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The 42 Editor’s note: This article forms part of The 42′s subscriber-only coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics, with unique insights and fresh perspectives on the biggest stories every single day. If you’d enjoy more great sportswriting like this, you can sign up here for a free one-month trial to The 42.
THE ORANGE STOOD out in the crowd.
They weren’t just dotted around, they were gathered together, bright spots in the purple haze of Stade de France.
They were here for one person, one race, one tantalising head-to-head.
Femke Bol, the Dutch darling, was going to get a rare chance to line up against world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in their preferred event, the 400m hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone was the favourite. McLaughlin-Levrone is always the favourite such is her supremacy on the track, her times across hurdles good enough to worry 400m flat runners.
But the Netherlands, after Bol’s act of supremacy of her own in the 4x400m mixed relay, her changed stride pattern, her recent sub 51 time, were willing the 24-year-old to make theirs an actual rivalry.
Their names – McLaughlin and Bol – are synonymous with the event but because the American’s coach keeps her safely hidden from minor, or even middling, events, they have only shared the track twice.
2-0 Sydney.
Having clocked an important 50.95 in Switzerland last month, Bol had joined the rare club. There were now two of them. The Dutch could deign to say her name in the same breath as McLaughlin. Just outside the world record time set in June, the American won’t be able to make a mistake, we all thought.
As Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall was clapped through her final round in the long jump and the hurdles were being set on the purple rubber, the anticipation rose across the 75,000 spectators for the 8.25pm start.
On being announced Bol and McLaughlin-Levrone shared the crowd’s affections with the French hurdler, Louise Maraval. But tonight, McLaughlin-Levrone had no interest in sharing anything with anyone – not even the track so far was the distance between her and second placed Anna Cockrell when she crossed the line in a world record time of 50.37.
Bol was left dumbfounded in third. Shaking her head in disbelief, she made a beeline for her parents, in need of comfort and consolation.
Mouth open, she retreated from them and smacked a hand to her head.
Her Olympics started with a golden moment but her individual campaign ended with a horrible, sinking realisation that she is not living in an era-defining rivalry. She is living in McLaughlin-Levrone’s world.
There was to be no clipped hurdle, chopped stride or lack of competition in her legs.
Whatever McLaughlin-Levrone wants to do in this sport – break 50 seconds, move to the flat, compete only in US nationals, world championships and Olympic Games for the rest of her career – Bol will just have to watch on with the rest of us.
The 25-year-old (her birthday was yesterday) got out of the blocks quickly today and was clearing the first hurdle ahead of the other seven athletes.
Bol and Cockrell stayed with her bravely through 200m but then McLaughlin-Levrone’s gliding, beautiful strides stretched the gap between her and the more ordinary of the extraordinary talents.
When others start chopping strides, or doubt their patterns, or simply tie up, she was trusting in her abilities and her form.
To see others run against her is like picking out the celebrities in a group number on Strictly Come Dancing.
There was the tiniest hint of a grimace after she cleared the last obstacle and there was just 40 metres of track to navigate. The Olympic gold medal, her second, was secured. The only question remained was the world record. Could she clock a new one, her sixth, on the greatest stage?
50.37. Record du monde.
Crown on her head, the star-spangled banner around her shoulders, she rang the stadium bell.
Tonight, the track was not to be shared. The spotlight was not to be split. The 400m hurdles is her event. There is no room for rivalry in Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s life.
Written by Sinead O’Carroll and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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So much unknown – who are these “foreign-backed terrorists” and why have they got it in for what was such a beautiful city.
@Anthony Clark: There are no foreign terrorists, years of boiling anger spilled over, the riots go out of control in Almaty and a few other cities.
The government is claiming they are foreign terrorists probably because the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) can only be evoked if a member country is attacked by an outside country, they invited in Russia and a few other member countries in to help with security. The real reason they are there I read is not to police the streets, they are there to threaten the police and national guard so they don’t switch over to the protestors
Calling rioters foreign terrorists is typical of Soviet and post-Soviet dictatorships, they then round up people and disappear them. There may be some credence that the violence in Almaty was a fight between factions in the ruling elite vying for power, but this might be just a wild rumour.
Here’s a description of the riots in Almaty by one of the rioters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kazakhstan/comments/s0q0k7/witnesss_experience_about_the_protests/
Some Posts I found:
“Hey you all, I’ve made a post about how I couldn’t reach my XXXXXX who lives in XXXXXX. I’ve managed to reach some of his friends and they told me he got arrested. I honestly can’t believe that cause my brother is a very compliant guy, very obedient to the laws and even a bit paranoid about breaking rules. He wouldn’t even want to take me on the back of his bicycle when I visited last time cause it’s not allowed. So not a person I could see getting arrested rightfully. However last time there were protests in Russia they arrested random people too and I’m wondering if anything like that could have happened. … ”
“Sorry man, might be best if you stay away for a while though. Odds are fair you might get picked up just for being related. Good luck to you and all your loved ones.”
“I also fear that a very good friend of mine got arrested. I had contact with him on monday for a short time. He seemed to be fine. But since then nothing. First I thought it’s the internet not working again, but it seems to work in Almaty for some hours each day at least. He flew to KZ over the holidays to spend time with his family. As far as I can tell he was not involved in anything. They locked themselves in.”
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https:// asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
@Kerrill Thornhill: There were no beheadings. That was an unverified claim from the dictatorship.
“All these talks of beheading…never a photo. I’m not saying they didn’t happen but anyone seen evidence of these? Beheading are very violent and almost wouldn’t fit the nature of this riot.”
“And yet a lot of people believe them without question. Its dangerous.” – Kazakh citizens.
Oh, the ONE biological lab near Alamty, 3 day old Russian propaganda.
“Russia claimed a possible pathogen leak occurred at military lab in Kazakhstan; Kazakhstan denies facility was seized by rioters”
“‘This is not true. The facility is being guarded,’ said the health ministry which is responsible for the Central Reference Laboratory, in Almaty.”
“Now miskovites will create 1001 lie to hold occupation of Kazakhstan.”
“This lab is a popular boogeyman among Putinbots.”
Cant get over the faux outrage on social media/FakeNews media over the numbers detained. This was an attempted coup involving what appears to be a violent element that came in from outside the country. ~20 police dead, >750 injured, government buildings, transport hubs were seized, etc. By contrast in the US, the Jan 6th protest was a protest that descended into a riot. Completely overblown. 1 person killed on the day at the riot (a protestor named Ashli Babbitt) yet well over 700 people were detained, many in solitary confinement for months for walking around the Capital.
God bless Kazakhstan
Dead right by Putin, take control and arrest these anarchists
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
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