• Even the least of the Olympians •
[1½ MIN READ]
You have your own Paris Olympics highlights, I’m sure; some we SRC-ers compared early notes about. It’s not really weird how many of mine hover around the female athletes, given that a record percentage competed this year, 48%, that for Team USA was 53%.
At the beginning, Wife and I tuned into the qualifying heats for women’s surfing…in Tahiti. You caught that fact, right? As a French territory, it was the most distant Olympic venue ever. It certainly made for more exciting surfing than the Seine.
How about the US women’s team bronzing in rugby for its first medal, ever? Over the Aussies? Most Americans probably had no idea it even got played in the US.
The usual deserving champions were all there—Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Katie Lydecky, Sha’Carri Richardson—but I don’t need to be all-American. Rebecca Andrade winning the women’s floor was huge. Then receiving kudos from Biles and Chiles? Totally boss. Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred winning the country’s first-ever medal as a gold? Gotta love it, even at the expense of the US.
And the running events? American Cole Hocker won the 1500m with a come-from-behind stunner. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the marathon with an Olympic record on the hardest course ever. The incline at the 3:48 mark of this video shames Shawmont Avenue. Then Sifan Hassan pulled a Just Gene and ran 3 distance events, winning gold in the marathon.
Finally, consider Bhutan’s Olympic marathoner Kinzang Lhamo finishing with a 3:52:59 time in last place and receiving a standing ovation.
There were more than a few tears of joy writing this Rumination. Hit me with your own epically memorable moments the next time we run: Tears of joy and reverence together.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (ZY Weekly Newsletter 8/10/24), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Rumination with added caption.
iCandybyWangC 
I’m partial to Sydney McLaughlin:
“I no longer run for self-recognition, but to reflect His perfect will that is already set in stone,” she wrote after she set the world record in June. “I don’t deserve anything. But by grace, through faith, Jesus has given me everything. Records come and go. The glory of God is eternal. Thank you, Father.”
Reminds me of Eric Liddle in Chariots of Fire. That’s the mark of a real class act in my book. Gives meaning to all the sacrifice and culminating work.