Paris Olympics: athletics (02-08-2024)

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I arrive at the metro stop (which is not the one recommended by the guide, but it allowed me to get there from the hotel without changing) half an hour before the start and I ask myself 'will that be enough? Were it World or European Championships, I wouldn't worry so much about missing a heator two of the 100 in the decathlon, but my first athletics session at the Olympics I want to see it all. At the end of the avenue there is a first check of the rucksacks by the police, with a personal search: they even touch the button on my shorts. I arrive in front of the Stade de France and, unlike all the other competitions so far, my entrance is not the first one I encounter, in fact I have to make almost half a lap around the stadium. I find a gate with a long queue, and I hope that mine is not the same, instead there is more or less the same queue, but it's done quickly. We pass the ticket at the turnstile, it is the first event where there is no manual check.

Eventually I arrive inside the stadium 2-3 minutes before the start; they are presenting Bob Beamon and immediately afterwards they start with the decathlon presentation. My seat is in the first row of the second deck (out of three), far from the aisle: I think it will be a problem to get up during the session, but luckily it is not very hot and so drinking is not essential, so I manage not to take any breaks. My block is full, but in other blocks there are a few empties: such a full house for a morning session, however, I had never seen it, not even in London (where it was close). I'm at the start of the 200 metres, I have the balustrade in front of me, so I have to move slightly to see the outer lanes and the long jump sand, but I'm in an excellent position for LJ and  SP of the decathlon: in particular for one platform of LJ  I have the sandbox right in front of me and I can perfectly see the take-off and landing.

 

The row behind me is mostly occupied by Germans, a few rows behind there are Italians, you can also see a lot of Americans, but as soon as they announce the first French athlete, the decathlete Gletty, you can see that the home support is clearly predominant. Every time a home athlete takes to the track or the field the stadium explodes, even in the high jump qualification they celebrate every successful jump of their athletes almost like a medal. I have to say that in 2003 I did not remember such passionate cheering, but it may also be that back then they had more top athletes and so it seemed normal that they got excited for them.

 embrava normale si esaltassero per loro.

So we start with the decathlon's 100. After the first heat, they announce the first group of the hammer qualification. The scoreboard does not show the results; I think of a malfunction, but then, when it activates, I discover that they had not actually started yet, they were warm-up throws. Then there ts the women's high jump qualification (no Italians, how sad), which take place on the opposite side to mine, but with my old binoculars, bought right here at the 2003 World Championships, I can still follow them. They start at 1.83 and already two are out, including Levchenko, increasingly a shadow of the champion she once was. At 1.88, 5 athletes are out and Cunningham and Topic save themselves at the third, as well as at 1.92, where 14 remain and Demireva and Lake, among others, get out. They go to 1.95 (the qualification would have been 1.97), which only 6 clear: only Onnen is left out, who in addition to 1.88 and 1.92 in the third round had also cleared 1.83 on second.

 Then there is the preliminary round of the 100, which by definition only includes athletes who are the only ones from their countries: of some I am surprised that they do not have qualified athletes, especially Grenada, which has many top male athletes. Then we come to the first race with Italians: the 1500. First Meslek and then Riva collapse in the final and arrive far behind, but perhaps, as they would not have passed, they reserved themselves for the repechege round. In between, however, there was Arese, who always stayed with the leaders and in a big sprint even gave the impression of winning, but actually came third. In these first races you also have to get used to the new jerseys, which make some countries difficult to recognise. The most unrecognisable are the British, in black, then the Germans have an ochre that is more reminiscent of Australia, the Italians a faded blue, the Americans are a bit in grey a bit in blue, the Norwegians a bit in white and a bit in blue, the decathletes will also change throughout the competition. 

It comes down to the first 'real' round of the 100. I am completely on the opposite side, so I struggle to distinguish the placings at the finish, especially of the athletes in the outer lanes. In the first heat Sha'Carri immediately shoots 10.95 braking in the final, in the second Dosso starts well, then holds third place, but with 11.30: at the end 7 athletes will be eliminated with better times (but hers was also the heat with the worst wind). In 6 heats there will be at least one athlete under 11", in one even two (Ta Lou and Fraser-Pryce).

 Meanwhile, the decathlon continued first with the long jup, then the shot put. In both cases, the platform of the best was the one closest to me, In the long, Skotheim gets to 8.03, Neugebauer to 7.98, and I could see their borderline take-offs well, in the shot put, the French were exalted by Gletty, who took the best measure ahead of Neugebauer, who ended the morning in the lead.

Once the session is over, I decide to go home to rest, and seeing the queue to enter the metro, I wonder if I have made the right choice, When I return for the evening session, I have even less margin than in the morning: I seriously risk seeing at least the decathlon's high jump begun. In front of the gates, a volunteer points out to us that it is not compulsory to enter through the entrance shown on the ticket: I therefore decide to enter at the first gate I find and then move inside the stadium, as this saves distance. The bag check is the most thorough one I have ever undergone here: they make me open three pockets, usually they are satisfied with one or two (there are four in total, probably the fourth onehe I had not noticed). I look out into the stadium that the races have yet to start, but this time I really have to get a drink, so I miss a few decathlon jumps.

