The Paris Olympic Games concluded on Sunday, Aug. 11, after 16 days of fantastic competition. More than 10,000 athletes competed in 32 sports and 329 events.
Two hundred and six countries participated in the Games, along with the Refugee Olympic Team. The Paris Olympic Games brought the whole world together. Coming into it, pundits speculated whether the Olympic Games were still relevant or had become passe.
The resounding answer is that the Olympic Games are alive and well and moving on to Los Angeles for the 34th Summer Olympiad in 2028. There have been myriad summaries, recaps, and analyses of the games and all the sports competitions. My observations are limited to the game’s atmosphere and the track and field competition.
In the track and field, 48 events were contested, with running events from the 100m dash to the marathon and field events from the high jump to the javelin throw. American athletes won 34 medals in 25 events. The women won 14 medals, the men’s team 20, and the 400-meter mixed relay won the silver medal.
Across all Olympic sports, U.S. women won 67 medals to the men’s 59.
The biggest surprise of the track and field competition was the resurgence of the U.S. men in the middle distance and distance running events.
In the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, the men won one medal in the six middle and long-distance events. At Paris, the men would win five medals. On the first full day of track and field competition, Grant Fisher won a bronze medal in a scintillating 10k race.
Joshua Cheptegai of Uganda won gold in an Olympic record of 26:43.14. Fisher would charge down the last straightaway and snare third place in 26:43.
46, less than .02 seconds from winning silver. The first six men were separated by less than one second.
The men’s 10k has been contested at the Olympics since 1912, with the United States winning two medals—Billy Mills’s gold in 1964 and Galen Rupp’s silver in 2012. Fisher’s performance excited the entire USA Olympic team and set the tone for the rest of the competition. In the men’s 1500 run, three Americans, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, and Hobbs Kessler, advanced through the rounds and made it to the final.
In the 128-year history of the modern Olympic Games, only three Americans have ever won the race-James Lightbody in 1904, Mel Sheppard in 1908, and Matthew Centrowitz in 2016. All the pre-race hype was on the rivalry between Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr. Ingebrigtsen took the race out hard at a world-record pace, seemingly intent on proving he was the best.
Kerr kept his eyes on the Norwegian. The three Americans hung back but never lost contact with the leaders. With 100 meters left, the kicking began in earnest.
Ingebrigtsen, seemingly intent on making Kerr move wide, drifted right, allowing Cole Hocker to charge on the inside with Yared Nuguse charging on the outside. Hocker would win in an Olympic record 3:27.65, with Nuguse taking third in 3:27.
80, only one-thousandth of a second behind Kerr. The 21-year-old Kessler would finish fifth in 3:29.43.
Hocker’s time was nearly a three-second personal best. In the men’s 3k steeplechase, Kenneth Rooks ran a bold race. With a mile to go, Rooks was in last place.
With three laps to go, he was in 13th. With two laps to go, he moved up to 8th. With 400m to go, Rooks would take the lead.
Coming off the last water jump, only world champion and defending Olympic champion Morrocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali could catch Rooks. Rooks’s 8:06.41 was nearly a nine-second personal best.
On the penultimate day of the Olympic Games, Grant Fisher was in the men’s 5000-meter final. Unlike the 10k, the 5k turned into a sit-and-kick affair. Everyone was watching each other.
Once again, Fisher would keep himself on the rail but in contact with the leaders. Ingebrigtsen, the defending Olympic champion, was content to follow. With a mile to go, Ingebrigtsen was fifth and Fisher tenth.
With one lap to go, Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia made a big move; Ingebrigtsen responded and moved to the front. With 100 meters to go, Fisher was in seventh place and kept pushing and pushing. Fisher’s grit and kick carried him to a bronze medal in 13:15.
13. He is the only American to ever medal at 5k and 10k in the same Olympic Games. I would be remiss in not recapping what Faithe Kipyegon and Sifan Hassan accomplished when discussing the success of middle-distance and distance running at the Paris Games.
Their performances were legendary. Kipyegon of Kenya became the first male or female to win three straight Olympic gold medals in the 1500-meter run (2016, 2020, 2024). In Paris, she won in 3:51.
29, a new Olympic record. Five days later, she would win silver in the 5K (14:29.60).
In 2019, I anointed Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands as the greatest middle-distance/distance woman runner of all time. Her range from 800m to 10k was fantastic. She was ranked number one globally in the 1500, 5,000, and 10,000-meter runs.
She set a world record on the roads for the 5k. She had personal bests of 1:56.81 (800 meters), 3:51.
