The beautiful thing about the Olympics is that aside from giving us non-stop sporting action and allowing us mere mortals to see the extent to which our bodies can achieve physically, it also opens the door for stories that show us just what it means to be human.
If you aren’t particularly heavy on sports, then the Olympics 2024—had you watched it, but I’ll go ahead and assume you did—would’ve probably been your first time watching the Summer Games. If that’s the case, then I hope you had a blast, because we at SBOTOP certainly had.
And since we’re still a bit hungover from Olympic ecstasy, let me show you my top awe-inspiring moments that reminded me once more that sports’ influence extends far after the results are settled.
Ni Xialian (Table Tennis)
It is common knowledge that an athlete’s career is relatively short compared to other endeavours in life. Such is the fact that at ages 30-35—depending on the sport—an athlete already has one foot out of his or her respective sport.
And obviously, that threshold is something that scares a lot of people who’ve always wanted to compete, or even try to learn a sport; the fear of failing at a certain age is as real as it gets—I guess the adage of old dogs not learning new tricks is apt.
But I’d like you to approach sports and life the way Ni Xialian did in the Olympics.
Ni, or ‘Auntie Ni’ to her much younger opponents and fellow athletes, literally proved that age is a mere number after being the oldest Olympic competitor to win a table tennis match when she beat 31-year-old Sibel Altinkaya during the event.
The Chinese-born Luxembourg athlete has represented China before but moved to Luxembourg after graduating and has lived there ever since. Paris was Ni’s sixth Olympics, and she was chosen to be Luxembourg’s flag bearer this time around.
Despite being almost half the age of her competitors and being at an obvious physical and athletic disadvantage, Ni had heart and technique. And sometimes, those are enough to pull you through.
She was eventually beaten by world number one Sun Yingsha, who went on and won three medals in the Games, but she has already solidified herself as a beacon of hope. And she isn’t ruling out playing in Los Angeles in 2028, either.
Nada Hafez (Fencing)
It’s not uncommon that athletes who have recently become parents acquire additional perks that pump them up and give them a performance boost. What’s rare is when the competitor’s plus points come from performing whilst pregnant.
That’s what transpired when Nada Hafez of Egypt competed in the Sabre tournament and revealed afterwards that she was in her third trimester.
Hafez defeated USA’s Elizabeth Tartakovsky in the first round before succumbing to South Korea’s Jeon Ha-young in the round of 16.
In an Instagram post after her first-round win, 26-year-old Hafez revelled in emotion as she mentioned her current state.
“What appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three! It was me, my competitor, & my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!” she said.
If that isn’t inspiring to you enough, just know that aside from being an Olympian, Faez also has a degree in medicine and is a clinical pathologist.
It must be difficult to be her cousin.
Carlos Yulo (Gymnastics)
Growing up in the Philippines, I could probably count on my fingers how many aspiring athletes wanted to be gymnasts in the future. It’s either basketball or volleyball, with some hints of track and boxing.
After Hidilyn Diaz opened the floodgates and brought home the country’s first gold medal in the Olympics back in Tokyo, a shift in sporting preference was felt. But it was minimal, at best. Even EJ Obiena being ranked second in the world in pole vault rankings doesn’t move the needle in a country dominated by hoops.
But after what Carlos Yulo achieved, upsetting the Olympics 2024 odds by winning two golds and performing countless Olympics 2024 highlights, I promise you that tonnes of parents would want their child to be twisting and turning by age five.
The Philippines’ ‘little prince,’ not even reaching 5-feet tall in stature, was dominant in the artistic gymnastics’ floor and vault events.
Despite the tumultuous family drama and the disadvantage of representing a country with god-awful corruption issues, Yulo was able to train his heart out and prove to the world that perseverance pays off.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to train my floor routines.
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