I love the Olympics.
By my own count, I have texted that phrase eight times and said it many, many more since the opening ceremony.
It’s a two-week period where the best athletes in the world get to compete for everyone to watch. It’s fun to cheer for your home country, you get to watch the wildest sports (yes, I did become a fencing expert) and more importantly there’s an abundance of inspiring moments.
Simone Biles might have inspired more people by stepping away from gymnastics to focus on mental health than she does when competing, which is saying a lot. Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel dominated in the pool. IU athletes won 11 medals.
But there’s so many moments that go under the radar too, so I picked a few of my favorites that you might have missed.
Austrian biker wins road race gold in major upset
Anna Kiesenhofer doesn’t have a coach and doesn’t race professionally. Kiesenhofer does have a PhD in mathematics and teaches at the University of Lausanne. In fact, she engineered her own gold medal, using analytics to plan nutrition and how she rides at any given part of the race.
Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten, who was part of a Netherlands team that was favored to win a third straight gold in the event, won silver. But van Vleuten didn’t know that when she crossed the finish line. Kiesenhofer had finished so far ahead of everyone else that when, a minute and fifteen seconds later, van Vleuten crossed the finish line, she thought she had won gold.
Who said learning math was pointless? Pay attention in Algebra 1 kids; it might get you a gold medal.
The first ever skateboarding podium and no one can drive
The return of the summer Olympics after a five-year hiatus brought five new sports to the games, including skateboarding.
The gold medalist was Japanese skateboarder Momiji Nishiya, one of the youngest ever Olympic gold medalists at 13 years old. She just beat out Brazilian Rayssa Leal, who is younger than Nishiya by about three and a half months.
But don’t worry, the podium had an elder stateswoman in Japan’s Funa Nakayama, who turned 16 in June.
I got my license when I was 16 and three months, which is an equivalent accomplishment, right?
Two high jumpers decide to share a gold medal
Here’s the rundown on how high jump works — there’s a bar at a certain height. The jumpers have to clear that height and get three chances to do that. If you clear it you move on, if you don’t (after three tries), you’re done.
Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim cleared the bar every time they tried until it was raised to 2.37 meters. They both failed at the 2.39 mark, and gathered around the official, who explained they could go to a jump off to decide gold.
Instead, Barshim asked if they could share the gold. They could and they did.
Bronze went to Maksim Nedasekau from Belarus, who also cleared 2.37, but failed an attempt on an earlier jump.
Welcome to Tokyo, the Olympics where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.
