It’s often said that the Olympics are about participation.
But in the world of competitive sports, it’s rarely literally about participation.
In fact, some countries, such as the Netherlands, have been involved in court battles with their own athletes because they refuse to send athletes who have no chance of qualifying, even if they are eligible.
The Paris 2024 Games, which kicked off on Sunday, have a few true Olympians who are making waves.
First up is Nera Tibwa, a judoka from the Oceania island nation of Kiribati.
Born in 2008, Tibwa lost to Darya Bilodid (Ukraine) in the first round of the women’s 57-kilogram judo competition on Monday in Paris, France.
The match was over just five seconds after the bell rang.
The distance from Kiribati to Paris, France, is a whopping 14,000 kilometers. There are no direct flights, so it took almost two days of airplane transfers to get to the Olympic Village.
Although the competition was over too soon, Tibwa had an unforgettable experience as he was the flag bearer for Kiribati at the opening ceremony of the Games. At 15 years old, he is the youngest judoka competing at the Games.
Suriname’s badminton player Soren Offtie is a similar story.
This is his second Olympic Games.
He made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he lost 0-2 (2-21 3-21) to then World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei (MAL).
He was unable to compete at the Tokyo 2021 Games due to the coronavirus pandemic, and lost 0-2 (5-21 7-21) to China’s Switch.
He even had to withdraw from the second match of the group stage against Giovanni Totti (ITA) with a knee injury.
Given his performance, you might be thinking, “Why even bother coming to the Olympics if you’re going to do this?” But Offi has a different opinion.
“The most memorable match of my life was against Li Chongwei,” he said, ”and Paris is a dream city for me.”
“I lost to the Chinese, but I’m glad I got some good points,” said Offit, who traveled more than 7,000 kilometers from Suriname, South America, ”and I can’t forget the experience of seeing LeBron James and Steph Curry at the opening ceremony.”
Refugee Martin Balsini competed in the men’s 200-meter butterfly, but failed to qualify with a time of 2:00.73.
He was 27th out of 28 swimmers. Only Balsini and last-place finisher Gerald Hernandez (Nicaragua) are in the two-minute zone.
Balsini, who was born in Iran, defected to the United Kingdom in 2022.
“I want to give hope to others, especially refugees,” said Balsini, who was unable to practice swimming for seven months while in exile.
Ukrainian fencer Olena Kravatska had her home in Ukraine destroyed by Russian bombing last December.
She did not medal in the individual competition at the Games, but will compete in the team competition on August 3.
You might ask, what’s the point of going to the Olympics if your house is destroyed in a country at war and you’re not going to medal, but Kravatska is still there. 토토사이트
