A Three Medal Day

On a day like this, it’s hard to know where to begin. In a nutshell – more like a coconut shell, being of the very large nut variety – 14 NYAC athletes competed in six events in three sports (rowing, water polo and swimming) claiming three Olympic medals: two golds and one silver. I’m not going to confirm it, but I would wager that there are very few countries that had that kind of a day at the Olympic Games in Paris today.

In many ways, it is difficult to comprehend. The depth of athletic talent that resides at the New York Athletic Club is simply remarkable. That fact hit home in so many ways at the Club’s Olympics reception, held this afternoon in the gorgeous JP Morgan facility in Place Vendôme in the heart of Paris. Had you been there, in addition to the Club’s president, vice president, captain and secretary, you would have encountered NYAC swimming gold medalist Ryan Held (yes, he brought his medal), swimming silver medalist Drew Kibler, Paris judokas Maria Laborde and Angie Delgado, fencers Kat Holmes and Anne Cebula, modern pentathlete Jess Davis, triathlete Kirsten Kasper, and so many more. Four time Olympic medalist, Bruce Baumgartner arrived (having only arrived in Paris this morning). Fellow wrestling Olympian Kerry McCoy, an NYAC Hall of Famer, also made it. As did Carl Lewis, nine time Olympic gold medalist. Carl never competed for the Club; but he should have! Looking around the room is was easy to know why we – and others – call this the world’s greatest athletic club, with the world’s greatest athletes.

No other club does what the NYAC does to support Olympic athletes and to embrace the spirit of Olympism. The NYAC has done that since the dawn of the modern era of the Olympic Games and the fruits are borne in days such as today: three Olympic medals. Fittingly, recognition of such fact came with the announcement by World Athletics at today’s Olympics reception that the NYAC will receive a World Athletics Heritage Plaque in recognition of the Club’s lengthy support of and contribution to the sport of track and field. (Outside of the USA, track and field is known as “athletics.” Hence the world governing body is “World Athletics”). The NYAC will certainly keep on doing what it is doing; sometimes it’s just nice to see recognition of that fact.

Doing what they do is distinctly what our athletes did in the Olympic arena today. In the earliest action, the American women perfunctorily qualified for this evening’s final of the 4x200m freestyle relay, claiming heat one, ahead of Brazil and Great Britain. The NYAC’s Paige Madden, one of the top American 200m swimmers, did not swim in the heat, presumably to rest in anticipation of tonight’s final. We knew the team would get through the heats; it was in this evening’s final that all the tales would be told. Kate Douglass, already a silver medalist in the 4x100m freestyle relay, was also scheduled to be in the pool this evening, she competing in the final of the 200m breaststroke. The Madden family and the Douglass family were both at the NYAC reception this afternoon, as was NYAC swimming chair, Kristin Gary. As you may imagine, the anticipation was palpable. We will come back to it later, in all its palpability.

Staying with this morning’s action, it was focused on the rowing venue where, first of all, the US women’s eight, with six NYAC members in the boat, had to contest the repechage in order to advance to Saturday’s final (August 3rd). We presumed that was never going to be a problem; but, you never know. If the results were all known up front, we could give out the medals in advance. Anyway, the US team turned back Canada by the best part of second and secured its place in the medals race. In that final, the line-up will be Italy, Canada, Romania, Great Britain, USA and Australia. That’s like having a rock concert with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Black Sabbath and Prince. Meaning, it’s going to be good.

Though we may have been confident of the women’s eight advancing, next up was a final – the women’s four – in which anything could happen. Kelsey Reelick was the NYAC’s representative in the boat, in a powerhouse race that included the Netherlands, Great Britain, New Zealand and Romania, as well as the USA. If you have been following rowing results, you will know that that line-up represents a who’s who of Olympic rowing.

From the buzzer, the Dutch team never let it be questioned who the victors would be, surging to the forefront and turning back the persistent challenges of the British boat, though by less than two tenths of a second. Reelick and her teammates fought powerfully, going head to head throughout the 2K course with China. At the line, the US foursome prevailed, taking fifth place by less than two seconds.

There was medal action in the water this morning, too. Namely, Nick Mead in the final of the men’s four. This time, it was USA all the way, as the American boat took the lead at the outset and never allowed themselves to be denied that position, despite multiple challenges from New Zealand. The Kiwis mounted a late challenge over the last 500 meters and pulled to within half a boat’s length of the leaders, but the US upped its stroke rate and batted away the challenge to secure the victory. New Zealand claimed the silver medal, with Great Britain taking the bronze. This was the first gold medal for the USA in this event since the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome

While all of this was going on, the US men’s water polo team, with four NYAC members on the roster, was facing Greece in group play. Things have been rocky for the team thus far, the US having won one and lost one. This time it was to be one in the negative column, as the US went down to Greece 11-13, leaving the Stars and Stripes in fourth place in the group. Next up is a match-up with Montenegro. That one requires a win in order to advance to the knock-out tournament. No pressure.

Fans of NYAC swimming had their entire world focused on the Olympic swimming arena this evening. The reason being that both Paige Madden and Kate Douglass were in the water, the latter competing in the final of the women’s 200m breaststroke and the former in the final of the 4x200m freestyle. Let it be said, this was a glorious evening.

Douglass went first, in the 200m breaststroke final. “I feel like this whole year, I’ve just been training and physically preparing for this race,” she observed afterwards. The rewards were quickly evident. At the first turn, after 50m, South Africa’s powerhouse, Tatjana Smith, held the lead, albeit marginally, with Douglass in second and Holland’s Tes Schouten almost alongside. Thereafter, it was Douglass all the way, as she took command and never permitted herself any position other than that which would bring her a gold medal. At the wall, she touched at an American record of 2:19.24, with Smith and Schouten comfortably second and third.

Douglass reflected on her victory after the race. “Seeing it all come together and sticking to my race plan, I was so excited to see that I had gotten first. An American record, too, was awesome. I feel like it’s a surreal moment. I don’t know if all the emotions have set in yet. Maybe that will happen when I start to realize what I have accomplished.” The thing is that maybe this is not all that Douglass will accomplish. She has still got the 200m individual medley to go.

When an evening of athletics can end with a relay, that’s what should always happen. That’s because relays are always thrillers, even when you have no skin in the game. So it was this evening, especially so as the NYAC had skin aplenty involved. (Please, somebody, enlighten me as to the genesis of this truly questionable metaphor). The world-class NYAC athlete in question on this occasion was Paige Madden, who, after her USA teammates swam the relay’s preliminary round this morning, was called upon to get the job done in tonight’s final. With her fresh legs, Madden produced a storming second leg to secure a silver medal for Team USA (and Team NYAC), behind the Olympic record (7:38.08) of the winning Australian team, and comfortably ahead of China. (Notably, Katie Ledecky was part of Team USA, securing her 13th Olympic medal and becoming the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time). All in, it was a magnificent race, the culmination of a magnificent evening in the pool and a day of success at the Olympic Games that, most likely, only the New York Athletic Club enjoyed.

It is difficult to know how to encapsulate all of these spectacular results, just as it is to properly place them within the ongoing narrative that is the NYAC’s athletic history. Maybe Kate Douglass touched on it best in saying that it is surreal and that the reality only sets in with the passage of time. Of a certainty, in the weeks and months and years that are to come, we may look back and reflect that this was a special day in the NYAC’s already special Olympic history.