been to those bars where they throw axes. But I have never personally known a hammer-thrower, not in the neighbourhood, not in the city, not anywhere, not friends of my kids, not until the gold medals were won this week … When I heard that ‘Shapiro’ was being considered for vice-presidency, I thought that would be great for the Blue Jays. Too bad. Wrong Shapiro, pronounced properly, and not the one Jays fans would like to show the door to … Considering what’s left of the Jays season and what’s left of their lineup, why would anyone pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? Why not make it easier and just pitch around him? … Masai Ujiri was a little early on Bruno Caboclo. He selected him in the first round of the NBA draft in 2014. Ten years later, Caboclo scored 17.3 points a game for Brazil at these Games, shot almost 60% from the field and, with 12 teams here, finished 13th in scoring. He actually looked like a player here. Caboclo is 28 years old … Happy birthday to Felix Auger-Aliassime (24), Brett Hull (60), Tyson Gay (42), Rod Laver (86), Deion Sanders (57), Louis Lipps (62), Riddick Bowe (57), David Steinberg (82), Dan Levy (41) … And hey, whatever became of Clara Hughes?
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