Let the Games Begin
As the Olympic Games in Paris kick off tomorrow with the Opening Ceremony, 67 of the NYAC’s athletes are preparing to go head to head with the world’s finest athletes, all working hard to burnish the Club’s incomparable reputation in Olympic competition. It has been written countless times before, but it bears repeating: NYAC athletes have competed in every Olympic Games since the beginning of the Modern era in 1896 (including the boycotted 1980 Games in Moscow; Eamonn Coghlan ran the 5000m for his native Ireland); over that span of time, NYAC athletes have accumulated 291 Olympic medals, 164 of which have been gold. Notably, NYAC Paralympians have claimed five medals, two of which are gold. Among those medalists have been some of the most iconic names in Olympic history, among them Thomas Burke, Ray Ewry, John Flanagan, Jackson Scholz, Al Oerter, Bruce Baumgartner and Kayla Harrison. Oerter, notably, won the same event, the discus, in four consecutive Games and has been named one of the greatest Olympians of all time. It is no coincidence that it was Oerter who coined the words that appear on the back of every NYAC membership card: “Great things are expected of you when you wear the winged foot.”
Oerter embraced that mantra and became its personification. It would be a mistake, however, to presume that all of the Club’s greatest historical moments are in the past, as these Paris Games will certainly attest. As you read these words, Maggie Steffens, a stalwart of the NYAC’s women’s water polo team – arguably the most powerful club team in the world – is in the throes of a battle to emulate Oerter and claim her fourth consecutive water polo gold medal. If she is successful in the attempt, Steffens will assuredly be hailed as one of the finest Olympic water polo players of all time, taking her place in the pantheon, alongside Oerter, Baumgartner, Harrison, et al.
Steffens is not the only NYAC athlete in Paris seeking to become “Oerter-esque.” Taylor Knibb, a triathlon medalist from Tokyo, accepted the remarkable – and rarely seen – challenge of competing in two sports in the same Olympics. There are countless examples of athletes competing in multiple events in the same sport at a particular Olympics; and it is not unknown for athletes to compete in different sports in different Games. To compete in both Summer and Winter Games is also far from uncommon. Two sports in the same Games, however, is virtually unknown. Granted, in Knibb’s case there is significant overlap between her sports: the triathlon and the cycling time trial. Consider, however, that while training at an enormous intensity to compete against – and defeat, as she does – the finest multi-sport athletes in the world, Knibb is also among the world’s foremost cyclists. In this era, elite triathletes can make any swimmer, runner or cyclist work hard in a single sport competition; but never, until now, has a triathlete been at a sufficiently high level to earn Olympic selection in one of those individual sports, in addition to her or his favored three-sport event. It is a stunning accomplishment, regardless of outcome.
Steffens and Knibb are just two of the NYAC’s Paris Olympians who have manifestly embraced the mantra of Al Oerter and who, through their stolid commitment to athletic performance at the highest level, can secure their places in the history books in the same manner as the iconic athletes who came before them.
As the Olympic Games continue in Paris, and as the Paralympic Games, featuring four NYAC athletes, get set to begin on August 28th, it is salient – and inspiring – to consider that the history of the historic New York Athletic Club is very much a vibrant and ongoing facet of modern-day Club life, being written by our elite athletes every day. The latest chapter is being written in Paris at this very moment.