My Favorite Moments and Drama of the Sixth Day of the Olympic Games in Paris
The 2024 Paris Olympics concluded its first week with the women’s gymnastics all-around competition, an event that is always one of the most popular events at the games. While the result was not a surprise, it was encouraging. USA! USA!
Results of the sixth day of the Olympic Games: Biles wins gold
By far the biggest story from day six of the Paris Olympics was gymnast Simone Biles’ victory in the women’s all-around. The 27-year-old athlete was ahead of the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade by only 1,199 points.
Another notable result from day six: 17-year-old swimming phenom Summer McIntosh won her second gold medal with a dominant performance in the 200m butterfly. China’s Zheng Qingwen upset favorite Iga Swiatek, knocking her out of the medal race in the tennis semi-finals. And Liam Corrigan, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Nick Mead won the first US men’s rowing gold medal since 1960.
Gender and the 2024 Olympic Games
The Paris Olympics opened with some gender-bending, with drag queens included in the opening ceremony (gasp!) The usual suspects called it a “disgrace” and headed to their swoon couches while everyone else thought it was “cool” or almost did not notice. But the drag queen bust-up was just a preview of a broader gender problem facing the Olympics and sports in general.
The Olympics have made steady progress towards gender parity over the past 30 years or so, with 2024 marking a significant milestone for the games. For the first time, half of the athletes competing in the Olympic Games are women. The 50/50 split seems to be the goal, but the more complex (and politically charged) issue lies in these gender categories.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif instantly became the center of a gender storm on the sixth day of the Olympics when her opponent, Italian boxer Angela Carini, threw in the towel less than a minute before the fight began, ahead of Donald Trump, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and others to protest the inclusion Khelifa in games. Khelif’s ring record stands at 42 wins and 9 losses – decent, but not indicative of a strong fighter – but she was disqualified from the 2023 World Boxing Championships by the International Boxing Association , which said she failed a gender test . reportedly due to “high testosterone levels.” However, the IBA does not have a clear understanding of how it tests its athletes, and the circumstances of Khelif’s disqualification are unclear, to say the least.
Khelif was assigned female at birth. Her passport states that she is a woman, which is the criteria the Olympics uses to determine eligibility. But according to the Associated Press, following the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, many sports governing bodies such as World Aquatics, World Athletics and the International Cycling Union have updated eligibility rules to now bar athletes who have transitioned from male to male from competing in women’s events. female. and passed the period of male puberty. The IOC’s position is that there is no scientific or political consensus on issues of gender and equity.
Why do Olympic athletes bite their medals?
You may have seen photos of various Olympians biting into their medals on the podium as if they were chocolate bars. Biting used to be a dirty way to test if something was gold. Gold is soft, so it can leave teeth marks. However, the Olympics have not awarded pure gold gold medals since 1912, so athletes are not tested for purity. Instead, they follow the photographers’ directions. “It became an obsession among photographers,” Olympic historian David Wallecinski told CNN . “I think they look at it as an iconic shot, as something that could probably be sold. I don’t think the athletes could do it on their own.”
The oldest and youngest Olympians at the 2024 Olympics
Mary Hannah is the oldest athlete in the 2024 Olympics. She is 69 years old and is a reserve rider for the Australian Equestrian Team. Hannah will only compete if another member of her team is unable to do so, but 65-year-old Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo of Spain, also a rider, is not an understudy, so he will likely be the oldest athlete to compete. actually take part in the games this year. So if you want Olympic glory, get on this horse; you have four years until the games in Los Angeles.
The youngest athlete to compete at the Olympics this year was 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, representing China. A few days after the women’s final on August 6, she turns 12 years old. Several other young skateboarders are competing, such as 12-year-old Vareraya Sukasem from Thailand, 13-year-old Hayley Sirvijo from Finland and 14-year-old Canadian figure skater. Fay DeFazio Ebert, but there is a skater on the other side of the age spectrum. Andy McDonald from Great Britain will compete in the park on August 7th and is 50 years old . McDonald is proof that it’s never too late, although whether he breaks a hip remains to be seen.