A TERRIBLE BEAUTY
Wednesday, August 4th
By James O’Brien
Today is Wednesday. I’m guessing you already knew that. That means that I have been in Tokyo, interminably migrating between hotel, press center and venues for exactly one week. In some ways, it seems like it was only yesterday that I arrived; in most ways, it seems like I’ve been here half my life.
What has changed in the course of that one week? For starters, most of the time I now know where I’m going and how to get there. And, I mostly know where I can get food. That was touch and go for the first few days. And, not incidentally, the NYAC has won a total of eight Olympic medals, headed by the magnificent discus gold of Valarie Allman, and the silver and bronze by triathlete Katie Zaferes. To have witnessed those, and so many other performances, from the Club’s elite athletes has been, without exaggeration, a privilege. Excellence in action is something to behold.
That doesn’t always mean that my – or your – favored team or athlete has to win. That is a bonus, unquestionably; but, sometimes it’s enough to witness an epic and well-fought battle, as transpired this afternoon. The US men’s water polo team faced Spain in the quarter finals of this Olympic tournament, a clash that was always going to be intense. No surprise there. From the outset, the teams went at it like there were Olympic medals on the line, and after two quarters of play there was nothing in it. At half time, the score was six each. So back at it they went, the US team being buoyed by the NYAC trio of Alex Obert, Alex Bowen and captain Jesse Smith. At the end of the third quarter, Spain held a one goal advantage; meaning that, with just eight minutes of playing time remaining, it was still all on the line.
It was a US exclusion infraction two minutes in that appeared to turn the tide. With play suspended for five or so minutes while the officials adjudicated, a penalty ensued, moving Spain into an 8-6 lead, from which point they never looked back. The US did narrow the gap to 8-7 with three minutes gone; but the differential was never less than two goals from there on in, the final score being 12-8. It was a tough way to lose; but noble, which counts.
Medals are no longer on the cards, but the tournament is not over for the US team. Their next match is against Serbia in the bracket to determine places five through eight. That contest will take place at 6:20pm JST on Friday, August 6th (5:20am EST).
As difficult as was the US water polo team’s competition today, Michael Shuey’s was all the more so. Contesting the qualifying rounds of the javelin, he experienced the nightmare of every field eventer – the dreaded NM. No mark. Shuey fouled all three of his attempts and that was it. There’s no coming back from that. Well, in reality, there is. You go home, you re-group, you review, you figure out what the heck went wrong, and you return. The bad days are bricks in the wall.
If you’ve never followed a heptathlon competition from start to finish, you should. It’s fascinating. Seven events spanning two days, encompassing 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m. Those first four events take place on day one, which was today; the remaining three take place on day two, tomorrow. I’m guessing you figured that last part out on your own.
Erica Bougard was the NYAC’s representative in the heptathlon fray today. After the first two events, the hurdles and high jump, she had accumulated 2157 points, leaving her a scant 19 points behind the leader, Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam. The shot put was less kind, however, bringing Bougard just 707 points and causing her to slip to seventh with a total of 2864. The last event of the day, however, the 200m, brought a fine improvement – 24.08 seconds/973 points – and Bougard ended her day in sixth with 3837, 131 points down on the leader, Anouk Vetter from the Netherlands, and with still encouraging prospects for tomorrow. (Which also sees Will Claye, Joe Kovacs and Katie Nageotte in the triple jump, shot put and pole vault finals). All TBD.
The other NYAC interest in the Olympic Stadium this evening was Rudy Winkler, the man who, in the midst of a superb 2021 season, took time out to set the US record at 82.71m/271’ 4”. Throwing sixth, Winkler’s opener reached 77.08m/252’ 11”, installing him in seventh, more than four meters down on the leader, Wojciech Nowicki from Poland. Winkler’s second was a foul that crashed into the cage and resonated throughout the stadium. A third round throw of 75.95m/249’ 2” did nothing to advance his standing, though nor did it see him slip, and he finished round three still in seventh, and with three more attempts ahead of him. But he could not improve on his opener, his fourth and sixth being fouls and his fifth reaching 75.34m/247’ 2”. So, seventh place was Winkler’s final placement. The gold medal went to Nowicki with a mark of 82.52/270’ 9”, a personal best for the Pole and, painfully, within Winkler’s range.
At every level, athletic competition counterpoints success and failure, elation and disappointment. If you will forgive the WB Yeats allusion, at this level there is a terrible beauty in Olympic competition.