 I am in the first bend, slightly higher than this morning. So I see the high jump of the decathlon very well, but more or less badly everything else, the shot put is on the other side, I see the triple jump from behind and so I can't get an idea of the measures, even for the track races I don't have a good perspective for the finish placements. What's more, I only see one scoreboard. Next to me there are French, on both sides, but nearby I see Germans, Spaniards, a few Australians and an Irishwoman. In front you can see a sector of Irish and when they announce the relay you can see that there are so many of them, all over the stadium. At that time the British will also show up. You always meet a lot of Americans and Puerto Ricans too.

The first trackrace are the 5000 metres: Battocletti does very well in the first heat0, where she led the race and came in just behind Kipyegon and Hassan, while in the second heat Del Buono holds on until three laps from the end, but then gives up. Then the qualification of the women's triple: as I said, I can't see much, the only way I can get an idea of the size is to see how close to the sand they get with the step. With this criterion, Derkach's first jump looks good to me and in fact first the images, then the measurement confirm it: 14.19. Since this measure should guarantee her qualification, I almost completely disregard the competition: I later read that she also did 14.35. Only at the end does the announcer draw attention to Orji, who risks elimination, but then qualifies, In all competitions, the scoreboard always gives the measurement needed to qualify, even at the beginning, when it is insignificant.

On the other hand, I see the discus platform well: I see Osakue in warm-up making a throw around the qualifying mark (64 metres), but I think she had also done this at the European Championships, but this time she will confirm herself in the race, with 63.11 on her second throw. You only realise that the race has started when Altman goes way over the qualification mark (69.59) and a similar thing will happen in the second group.

It comes down to the mixed relay and it starts immediately with the Americans' world record in the first heat. Great enthusiasm from the French, who finish second. In the second heat the British are enthusiastic and win, while the Irish, despite the cheering, are never contending. Italy gains qualification in the final, overcoming Nigeria.

Having finished the mixed relay I thought I would go for something, but I stay to watch the epilogue of the decathlon high, which ends just before the 800 heats. I decide to walk away anyway, since the first Italian is in the third, but I come right back because there is too much queuing at the kiosks. I therefore manage to see the first heat as well. Of the Italians, Coiro comes close to qualifying and makes her personal best, Bellò stays further back. I didn't quite understand what the speaker turns "Coiro" into in English, it seems to me "Coairo", again with its horrendous pronunciations: "Iurena", Gàrcia", "Coul" (that would be Kaul).

 The highlight of the evening for us begins: the men's shot put qualification. From my position I can only see if a throw is before or after the two tapes (20m and the qualifier at 21.35), but if it is between the two I have no idea if it is closer to one or the other. Fabbri's first throw is worse than I had thought: 20.44 and in fact he would already be eliminated at the end of the first round. The second one looks very good, but it is nil. I think that even in Budapest he had only qualified on the third attempt and in fact he not only qualifies but makes the best measure.

Then there would be the 400 decathlon, but before the start of the first series there is a chorus that I don't understand at first, which doesn't stop, so much so that they have to postpone the start. Obtaining silence for the starter is often difficult, as I had seen in swimming, already once a 'Allez les bleus' had started with the athletes already on the blocks. When I see my neighbour watching the swimming on his mobile phone, I understand: it is "Allez Leon", dedicated to the swimmer Marchand, who is winning his fourth gold medal. Luckily it was 200 medley, not 1500, so after two minutes we can resume.

 At the end of the three heats of 400 field events have already been over for a while, so there is a break before the 10,000. I try again to get food: this time there is no queue, but there is nothing I like left. They start the 10,000, the only final of the day: the French incessantly support their Gressier and Schrub, who remain among the front runners at the start (towards the middle of the race Schrub will burst and retire). I realise that Kenya has to be added to the unrecognisable teams: only by comparing what I see with the placings on the scoreboard do I realise that it is them, they have a jersey similar to those of the Diamond League, which has nothing to do with their tradition. We get off to a fast start, thanks to the Ethiopians: first kilometre in 2'43", I had never seen a 10,000 at this level without an initial tactical phase. It goes on at 2'42 or less per kilometre until the 7th, only at the 8th did the pace slow down a little and the leading group regrouped, even Gressier came back. With 3 laps to go they accelerated again, at 300 metres Cheptegei took off and held the lead until the end, resisting the return of Aregawi and Fisher, silver and bronze respectively. The French celebrate Gressier's 13th place (anyway swith a national record, under below 27') as if it were a medal.

I see the celebrations of the medallists and Ethiopians and go, while many are still lingering. I walk out of the stadium as 'I will survive' rings out, only to realise shortly afterwards that I am going towards the wrong metro and where to turn back, making my way through all those going the other way

 My Olympic experience ends here, which causes a great sense of emptiness, but I think that there is one week left of the Olympics and that watching them on TV at least has the advantage that you can follow more competitions.