As is well known, “Nappe hale” is a game for everyone from kindergarten level upwards. Everyone gets a cloth band to attach to the shorts, and then it’s a matter of taking the bands for the others. In other words, “last” with some kind of physical trophies. In four years you can win Olympic gold in something reminiscent of this. It’s actually called “flag football”. It’s a gregarious form of rugby, where you have to grab the tape from the shorts of your opponents instead of doing something as barbaric as tackling them. FLAG FOOTBALL: This is what it looks like when a player “nips the tail” of an opponent. Photo: AP This is the Olympics of our time. More and more reminiscent of garden toys. And where the traditionalists get grimaces that make them think of the Olympic mascot in Paris – for everyone who spent 16 Olympic days trying to interpret what kind of red creature this really was. But after the acclaimed games in the French capital, there are fewer and fewer who want to stop the development. I have become one of them. Very reluctant. MASCOT: You have probably seen the mascot Phryge during the Olympics. The name comes from the traditional hats of the Phrygians, which are designed in a similar way to the mascot. Photo: Reuters All good things are three-for-three The person responsible is a man called Jørund Wessel Carlsen. For the uninitiated, he was news’s editorial chief in Paris. And the one who sends employees out on assignments. Including normally unresponsive sports commentators. When I was looking forward to a warm Monday evening at the Stade de France, this Carlsen called me. “You know there is a 3-3 basketball final tonight? Not? Can’t you go and see what you think?”. 3-3 basketball is the type of Olympic exercise I have perceived as pure constructions from the IOC – simply to appeal to a younger audience. Which I initially think is a no-brainer. If you want to fascinate young people, you can do it through real sports. Basketball exists. And fascinates both me and a few billion others. Then you don’t have to split the track in two. “Real” can probably be read here as “traditional”, I am beginning to realise. But some traditions are worth fighting for. Maybe. In any case, the giant Olympic product has problems reaching the young, restless and hip. Then you have to think again. This includes breaking, surfing, climbing, kiting, skateboarding, BMX and 3-3 basketball. For those of you who, contrary to presumption, have not built up a close relationship with this Olympic sport, in practice it is half a basketball court, where you play, yes, three against three on one basket – and take turns attacking. One point for each hit. Matches last ten minutes. First to 21 or most points at full time wins. Dense, fast and very understandable. And very accessible. The traditional street basketball was set in a kind of system. But no more either. Play, fun, training – not the Olympics. Certainly not the Olympics. But then this Carlsen sends me to the venerable Place de la Concorde. CLOSE AND CLOSE: The arena where 3-3 basketball was played was close and intimate. Photo: AP In the footsteps of the guillotine While in my reluctance I smiled at the fact that the square was once the arena for some of French history’s most famous guillotines. Including, Marie Antoinette, Robespierre and King Louis the 16th. But the traditionalist soon fell silent. Because the whole place had been turned into the ultimate leisure club. With arenas for skateboards and BMX close to the 3-3 arena. And a sea of smiling people in the park right between them. And an atmosphere that could only be enjoyed. Inside the 3-3 basketball arena, it boiled as much as it did in any other equivalent in Paris. With steep stands, packed to the brim, down into the intimate pitch. Especially when you got to the final, where France met the Netherlands. With hysterical cheers for every point. Even the IOC president in the very inner court seemed to get a little further forward on the chair. IN PLACE: Both IOC President Thomas Bach (in light blue) and head of Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet (in dark blue) were in place to watch 3-3 basketball in the Olympics. Photo: Reuters It all ended in all of ballsport’s most nerve-wracking climax, extra innings. The Netherlands won. But the crowd continued to cheer. And I noticed I was far too committed. The completely understandable excitement gave an immediate kick. And a feeling of having experienced some sort of sporting historical event. In something that a few hours before I couldn’t find a better term for a “nonsense”. Three against three in basketball. And so it continued. A grown man and a duck Roller board gave new heroes. In Britain’s Andy Macdonald, because he is 51 years old and gave hope to all who struggle to believe that we are still 29. Even in one of these sports we have never had a relationship with. And at the other end of the scale Arisa Trew, born in 2010, who charmed everyone in the gold interview after an unprecedented competition in the park edition on the board, where she said that her parents had promised her a duck as a prize if she won a medal, because it was too much steer with a dog or a cat. Olympics for new generations. Including the undersigned. Because I noticed I was on the way to becoming too uncritical, too positive. An adult, somewhat responsible man. To all the garden toys that had suddenly changed the Olympics into something I no longer fully recognized. EVIGUNG: Andy Macdonald naturally put the skateboard to use when he and several others in the British Olympic squad returned to Great Britain. Photo: Reuters History’s original garden toys But even in such moments, the Olympics in Paris have therapy offers that no one else can match. Namely the original garden toys. Specifically in Versailles. In the sumptuous park around Louis the 14th’s residence to the west of Paris, the Olympic equestrian competitions took place. And again, the surroundings necessarily became an attraction in themselves. To the extent that one felt an extra degree of reverence in every movement from horse and rider in the spectacular arena. And gave back the sense that history with a very capital H is the essence of our fascination with the Olympic Games. But it wasn’t to last. Because already on the train back from the fresh garden air in the presence of the Sun King, I realized that much of my and many others’ reborn joy about the Olympics as a phenomenon and public festival is not located in Versailles, however fascinating the palace is. Or in modern pentathlon. Which, despite the name, is the least modern the Olympics currently has to offer. The horse exercises as such are also in danger of disappearing from the Olympics in the near future, among other things for animal welfare reasons, fair or not. POWERFUL SCENE: This is what it looked like in Versailles during the modern pentathlon at the Olympics. Photo: AFP Californication And when we put Paris in the Olympic memory bank after the Paralympics, we can at the same time start counting down to the Games in Los Angeles, which will give us completely different experiences than the ones the rusted-out Red Hot Chili Peppers gave us from the beach in California during the closing ceremony. Breaking’s guest appearance is over. So no more b-girls or b-boys on the Olympic graphics for now. Perhaps the same applies to boxing. “Raygun”‘s original Olympic dance is going around the world. On X, the comments flow in. These are the most viral clips. Instead, there will be lacrosse, cricket, baseball, softball and, yes, flag football. Or batting and nipping the tail. And street basketball. In the Olympics in garden games. And I hate to admit it, but I’m looking forward to it. Although an Olympic variant of American Ninja Warrior really should have had its place in this too, without ever being suggested. My new favorite thing, 3-3 basketball, otherwise takes place in the Staples Center, as it used to be called. Today, it is appropriately named sponsored by a crypto company. But regardless of the name, the 20,000 spectator seats are guaranteed to be filled on every single competition day. It’s just to be happy. There will also be an extra exercise for the organizers in Los Angeles, namely in transport. Mayor Karen Bass has promised completely car-free games. In a city completely dependent on cars. All of Los Angeles becomes one big garden. Just let the games begin. Published 13.08.2024, at 18.10
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The Olympic Garden Games – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
