Novak Djokovic won the gold medal in the tennis. Old man Novak wept. Carlos Alcaraz, his conquered foe, cried. The lad felt he'd let everyone down. That's the Olympics; you're playing for the homeland.
Nole gets his lolly
Novak – Nole to his friends and family – Djokovic won the tennis singles title 16 years after his bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Rafael Nadal won that one. Andy Murray won in 2012 and 2016 for Britain and Alex Zverev nabbed the prize for Germany in Tokyo in 2021. All this left 37-year-old Djokovic rather forlorn. But he was miles of smiles after seeing off 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz from Spain 7-6, 7-6 for what Djokovic called the highest of the highest prizes.
Leisure centre
Weapons-grade testosterone or as the Olympic Games has it, the men's 100m final. The race to determine the fastest man on the planet ended in a mash up of bodies on the line. A photo finish was requred to find the alpha of the alphas. Noah Lyles, so deemed, set off on a victory lap holding up the name tab from his vest, just in case the braided hair didn't help with identification. When the ultimate race has been acquired by five thousandth of a second, it's the time to do whatever you want.
Happy days
French sports supremos are justifiably chuffed with how the Paris Games are proceeding. Léon Marchand's four gold medals in the swimming pool have indeed helped the splash. And at the end of Day 9, France had surpassed its record medal haul of medals. In Beijing in 2008, they collected 43. And at the end of Day 9, the French had clocked up 44. Ooh la la.
More to come
And there are going to be more. Much, much more. Claude Onesta, who's in charge of top performances, says around 40 athletes have been identified as likely to win a medal - this is based on performances over the past two years. During the first week around 40 of the so anointed had harvested 37 medals. And if that conversion rate carries on, said Onesta, there'll be another tranche of baubles.
And more to come?
French President Emmanuel Macron told his country's sports supremos that he would like to see France finishing in the top five in the medals table. There's understandable urgency not to mess up the edict. But it's also about ensuring that France is in the top five in Los Angeles in four years. That's going to take some planning. And it will rely on political goodwill. The state of the French parliament? Chaotic.
