After four years of waiting, the Olympics and Paralympics have finally come around, and better yet they played out very well in the United States’ favor. The Olympics started on July 26 and spanned until August 11th, and the Paralympics, August 26th until September 8th.
Ending with a grand total of 129 medals from the Olympics and 105 medals from the Paralympics, the United States came in first in the Olympics and third in the Paralympics out of all other countries.
The Olympics, debuting break dancing and kayak cross, was hosted in Paris from July twen- ty-sixth to September eleventh, the Paralympics from August twenty-eighth to september eighth. Break dancing will not be returnig to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 because of funding and because the Olympic event wasn’t executed the way that the de- signers intended it to be. The most watched Olympic event at WFS school was gymnastics, with swimming as a close second, which makes sense because those are also some of the most watched events globally.
The United States performance at the Olym- pics was generally thought of as good by the Friends community between all the sports. Maya Dobson class of ‘24 says, “I think that the US did a really good job, the mens four was expected to do the best out of all the boats but they delivered really well and fought really hard, and I’m really proud.”
In the sport of rowing, there is an event called the mens four. It is where there are four men in one of the rowing boats, without a coxswain. The USA rowing men’s four won gold after edging out New Zealand by less than a second. One of the men that was rowing with them came from Newport Rowing Club in Dela- ware, his name is Justin Best.
Nick Heckles, class of ‘24 says “The track and field did the best and showed the most for the country.” The USA track and athletics team won many gold med- als making it the highest medal awarded category at the Paris Olympics for the United States.
There were also some different opinions on the performances leaning more towards the things that the United States could improve on. Mike McKenzie, the physical education teacher says, “I’m used to seeing the USA win a few more things and I don’t know if it had to do with the coverage showing more of a variety of events and not just the events that the USA is really good at.” The world outside of the United States has re- ally had a good Olympics season this year. Many coun- tries that havent been awarded many medals in the past have had athletes score in events this summer. “I am taken back by some of the USA’s humility sometimes,” said McKenzie. The United States has been known in the past for its lack of humility which can very easily show through athletics because of the country’s highly ranked athletes.
The Paralympics this year were way less viewed than the Olympics. In WFS alone, roughly sixty three percent more students watched the Olympics than the Paralympics. The Paralympics this year was viewed as very good in all the events, yet only had about half the amount of world wide views as the Olympics did, but that didn’t stop those athletes from performing their sport to its max. “It’s just amazing to me of what humans are capable of doing even though they have some limitations, ” said McKenzie. Some young athletes have the desire to one day be an olympian or paralympian when they are older. The sacrifices that these athletes make are unmatched.
“It would just have to be such a passion that comes from inside of you because the sacrifices I dont really understand, but I know they are substansial,” said McKenzie. These high level athletes have to risk so much of their life to compete in their desired sports so it is necessary that they are willing to fully commit to those sacrifices.
“It’s impossible until you do it,” said Maya Dobson ‘24. Training, hard work, and good health are needed in order to be one of these athletes.
