As Paris bids farewell to over 10,000 athletes from around the world, sports fanatics and those with the strongest national pride feel a chunk of life plucked right from their hearts. Though the 2024 Paralympics will make its way on TV in just two weeks, the thrill and euphoria of this year’s Olympic Games are already dwindling.
To keep your appetite full between now and August 28, the beginning of the Paralympics, our N’Crew has gathered their favorite feel-good Olympic moments and triumphs from this year’s Paris games. These are the perfect moments to teach your kid that athletes have feelings too, that faith in humanity isn’t all lost, and that American rappers are really just Mother Teresa reincarnated.
Women of Color on the Gymnastics Podium
A historically white-dominated sport, female gymnastics has expanded its diversity over the years, representing a particularly diverse team this year. At this year’s Games, three women of color (WOC) including American artistic gymnasts Suni Lee and Simone Biles along with Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade, stood side-by-side again on the Olympic podium as champions in the women’s all-around final.
Lee, whose parents are Hmong immigrants from Laos, snagged a bronze medal. Biles and Andrade, an Afro-Latina woman, defended their gold and silver medals in the event. These three badasses also withstood some of the most arduous obstacles one could face before earning their Olympic triumphs.
Biles’ return at this year’s games marks a triumphant clap back at haters who criticized her withdrawal from the 2020 Tokyo Games due to her mental health. Andrade’s all-around and vault silver, floor gold and team bronze are testaments to her tenacity as a child prodigy who trekked over an hour to the gym outside of her small rural town, Guarulhos. For Lee, making this year’s game in itself was an accomplishment, as she was recently diagnosed with two kidney diseases last year and was facing shaky health this year.
These three stellar athletes and strong women representing gymnastics on the podium again demonstrate the upward growth in Olympic diversity that is long overdue.
First Filipino Gymnast Wins Gold (Twice!)
At just 4’11”, Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo is a force to be reckoned with. The 24-year-old Olympian debuted at the 2020 games with a less-than-ideal performance but skyrocketed to success this year. Taking home a gold medal in men’s floor exercise and vault finals, a tearful Yulo became the first Filipino gymnast to win any medal (and he chose gold!) and the first Filipino to win multiple Olympic medals.
In celebration of his achievements, Yulo has been awarded an insane amount of gifts and odd freebies including, but not limited to, a free condo worth over $400,000, a free house over $250,000, free colonoscopies for life, free furniture, free ramen and buffet food from Filipino restaurants and a lifetime of free cookies from Cookies by the Bucket.
U.S., take notes.
U.S. Men’s Gymnastics Team Breaks Losing Streak
For the last 16 years, the U.S. men’s artistic gymnastics team has been preparing for the redemption of a lifetime. “Let them cook!” the people said and boy, they sure did. Snagging a bronze medal for the men’s team finals, the American men’s Olympic moment came from breaking a 16-year losing streak in Olympics gymnastics.
Leader Brody Malone and the rest of the pack shared rowdy cheers and energetic hugs as they celebrated their momentous win that had been years in the making. Thanks to the pommel horse performance of newbie and self-described geek Stephen Nedoroscik, the U.S. men’s gymnastics team has reclaimed their legend status. Quick side note: Nedoroscik also took home an individual bronze medal for another one of his pommel horse performances!
Teens are Dominating Skateboarding
Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the 2020 games and has come back for a second round. It looks like it’ll appear at the 2028 Olympics too, making it an official Olympic sport. Why is this a good thing? Well, skateboarding is the one sport dominated, if not shaped, by badass teens.
Literally. Fourteen-year-old Aussie Arisa Trew won the gold medal for women’s skateboarding finals, with Japan’s 15-year-old skater Kokona Hiraki taking silver and Britain’s 16-year-old skater Sky Brown taking bronze. As if 15 isn’t too young to win a medal, Hiraki actually won silver at the 2020 games too, making her the youngest Japanese Olympic medalist at just 12 years old.
Not sure about you guys, but when I was 12 years old, I didn’t even know how to ride a bike. In fact, I still don’t. Oops. Needless to say, skateboarding is THE feminist sport encouraging young girls to embrace their “tomboy” side and own the streets.
China’s Sweetest Olympian
My personal favorite athlete, China’s 17-year-old diver, Quan Hongchan, took home her first gold medal at age 14 during the Tokyo Games for women’s individual 10m platform diving. Not only did she score perfect 10s during her first games, she came back and did it again this year, taking home another gold medal for the same event. She also took home her first gold in synchronized diving with pal Chen Yuxi, aged 18.
What makes Hongchan so incredibly endearing and lovable is her humble upbringing as the daughter of farmers from Guangdong, China. The tenacious Olympian, who was recruited as a child due to her “jumping” skills, dedicates her Olympic triumph and career to her mother, who was seriously injured in a car accident in 2017. Hongchan has mentioned being an Olympian to pay for her mother’s medical bills, offering a different side to the commercial success and fame many Olympians enjoy.
Hongchan’s dreams in life are to visit an amusement park and open up her own supermarket one day. The down-to-earth athlete loves video games, spicy snacks and claw machines. Can anyone be more wholehearted than her? No.
Colombia’s First Gymnastics Win
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, there’s a recurring pattern at this year’s Olympics where teenagers are breaking records and snagging medals left and right. Colombia’s charming gymnast, Angel Barajas, won his country’s first Olympic gymnastics medal this year with a silver in the individual horizontal bar event.
When all the other gymnasts were falling from their apparatus or tumbling out of their landings, this 18-year-old (17 during the games) delivered a near-flawless routine. Apparently, Barajas has always been inspired by the insanely flexible character Sportacus from the kid’s show Lazy Town, mimicking the character as a child. If you watch Sportacus’ push-up routine, you’ll understand why Barajas looks up to him.
Chinese Taipei’s Unlikely Medal
During the same horizontal bar final where Barajas placed second, gymnast Tang Chia-hung from Chinese Taipei placed bronze in a surprising turn of events. In a group of eight finalists, Tang was unfortunately one of six to fall during his routine, making his chances of placing extremely low.
Viewers gasped as the gymnast missed his bar grip, falling onto the mat. Rather than admit defeat, Tang got right back up, aced the rest of his performance, and bowed out with a respectable routine and tearful eyes. On our TV screens was the somber smile of a seasoned pro who yearned for a medal but knew he had lost out on the opportunity. Or so he thought.
Tang ended up tying for a bronze medal with none other than China’s Zhang Boheng. Though China and Chinese Taipei (commonly known as Taiwan) have a tumultuous relationship, both Tang and Zhang displayed the cultural sportsmanship the Olympics stands for.
They always say that people who win gold medals are relieved, those who win silver ponder at what could have been and bronze medalists are truly happy. Tang is a testament to that and his Olympic triumph was well-deserved.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Flavor Flav? More like Flavor Fav.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy-nominated rapper Flavor Flav, whose real name is William Drayton Jr., definitely added all the flavor to this year’s games, sponsoring the U.S. women’s water polo team. More notably, he paid Olympic discus thrower Veronica Fraley‘s rent after the athlete tweeted about having insufficient funds to do so.
Drayton Jr. came through and paid Fraley’s rent for the entire year in collaboration with Reddit’s co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, who is also married to tennis star Serena Williams. Now, Drayton Jr. did not come to play either, as Fraley posted screenshots and receipts confirming payment on Drayton Jr. and Ohanian’s end.
While there are so many more feel-good moments from this year’s Olympic Games, we had to cap it at our top eight. If you have any other feel-good Olympic moments to share, drop a comment below or tag us on social media! We can’t wait to know which Olympians made you grab the tissue box.
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