Too Much Excellence

Is it possible to have too much excellence? Too much of a good thing? I confess, after yesterday’s profusion of medals, I am fairly banjaxed. And I wasn’t even competing. So, I am glad of today’s respite, marginal though it may be. For any other club, any other nation, athletes in three finals in one day, such as we have today, would be massive; for the New York Athletic Club, it is a light schedule.

After yesterday’s five medal haul (actually six) from rowing, swimming and track and field (plus, Omari Jones’ still TBD medal from boxing), things are far calmer today, with Deanna Price contesting the qualifying rounds of the women’s hammer throw, Rudy Winkler challenging for medals in the final of the men’s hammer, and finals taking place in the swimming pool for the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relays. The swimming events require a little explanation.

Hunter Armstrong and Nic Fink, both of them already gold medalists from these Games (plus, Fink has also got a silver), will contest the men’s race this evening; but Douglass will not compete in the women’s event. She did, however, contest the prelims; therefore, however that team fares, the NYAC woman will be eligible for a share of the bounty. Or not, if there isn’t any bounty. We’re expecting bounty.

The swimming events come towards the end of today’s schedule; the NYAC day started with the qualifying rounds of the women’s hammer throw. Club hopes for a medal lie with Deanna Price, the 2019 world champion, who struggled with severe injuries during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, placing just eighth (as she had in Rio) before fighting her way back to place third at the 2023 world championships. This morning, Price gave every indication that she is in shape to enjoy her best Olympics yet, taking just two throws, the second being an automatic qualifier of 73.79m/242-1 (the qualifying mark being 73.00m/239-6), and then calling it a day. Price cannot expect to have things all her own way in the final on Tuesday (August 6th); Krista Tervo from Finland set a national record of 74.79m/245-4 in qualifying, while Canada’s world champion, Camryn Rogers, reached 74.69m/245-0 and the USA’s Annette Echikunwoke got to 73.52m/241-2. Any of a handful of women could take this title. All will be revealed in two evenings’ time.

The women are Tuesday night; but, the men were this evening, NYAC hopes riding with Rudy Winkler, competing here in his third Olympic Games.

Winkler had advanced to this final courtesy of an auto-qualifying 77.29m/253-7, the fourth farthest of that early round. Most demonstrative, though, was Canada’s Ethan Katzberg, the world champion, who fouled his first, then spun out a perfunctory 79.93m/262-3, before heading for a massage, a snooze, a hot dog, something non-hammer-related; the job here was done.

Harkening to the aforementioned women’s 4x100m medley relay, Kate Douglass, as it turns out, won a gold medal this evening, even though she didn’t get wet. As mentioned, the NYAC woman swam in the heats, playing an indispensable role in sending the US team to the final. Thus, when that team won the gold medal, reducing the world record from 3:50.40 to 3:49.63 in the process, Douglass was in line for a cut of the hardware.

With Regan Smith taking the opening backstroke leg, early challenges came from China, Canada and Australia; but once Lilly King accepted the exchange for the breaststroke leg, the US dominance became ever more evident. Gretchen Walsh swam a masterful butterfly segment, handing off to Torri Huske ahead of world record pace and three meters ahead of the chasing pack, comprised of, still, Australia, China and Canada. All Huske had to do was bring it home, which she did in glorious fashion, securing both the gold and the record. And, let it be said, notching another gold medal for the NYAC.

The men’s 4x100m medley relay was next, this one with two Club members on the roster and, indeed, in the water. Nic Fink and Hunter Armstrong have already enjoyed success at these Games; Fink claimed a gold in the 4x100m mixed medley relay and a silver in the 100m breaststroke, and Armstrong captured a gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Here they added one more silver apiece after an enthralling battle with China and France.

Ryan Murphy took the opening backstroke leg, bringing the team home just a hair’s breadth down on China and the same margin up on France. Fink took breaststroke duties for leg two, holding second position behind China, with Great Britain making a brief flirtation with a medal position before being re-taken by France. On the third leg, the butterfly, Caleb Dressel produced a stormer to bring the team into second, but with France having taken the lead and looking ready to assume control. It was all on the final 100m freestyle, with Hunter Armstrong waiting in the blocks.

With France powering onward, Armstrong launched himself into the water marginally ahead of China’s Zhanle Pan. As they hit the turnaround, the US and China were virtually level, with France seemingly in the driving seat and ready to push for the line. As the battle for silver intensified in the home straight, however, it soon evolved into a battle for gold, as France’s Florent Manaudou began to feel the effects, permitting first Pan and then Armstrong to inch past in the closing 15 meters. At the wall, China had it by a scant 0.55 seconds from the USA, with France holding on to the bronze less than half a second further back.

In the space of 45 minutes, therefore, three more medals had been added to the NYAC trove, a gold and two silvers, bringing the total, now, to 16, plus the TBD for Omari Jones.

The night was not over. Rudy Winkler was on deck in the final of the men’s hammer throw, the event in which he had placed seventh in Tokyo. Having enjoyed a #2 ranking in the world in 2023, quite rightly, he came into this match with the intention of taking several steps up the ladder.

After three attempts, however, the NYAC man was in sixth place with a best throw of 77.92m/255-7, that having come on his first attempt, his next two being fouls. That’s not good. The aforementioned Katzberg held the pole position with a mighty 84.12m/276-0 (his second and third were also fouls), more than four meters up on second-placed Bence Halasz from Hungary (79.97m/262-4), with Mykhaylo Kokhan from Ukraine in third (79.39m/260-5).

After three rounds, only the top eight get the chance for three more throws. Winkler was among them, but he was unable to use the additional throws to good effect. His fourth attempt was another foul. His fifth went to a mediocre 71.90m/235-10, meaning that he had one chance to be Joe Kovacs. This one, though, was also a foul, leaving the NYAC man in sixth position; not where he wanted to be, but still sixth in the Olympic Games. Many would take it.

The final placings were as exactly as they had been at the end of round three: Katzberg took the gold (84.12m/276-0), Halasz the silver (79.97m/262-4) and Kokhan the bronze (79.39m/260-5).

Today is Sunday. One week from today, these Olympic Games will be over. After all the years of preparation and anticipation, by athletes, organizers and nations, all questions will have been answered and all results will have been tallied. Then will come the analysis, the conjecture and the reflection. These Games will be weighed against Tokyo and Rio and London and all of the Games that have gone before. Earlier today, I was doing a little tallying of my own, looking at NYAC successes so far and contemplating those that may still be to come. If things go as planned – more like, as hoped – when the smoke has cleared we may find that these have been one of the most, if not the most, successful NYAC Olympics in history. There is, of course, still a week to go, and anything can happen. However, in answer to the question posed in the opening sentence of this narrative, the answer is “no.” Definitely, no. No.