95 (1500 meters), 4:12.33 (mile), 8:18:49 (3k), and 29:06.82 for 10,000 meters.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she won gold in the 5000 and 10,000-meter runs and bronze in the 1500-meter run. In April 2023, Hassan ran her first marathon in London and came from far back to win in 2:18.33.
Six months later, she won the Chicago Marathon and ran the second-fastest time ever (2:13.44). Hassan was the world record holder at the mile, 5K, and 10K at different times.
In Paris, Hassan planned on running the distance treble of the 5k, 10k, and marathon. There was conjecture that this was too ambitious. She won bronze medals in the 5k and 10k.
The marathon was only 35 hours after the 10K. In the marathon, she would bide her time and then outkick marathon world record holder Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa to win in an Olympic record 2:22:55. It would be fair to say that Kipyegon is the best middle-distance woman runner ever and that Sifan Hassan is the best woman distance runner of all time (GOAT).
It is incredible to think that, at one time, women were considered too frail to run over 400 meters and that the women’s marathon was only added to the Olympic program in 1984. This should remind us that what is thought to be conventional wisdom often is not. The Morningstar Run Under the Stars (3.
5 miles) is more than just a run; it’s an experience. On Saturday evening, Aug. 31, the Lapolt family of New Paltz invites you to join them for a run through their neighborhood.
This event is a fundraiser for the food pantry at St. Joseph’s Church in New Paltz, and 100% of the proceeds go to the food pantry. While there’s no entry fee, donations are encouraged.
Check-in for the run begins at 6:30 p.m. at 14 Morningstar Drive, New Paltz, and the run/walk starts at 7:30 p.
m. All participants will receive glow sticks and are encouraged to wear headlamps. Additionally, unique awards will be given to the top finishers, and refreshments will be provided for all.
The whole event has the feel of a “block party.” It’s an excellent opportunity to run, walk, and have fun on a Saturday evening. Circle these September events on your calendar: * Sept.
7 – Jason Jones-Kent Reeves Memorial Run 5k. This race is organized by the Onteora High School Cross Country team and held in conjunction with the Town of Olive Day. Race day registration begins at 8:30 a.
m. at Davis Park in West Shokan, and the race starts at 9 a.m.
There are T-shirts, awards and refreshments. The entry fee is a modest $16. The race is run on rolling, lightly traveled country roads near Davis Park.
* Sept. 8 – The Barry Hopkins Memorial Run (3.8 miles) is at the beautiful Olana Historic Site in Greensport.
The Olana Historic Site is the former estate of the famed Hudson River landscape artist Frederic Edwin Church, and most of the course is run on unpaved carriage paths that give you a tour of the estate. This tour includes spectacular views of the Hudson River and the northern Catskill Mountain. The race also serves as #7 of the Onteora Runners Club (ORC) 2024 Grand Prix.
For all information and to register, visit the club website at www.onteorrunners.org/grand-prix.
* Sept. 22 – Pfalz Point Trail Challenge (10 miles) at the Mohonk Preserve Spring Farm Trailhead in High Falls. This 10-mile race is entirely on the preserve’s beautiful single-track and well-groomed unpaved carriage trails.
All proceeds aid the Mohonk Preserve in its mission of preserving and protecting more than 8,000 acres of open space on the Shawangunk Ridge. For all information and to register, visit the website at www.mohonkpreserve.
org/pfalz-point-trail-challenge/ * Sept. 22 – The Rosemary D Gruner 5K Run/Walk held in conjunction with the Benedictine Health Foundation’s Bike For Cancer Care. The bike rides and the 5k start at the O&W building at 79 Hurley Ave.
, Kingston. This year, the 5k is run entirely on the protected, newly renovated, paved O&W Rail Trail. All proceeds benefit the Benedictine Health Foundation Cancer Care Fund.
The fund provides economic assistance to individuals receiving cancer care in Ulster County. For all information and to register, visit the website www.bikeforcancer.
org * Sept. 22 – Catch A Rae 5K Run/Walk, one-mile kids race, and children’s dashes at Red Hook High School in Red Hook, NY. This event benefits the Alex in Action/Alexandra Rae Gravino Scholarship Fund.
The children’s mile and dashes are run on the high school track, while the 5k uses the roads between the high school and the Town of Red Hook Recreation Park. The 5k starts at 9 a.m.
, and the mile and dashes are later. For more information, google Catch A Rae 5K, and click GetMeRegistered.com.
* Sept. 29 – The Towpath 6k (3.7 miles) in Accord.
This run/walk benefits the Little Ones Children’s Literacy Program. It is a point-to-point course where you get bused to the start near the Alligierville Fire House and run back to the Accord Community Center via scenic Towpath Road. For all information and to register, visit runsignup.
com and search for Towpath Run 6K..
