
Photo: https://runnerstribe.com/news/the-dominant-countries-heading-into-the-2024-olympic-games/
Welcome back to The Sunstone Way – and welcome to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games!
Opening ceremonies take place tomorrow, July 26, when more than 10,000 athletes from 206 countries will float down the Seine River in Paris. You are right – that’s never happened before. It’s innovative. We’ll see how it works.
I think these Games are amazing. Athletes work for years to become the best and to challenge the rest of the world. The triumphs and the failures tell the tale of humankind. We can experience vicariously the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (apologies to Jim McKay and the Wide World of Sports).
There are lessons to be learned here in the work these athletes put in, and the pinnacle of excellence they reach. They can show us how to go for the gold in whatever we do.
In The Beginning
You might think you know the origin story of both the ancient and the modern Games. Let’s check.
The first recorded Olympic Games took place in 776 BC as part of a religious festival honoring Zeus, the king of the Greek gods at Olympia. The “Games” consisted of a 600-foot sprint (a 200-yard dash), apparently the distance Hercules could run in one breath.
But those once-every-four-years runs quickly were joined by wrestling, chariot racing and more. It got to be such a big deal that the warring Greek city-states would grant safe passage to athletes making their way to Olympia.
Variations of the Games continued until 393 AD, when then Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned them, allegedly due to their pagan roots. There was, you might say, a short pause before the idea surfaced again.
Paris Connection
There were a couple of attempts to revive the Olympics in the early 19th Century, but nothing gained traction until a French educator named Baron Pierre de Coubertin organized the first Olympic Congress in 1894 in Paris. That congress resulted in creation of the famous (and infamous) International Olympic Committee.
The Baron understandably wanted the first modern Games to be in Paris, but those with a greater sense of tradition made it happen in Athens so it would be near its original home. De Coubertin got the consolation prize – the 1900 Olympics. 1900 was the very first time women competed in the Olympics, too.
Those 1900 Games were part of the World’s Fair that year, and were less than spectacular, according to published reports. But Paris hosted the Olympics again in 1924, and knocked it out of the park, with the first Olympic Village for athletes and more. There were 3,089 competitors that year.
A Century Later
There have been many changes in the last 100 years. The Summer and Winter Olympics became totally separate in 1992. The 2024 Games is the first time there are as many women competing as men. The specific events have changed over the years, and there will be 329 events this year in 32 sports – including breaking (breakdancing), the newest event.
Once the Games begin, Paris will be the second city ever to host three Olympic Games. England was the first, and Los Angeles will be the third in 2028.
One thing that doesn’t change, though, is the inspiration these athletes provide. In 1924, a runner from Finland, Paavo Nurmi, collected five gold medals – unheard of in track even today. And he was a distance runner. He won the 1,500-meter race, then less than two hours later, won the 3,000-meter race – and set records in both.
That’s overcoming obstacles to achieve greatness.
In 2024, gymnast Simone Biles is leading the American team to Paris. This after withdrawing at the 2021 Olympics due to “the twisties” and leaving the sport for two years to concentrate on her mental health.
Biles, whose mother is from Belize, has since won the U.S. Nationals All-Around Championship, the World Athletics Championships and more. She just won the ESPN Comeback of the Year award. Her return is an inspiration to me and I’m sure to many others.
Sunstone Olympians
Here at Sunstone, we will be watching as much of the Paris Olympics as possible. It’s great to watch the best athletes in the world compete.
It inspires us to be the best we can be, to be Olympians in our own way – The Sunstone Way.
And as always, remember to be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone Management, Inc.
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©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2024