Illuminating IMPACT- Week 2 of the Paris 2024 Olympics

In our first Olympic blog we highlighted the themes we had noticed across the first week of competition. We continue in this edition of Illuminating IMPACT with a whistle-stop tour of the themes picked up in the final week of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

We continued to notice the IMPACT of how athletes and their support network maintain intrinsic motivation with a sub-plot emerging in the men’s singles Tennis competition. Novak Djokovic going for his 5^th attempt at Olympic Gold, the final missing trophy in an overflowing cabinet. Standing in his way, Carlos Alcaraz from Spain who was gunning for his first Olympic title at his first attempt. After Djokovic had won the ‘fairytale’ gold, with a game of breathtaking quality from both competitors, his former long-time coach Marian Vajda reached out stating “The Mission is completed; after so many years of sailing you reach the shore” giving a strong hint as to how the performance levels were reached and sustained.

Still within intrinsic motivation, the UK female artistic swimming duo of Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe gained a surprise silver medal for TeamGB – the countries’ first medal in the sport after 40 years of competition and against the backdrop of funding reductions. The duo cited their mums, Karen and Maria, who had been competitors in the same sport (and are now involved in their coaching) in the 1990s as vital to their success in driving their determination to write themselves into their country’s Olympic history by winning that first ever medal.

We noticed the IMPACT of and controlling the controllables – athletes and their teams staying focussed when things outside of their influence were seemingly working against them.

No event suffered so much to outside influences than the sailing, held in Marseille on a seemingly windless stretch of the Mediterranean and triathlon swimming events, held in the Seine with pollution levels varying according to rainfall. Sailing events were constantly delayed and the triathlon singles events moved with the team and marathon swimming event only confirming at the last minute.  Athletes have spoken of playing card games, table tennis, watching tv and hanging out with fellow competitors and family. The overarching theme here was that being left to dwell and overthink on their situation was not a good use of energy, rather to acknowledge they had done enough preparation and to be ready when the time came.

Another side story within the theme of focus was the competition between male 1500m runners Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtson. Both athletes were convinced they would beat the other in the men’s 1500m final and were not shy in stating this with their prophecies escalating into a war of words. The eventual winner of the race, US athlete Cole Hocker, was happy to push for the line on the inside of the track whilst Kerr and Ingebritson battled each other on the outside – literally, staying in his lane, to cruise to victory

We have noticed what the IMPACT of problem solving, learning in the moment and agility plays, particularly in the fast-paced event of Table Tennis where athletes have to adapt their games, points and shots according to the opponent’s own strategy pretty quickly or lose. Chess players would be familiar with this but table tennis players have less than a second to decide on specific shots. Coaches in Table Tennis are said to create the environment where athletes are helped to problem solve and adapt rather than sticking rigidly to a single strategy. The bronze-medal matches by the French team highlighted this problem solving beautifully, in particular the last match by the 17-year-old Felix Lebrun who seemed to pull out new and surprising shots at every point despite the incredible pressure, leading the men’s team to victory and a Bronze medal.

Boulder & Lead Gold medallist, Britain’s Toby Roberts had mentioned how he sees every wall as a puzzle to be solved, blocking out all distractions and focussing on the end result citing his mantra “you’re a climber and you know how to climb” as a way of channelling this focus. Toby’s father who is also his coach has also spoken of his own extraordinary ‘learning’ journey in the sport, from someone having no background in the world of climbing or indeed in coaching yet embarking on a learning journey alongside his son’s athletic ascent to becoming a gold medal winning climbing coach.

The US basketball team were expected to romp home to the gold medal but the game against France in the final was a lot closer than the final score line suggested. Only in the final 3 minutes of the game when the team flexed tactics and deployed the riskier strategy of getting the ball to Steph Curry who was tasked with attempting the more difficult 3 pointers did the game move firmly away from France. Speaking after the game, Steph mentioned that he had struggled earlier in the game but had found his rhythm in the final quarter – coach Steve Kerr had also said that his “shot making was storybook stuff – but that’s what Steph does, he likes to be in stories”

 We noticed the IMPACT a supportive culture has around performances.  Chair of UK sport, Katherine Grainger had said “It’s about winning well, not winning at any cost” when questioned about the UK medal tally and male Taekwondo silver medallist Caden Cunningham certainly demonstrated this in his match with Iranian athlete Arian Salimi. Hugging  each other before their final round in the gold medal rmatch, both athletes held each other’s arms aloft after the bout, with Cunningham going further, mentioning he has no problem in losing to a nice guy who was better than him on the day and yet his hunger for further success had grown.

Chinese athlete He Bing Jiao also embodied this culture – during the semi-final of badminton singles event, Spanish competitor Carolina Marin badly injured her knee and, despite trying to continue, had to concede defeat to He Bing Jiao from a winning position. During the ceremony, where He Bing Jiao picked up the silver medal, she could be seen holding a Spanish Olympic pin as a tribute to her stricken competitor.

It must be something with jumping, but we noticed the High Jump and Pole Vault athletes cheering and supporting their fellow competitors. Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis was going for another world record attempt in the Pole Vault final, which he duly shattered, going over a height of 6.25m (which is 75cm higher than a giraffe) and was cheered relentlessly by fellow athletes. After the event, Duplantis highlighted that there is such a strong respect for each-other and it makes it so much more enjoyable where there is this healthy balance between competitors. He went on to say that it had meant the world to him that they had stayed around to cheer him on.

Similarly, Julien Alfred, Olympic 100m sprinter for St Lucia was asked about her game plan for the 100m final and she simply replied “I wanted to go out there and have fun” and yet in doing so she won not only the first Gold medal for her country but the first of any colour.

And finally, we have loved the IMPACT that influences from other disciplines have had on the games, particularly with the introduction of Les Trois Coups (the 3 Hits) which draws the attention of the crowd to the impending performance. It is taken from French theatre where the stage master would strike the floor three times with a large stick to signal ‘attention – we’re about to start’ to the audience. Translating to the Olympic stage, the stick (or brigadier as it is known) has been wielded by well-known sporting figures, public personalities and volunteers – a cultural cross-over which metaphorically positions every session of Olympic competition as a performance akin to a ballet, concert or opera and subtly guides the crowd into an appreciation of this artistic angle as well of course as the competitive aspect.

On the eve of the Paralympic games, starting on 28^th August we eagerly anticipate more “magic” performances, as Tony Estanguet described them in the closing ceremony, and will continue to look out for more emerging themes that Illuminate IMPACT.