A Word In Edgewise: Planning an Epic Olympiad – It’s All in the Details

I’ve visited Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring in the Mauritshuis, his Milkmaid in the Rijksmuseum, and Rembrandt masterworks in the House of Six. Never, until the opening of the Paris Olympics, had I heard a whisper of Jan van Bijlert and his Feast of the Gods.

Even so, one dekko at singer Philippe Katerine’s Blue Dionysus, backgrounded by drag queens while reclining before a prancing Satyr, should have sent one fact-checking before assuming the French had strategized a grotesque parody of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper to welcome their expected million-plus cash-squandering guests. After all, the Games were Greek, as were their lusty gods. A clue?

Consider the meticulous historical referencing embedded in many other Olympic elements. From an innovative Olympic torch to Phryge, the confusing Games gnome, to the very layout of the grueling Olympic Marathon; all steeped in history, not insult.

The torch mechanism–and that of the balloon cauldron–was the creation of Matthieu Lehanneur. The “flame,” which had not been fully tested until the moment it was set aloft, uses no fossil fuels but instead runs on light and water. “Light magical and unifying,” Lehanneur shared. “It will be a beacon in the night and a sun within reach during the day.” It spent each night tethered in the Jardin des Tuileries, balloon-friendly since December 1, 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers ascended to the shock and awe of a crowd of 400,000. 

The initial torch was ignited April 16, by the sun’s first rays over Olympia, Greece. Its sleekness embodies Paris 2024’s three themes: Equality, Water, and Peacefulness.

Equality: For the first time ever, the same number of men and women athletes took part in competitions.

Water: Traveling aboard the Belem, the torch visited six overseas territories–Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Réunion. On June 18, the torch returned to France. Alice Modolo, noted French freediver, received the lit torch 20m/66ft underwater in Villefranche-sur-Mer Harbor, global hub of freediving, sending it on to the Alpes-Maritimes.

Smiling, lumpy, little “Phryge,” the initially obscure mascot of the 2024 Games, was inspired by the Phrygian cap of liberty. It has been worn as far back as freed Roman slaves (then peleus), and others, including Phrygians in ancient Turkey, long before its ties to the French Revolution and freedom. Once alerted, tourists crowded to snatch hats, key rings–all things Paris Phryge–off boutique shelves, requiring daily restocking. 

Even the grueling marathon had a tale to tell, retracing the route of October 5, 1789, when women of the Paris marketplaces marched together to bring complaints of ruinous bread prices to King Louis XVI’s doorstep.

Equality: this year, equal numbers of men and women entered competitions. For the first time, the men’s marathon ran on Saturday while the women won the coveted final Sunday slot. ESPN broadcast that Ethiopian Tamirat Tola “delivered a gritty run to claim Gold in an Olympic record time in a difficult men’s marathon Saturday” (2:06:26).

Sunday, Ethiopian-born Sifan Hassan, for Nederlands, ran the same route, securing women’s Marathon Gold in 2:22:55. In recent history, women have been restricted to 800m distances or less, extended to 1,500m in 1972. (Arguments declared women would be unable to handle psychological stresses or that long runs would cause infertility.)

Hassan did allow that “To finish the marathon is a kind of hell. It’s not easy,” not mentioning that some 37 hours earlier she’d garnered a Bronze in the 10,000m and, four days earlier, a Bronze in the 5,000m, running a total of 62k or 38.5 miles that week.

Ninety minutes later, Bhutan’s Kinzang Lhamo, 26, her country’s flag bearer and sole participating athlete, finished 79th—last; others had dropped out. Flanked by cheering onlookers, walking occasionally, Lhamo ran across the finish line at 3:52:59. In her native Dzongkha, she later remarked “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish it.”

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