Another Gold Medal Day
This was a day of highs and lows, of thrills and spills. At this stage in Olympic competition, this is something we should know to expect. Nonetheless, the thrills are never less than exactly that, and the spills are never easy to accept. Most specifically, I am speaking of Tara Davis-Woodhall’s beautifully executed victory in this evening’s women’s long jump final, and the US women’s water polo team, who came oh-so-close but were denied a place in the gold medal round by a ferocious and ferociously good Australian squad.
Before we get to that, however, it is appropriate to tie up a few loose ends relating to yesterday’s wrestling intrigue (highlighted by Sarah Hildebrandt’s spectacular gold medal) and the woman who was supposed to have been Hildebrandt’s opponent in the gold medal bout. As detailed yesterday, Vinesh Vinesh (aka Vinesh Phogat) was disqualified for failing to make weight; not only disqualified from the final, she was DQ’d from the entire tournament, meaning from all the bouts in which she had made weight. That seems harsh, though there is a certain logic. In today’s news, Vinesh has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in hopes of being awarded a joint silver medal, the worst she would have received had she been able to face Hildebrandt. It’s a very long shot, but evidently worth a try.
Vinesh’ s other decision, seemingly made overnight, is to retire from the sport, ending a career that brought her three Olympic appearances (as well as becoming the first Indian woman ever to reach a wrestling final), three Commonwealth Games titles, two world championships bronze medals and an Asian Games gold medal. “Wrestling won and I lost,” she posted on X. “My dreams are shattered. Goodbye wrestling. I will always be indebted to you. I am sorry.”
If that is not heart-wrenching, I don’t know what is. It is not the first time that Vinesh has seen the bottom of the pit. In 2016 in Rio, she dislocated her right knee in the quarterfinals; in 2021, after a disappointing outing in Tokyo, she fell into a depression after being lambasted for her performance. “I was alone,” she commented at the time. “Everyone is treating me like I am a dead thing. I was better off with that broken leg. Now my body is not broken; but, I am broken.”
Not all stories from the Olympic Games are uplifting and inspiring. In reality, though, this one should be. Vinesh has been an iconoclast, fighting, through her athletic prowess, against sexist attitudes in India towards women in sports. During a street demonstration last year, she was arrested and unceremoniously loaded into a police van. The photos prompted international condemnation of the heavy handed police methods.
All of which is to signify that Vinesh is not weak, nor somebody to be pitied. She has certainly been misguided in her attempts to achieve excellence and has patently received poor direction. But for her commitment and for her strength and for her unwillingness to accept prejudicial societal norms, she is somebody to be prized and praised; which, hopefully, she will be once the detritus of her Paris outing has been swept away.
OK, yes, that is not an NYAC story; but the Olympics is the world in which this club lives and it is relevant. When excellence is the standard that you set and by which you measure yourself, a step back to gain perspective is not only relevant, it is necessary.
Directly specific to the NYAC this morning was another wrestling story. In this instance, it was the appearance of Darian Cruz, competing for Puerto Rico, in the men’s 57kg freestyle competition. The bronze medalist in last year’s Pan Am Games, Cruz’ first opponent was Egypt’s Gamal Mohamad, the 2022 African champion, whom he met in the round of 16. That bout went exactly to plan, with the NYAC man taking victory 4-1.
Next up came the quarter-finals against Rei Higuchi from Japan. This was a different caliber of competition. Higuchi was the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and the 2022 world champion. What, you may ask, was his result from his home Olympics in Tokyo in 2021? On the day of competition, he was 50 grams overweight. Ten nickels weigh 50 grams. “I took care of everything, including diet, exercise and caloric intake,” he said at the time. “It can’t be helped. I have no choice but to accept reality. The day I lost the chance to represent at the Tokyo Games, I began preparing for Paris.”
That was obvious once the match began. In the first period, Higuchi logged 10 points to Cruz’ one. Through the second period, there was not much that the NYAC man could do to turn the tide, and the victory by technical superiority went to Higuchi, 12-2. The Japanese star continued barnstorming his way through opponents, battling his way into tomorrow’s final (versus the USA’s Spencer Lee). That’s where things became curious and convoluted. The rules of wrestling mean that, because his vanquisher continued to vanquish, all the way to the gold medal round, Cruz, too, could advance. Usually, to the repechage. But in this instance, the rep couldn’t take place because the prospective opponent didn’t make weight. And, with no repechage, Cruz was looking at a bronze medal match. At least that’s how I understand it. The bronze bout is set for tomorrow, Friday (August 9th) against India’s Aman Sehrawat. This, by the way, took a lot of trans-Atlantic figuring out. I’m just saying.
Today also saw the modern pentathlon get underway, with the NYAC’s Jess Savner (née Davis) in the fray. For those unfamiliar with the event, it was conceived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the Modern Games, and made its first appearance at the Games of 1912 in Stockholm. The disciplines originally involved were running, shooting, swimming, fencing and equestrianism. The event has evolved over many years, as it is continuing to, with the equestrian event being replaced by an obstacle course in Los Angeles in four year’s time. Here in Paris, we had swimming, fencing, equestrianism and a combined run and laser shoot, very like the biathlon in the Winter Games.
