MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
Whether we watched them religiously or not, just knowing the Olympic Games were on seemingly 24/7 for the past two-and-a-half weeks provided a comfort – a respite from the stress that has enveloped us for the past eight years.
Through the ongoing hate and political violence that prevail, the Games went on in Paris and made a rebirth of their own as the first global event to fully emerge from the pandemic’s shadow, as the previous two Games were staged in bubbles in Beijing and Tokyo with Covid still being a factor. And while there were those who did test positive for Covid during the Paris Games, that did not interrupt the competition, or the interaction.
Oh, but the competition. The best athletes in the world performing at their peak is the Olympics. When you witness the feeling they have in representing their countries, you feel it to a significant degree in the focus and the determination they show in their eyes and you understand it is real – country matters a great deal.
This was evident on Saturday when the national anthems for both the United States and France were played prior to the men’s basketball gold medal game. During the playing of “La Marseillaise,” the stirring anthem written during the era of the French Revolution about fighting for freedom from political repression, the entire French crowd sang along with the French athletes, who were locked in embrace on their end of the court.
It naturally brought to mind one of the most famous and emotional scenes in film history when, in “Casablanca,” its singing represented a free France and, by extension, the Allies joining the fight of World War II.
And what a fight the French brought for their countrymen and to the United States team, before falling short, 98-87, as Stephen Curry dropped four 3s with under three minutes to go to deliver the Americans’ fifth straight gold.
Those of whom still pooh-pooh NBA players being in the Olympics should consider the United States, after its comeback victory over Serbia in the semifinals, prevailing in two of the most difficult games in USA Basketball history, because it further proves the NBA’s participation has been revolutionary – for all countries involved and for basketball itself.
Clearly, the USA wasn’t the only Olympic team with NBA players or players from professional leagues throughout the world on its roster; that’s because the original Dream Team in 1992 made basketball the most global sport of them all. That’s just a fact.
Have you paid attention to the NBA Draft recently? The last two No. 1 picks, Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher, are from France, not the United States.
The rest of the world is catching up with us.
This was also evident in the women’s basketball gold medal game on Sunday between the United States and home team France, as the final competition of these Games gave us a remarkable performance by both teams and one of the most remarkable games in international basketball history.
The United States again prevailed, 67-66, for USA Basketball’s eighth-straight gold medal and 61st Olympics victory in a row, but only after a Gabby Williams jumper at the buzzer for France was a two-pointer, merely an inch or two from being a 3-pointer that would have forced overtime.
Both United States teams had the talent to outlast the will of the French and their impassioned home crowd, but not by much, and that is a good thing for the overall global health of basketball.
While certainly happy for the USA victory, your heart had to break for Williams, the former UConn great with dual American-French citizenship, who fought so valiantly to keep France in the game against the best team in the world, but who literally came an inch or so short from extending the fight.
And your heart had to fill for Brittney Griner, two years ago having been wrongfully detained in a Russian penal colony, but on Sunday being the final athlete of the 2024 Paris Games to be presented a medal – hers a gold medal.
What must have been running through her mind as the tears poured down her face during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner?
That our flag was still there?
That’s the thing about the Olympics: You can approach them every four years with a cavalier outlook because most of the sports are sports you do not follow regularly, if at all.
But they suck you in, and they keep you there through two-and-a-half weeks of drama, emotion, ups, downs, patriotism and the celebration of so many nations uniting in the spirit of fellowship and the greatest competition in the world.
Much obliged for the many thrills and for keeping our minds in a healthy, happy place.
Merci!
Vive la France!
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT