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SAINT-DENIS, France — Joe Kovacs didn’t have to make a decision.
Three athletes throwing for him in the men’s Olympic shot put final on Saturday had slipped and fallen—the logical and expected conclusion when 300-pound men try to throw a 16-pound ball as far as possible in a confined space while a torrential downpour lashes down on them. That it was the Olympics didn’t matter to the rain or the physics. So down they went, one by one.
The problem for Kovacs was that this was the final round of the competition. At 35, this might be his last real chance at an Olympic medal. And he was in fourth place, and off the podium, with one throw left.
So, let it happen.
It ripped. And the shot flew through the rain, beyond all doubt, 72 feet, six inches. It was a great throw, under the circumstances. And that put Joe Kovacs in the stands, for the third time, as a silver medalist. And, for the third time, second to his American teammate, Ryan Crouser. No one has beaten Ryan Crouser at the Olympics in eight years. He is the greatest shot putter of all time.
Kovacs has won world championships — twice, in 2015 and 2019. He has won eight medals in international competitions. The only person to keep him from the top of the Olympic medal table is Crouser, who became the first shot putter to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
“Of course, Ryan is No. 1 of all time. I’m No. 2,” Kovacs said afterward.
And here we need to discuss what that really means, because the U.S. track and field team often finished in second place (and a bit of a third place) on one of the most important nights of the Games.
We all tend to see a championship as the only measure of success. People tend to go for the shiny object, or to pay the most attention to the loudest person in the room. And in sports, we always tend to go for the winners, the people and teams who get the hardware and the trophies and the praise and the money that comes with being number one. This is an infantilization of competition, a nation of Ricky Bobbys proclaiming that if you’re not first, you’re last.
I do it too. I am not averse to the idea. We compete, in whatever we do, to find out who is the best in a given year, season or in our work. That is okay. That is why Julien Alfred, who won the women’s 100 meters on Saturday, wrote in her diary that morning when she woke up at 5 a.m.: “Julien Alfred, Olympic champion.”
But to say that that is all the competition comes down to is hollow. The person who finishes last in an Olympic final was in an Olympic final.
What is left, besides honor, when you give it your all, mentally and emotionally all you have on a given night, and come in second? Or third? Outside of our love, the saying goes, the most sacred thing we can give is our labor. This is where Kovacs has often found himself in competition with Crouser, who came out with a tribute to “The Thinker” on Saturday, the epic work of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, as he was introduced.
In three consecutive Olympic Games, only one man in the world was a better shot putter than Joe Kovacs: his American teammate Ryan Crouser. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Kovacs wasn’t thinking about art when it started raining and his chances of a medal disappeared.
“The last throw I probably slowed down a little bit, which I had to do,” Kovacs said. “I’m the smallest guy there, but I’m the strongest guy there. So if I slow down, I can use my power. I probably should have started the day with that, but of course I went for the big throw and swung. You know, that’s what you have to do in these types of games. I would be even more upset if I went into that throw and got soft. You never want to get soft when you’re in these types of games.
“You have that kind of mental check-in. All those days when my wife (Ashley Kovacs, the Vanderbilt University throwing coach, and also Kovacs’ coach) and I are out there, and our (20-month-old) is taking his nap, it’s not easy. If I go out there and just get a little soft, and let someone else take my medal, I’m going to go home pissed. Of course I wanted the gold, but I’m really glad I fought for that silver.”
Of course, almost everyone saw Sha’Carri Richardson, one of the stars of the Games, finish second later Saturday, upset in the women’s 100 meters final by Alfred of St. Lucia, who won her country’s first Olympic gold medal. With almost all of the Jamaican sprinters — most notably Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce — failing to make the final, Richardson, the reigning world champion, was the odds-on favorite to take home the gold. But she was outpaced from the start by Alfred, who maintained her lead over Richardson throughout the final, just as she had in the semifinal an hour earlier.
Many of you probably watched as Femke Bol from the Netherlands defeated Kaylin Brown from the USA in the last 100 meters of the 4×400 meter mixed relay, giving her country a stunning gold medal and silver for the Americans, who had run a world record in the semi-finals on Friday night.
WHAT AN END FOR THE NETHERLANDS! 😮
Femke Bol beats the United States on the home straight to give the Netherlands the Olympic title in the mixed 4x400m relay.
📺 #Olympic Games in Paris on NBC and Peacock photo.twitter.com/2teuliqlab
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
But she won the silver!
Also Saturday, American triple jumper Jasmine Moore won the bronze medal after finishing 24th at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She set a season record of 14.67 on her second jump on Saturday. She briefly led the way. But then Dominica’s Thea Lafond flew past her with a national record of 15.02 to win the gold medal. It was also Dominica’s first gold medal. Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts then jumped past Moore to take second place with a time of 14.87 to win silver.
But did I mention that this is Moore’s first ever Olympic medal? And that for her, bronze was not a consolation prize, but a triumph.
“Last year at this time, Coach Nic (Peterson, the University of Florida’s show jumping coach) knows, I was just crying in his arms because I didn’t make the top eight (at the 2023 world championships in Budapest),” Moore said. “I think I needed this moment, and now, to move on. This is really proving to myself that I can do a lot more than I sometimes think I can.”
Richardson, who looked calm and relatively happy with her second place as she stood on the track afterwards, posing with the American flag alongside Alfred and American Melissa Jefferson, who won bronze, could be forgiven for not fully embracing the idea that coming second was okay. I’m sure it was a crushing disappointment for her, given her ordeal over the last few years, how she’s struggled to come to terms with her mistakes and rebuilt her psyche and running career to great success, becoming the best sprinter in the world.
I would have liked to ask Richardson about this, but she did not speak to the media after the race. And that is disappointing. You can’t just show up when everything is going your way, regardless of the reasons.
But we don’t always get what we want. Tell Joe Kovacs his best performance on Saturday didn’t meet your standards for success. And tell Sha’Carri Richardson. Sometimes it rains.
Sha’Carri Richardson, favored to win the women’s 100 meters, finished with silver behind Julien Alfred of St. Lucia. (Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images)
(Top photo of Joe Kovacs celebrating his silver medal on Saturday: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