Today’s competition was the fencing ranking rounds. In this, all competitors face off against each other in a round robin format using an épée sword, each bout lasting 60 seconds or until the first hit. A second round sees competitors fight each other based on the first round’s results. The last-placed athlete goes against the one next-placed. The winner receives two points and advances to compete against the next best-ranked athlete; the loser is eliminated. This continues until all but one athlete is eliminated. It’s more complicated than that, and that seems complicated enough; but those are the basics.
Once the smoke had cleared – more specifically, once the competition was over – Savner had secured 16 victories and suffered 19 losses (35 bouts!) accumulating 205 points and installing her in 21st position. The pole positions were held by 2016 Olympic silver medalist Elodie Clouvel (FRA) with 260 points, Michelle Gulyas (HUN), the 2022 world championships silver medalist with 245, and Tokyo champion Kate French (GBR) with 240. The women’s modern pentathlon competition continues on Saturday, when all of the other events, plus more fencing, kick off.
Today was a big day in the water polo pool. Actually, from here on in, every day is a big day in the water polo pool. The US men are in tomorrow’s semi-final; they haven’t gone that far since 2008, when they wound up winning silver medals. Today, the US women – all NYAC members – faced Australia in their semi-final, a decisive game, obviously, in determining if the US could win an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal.
The USA took an early lead, thanks to first quarter goals from Maddie Musselman and Jenna Flynn. Australia pulled one back with just nine seconds remaining, meaning that, with eight minutes and one quarter played, the US held a 2-1 advantage. Musselman, Jovana Sekulic and Emily Ausmus all found the net in the second quarter, increasing the US tally to five and holding Australia to a single score. At halfway, then, the advantage remained with the USA, 5-2.
The third quarter saw a swinging of the pendulum, moderate though it was. Australia found three with no US response, bringing the score to 5-5. Jenna Flynn scored, taking it to 6-5. Then Australia’s Abby Andrews made it 6-6. The legendary Maggie Steffens shot a rocket to make it 7-6. And that was how it stood with three quarters gone and one remaining. Ebb and flow, Australia clearing and building momentum, and basically nothing between them with just eight minutes remaining. In many ways, this was evolving to be a startling replica of the men’s quarter-final match, also versus Australia, that took place yesterday.
In fact, that’s what it was. Just as the men had been tied at the conclusion of regulation time, so was it with the women. Australia held the US to one goal (from Rachel Fattal) in the final period, while the wonders from down under hammered home two. That was it; full time, the score even at 8-8. Here we go again. Penalties.
And they came like howitzers, and with deadly accuracy. All five, from both sides. Rockets. Even Ashleigh Johnson, the world’s greatest goalkeeper, could not perform her customary miracles. After five, what could they do but keep going? Australia scored their sixth. It was a staring contest. And the US blinked. Musselman took the shot, a barnburner; but Aussie goalkeeper Gabriella Palm had its measure. Just like that, the dream was over. Four consecutive gold medals will not happen; but, the USA will play for bronze, against the Netherlands, on Saturday (August 10th). Which is a great result for any nation; just not the one that this nation wanted.
“I thought we executed our game plan, but we struggled to execute our opportunities,” commented Maggie Steffens, who, with this result, was denied her opportunity to win a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal. “We struggled to put the ball away. They were able to put the ball away when we couldn’t. We will reflect on this and do what we’ve always done: learn, get better. We still have one more opportunity. Unfortunately, that’s not for the gold medal and that’s our own doing. Now we’ve just got to get better and show how resilient we are, show how much better we can be. It’s going to be a tough game.”
The water polo result was one that tantalized – Could it happen? Would it happen? – but, in the women’s long jump final, Tara Davis-Woodhall was definitive, taking control early on and never letting go. The only jumpers who gave indication that they may be able to come close to denying Davis-Woodhall were the USA’s Jasmine Moore, already a bronze medalist from the triple jump, Germany’s Malaika Mihambo and Larissa Iapichino from Italy. But, as the competition evolved, it became ever more clear that this was only going to go one way.
Jumping seventh, Davis-Woodhall launched a long one on her first attempt, reaching 6.93m/22-9, a mark that moved her into second place behind Moore’s opening 6.96m/22-10. After that, the deed was done. Davis-Woodhall improved to 7.05m/23-1¾ on her second attempt and 7.10m/23-3½ on her fourth. Mihambo reached 6.98m/22-10¾ on her fifth, nudging Moore’s opener back to the bronze medal slot; and that was how it stayed. Nobody other than the NYAC woman exceeded seven meters, meaning that either two of Davis-Woodhall’s best jumps would have secured this title.
“It has been a very long journey,” commented the new Olympic champion, who secured a silver medal at last year’s world championships and who won the world indoor title in Scotland in March. “I’ve overcome so much to get to this point and I don’t think I realize right now that I’m the Olympic champion. It’s going to set in when I see my family again off the track.”
Davis-Woodhall will be back in this stadium later this month, though as a spectator, when her husband, Hunter Woodhall, also an NYAC athlete, competes in the 100m and 400m at the Paralympic Games.
The beauty of a day like today comes with the lens through which it must be viewed, very much like the perspective that should be applied to the circumstances surrounding Vinesh Phogat. Tara Davis-Woodhall won a gold medal. The US women’s water polo team will compete for bronze medals, as will Darian Cruz in wrestling. By any measure, that is a wonderful day. Not every competition unfolds as we would like it to. At the NYAC, the difference is that, most often they do. Let’s get used to that, but let’s not take it for granted.