Any cynicism there may be about the sport’s place at the Olympics was silenced as stands at the makeshift venue shook on finals night
Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy play against Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa of Brazil at Eiffel Tower Stadium.Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy play against Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa of Brazil at Eiffel Tower Stadium.
The thing that really gets you, watching the beach volleyball medal matches at the start of the Games’ final weekend, is when the stands start swaying. Forty metres high, they ring the court on three sides. One of the hottest tickets in this Parisian summer, the temporary seats have completed the fabulous vision of the Games, simple to understand at a glance: the Olympics are in Paris.French president Emmanuel Macron dubbed the purpose-built structure “magnificent” prior to the Games.
It’s all to build buzz for the entertainment, sorry sport, playing out in front. In Friday’s first medal match, Australia’s team of Taliqua Clancy – a Wulli Wulli and Goreng Goreng woman from the other side of the world – and Peru-born Mariafe Artacho del Solar sadly fall short. Their straight sets defeat to Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner from land-locked Switzerland for the bronze passes by in a flash.
To a cynic, the Olympics are fertile ground. The vast public expense, the simple-minded parochialism. The glorification of pushing and pulling, running and jumping. And the further they go from their original mission, the narrower their licence appears. Many rightly question whether they should include sports like BMX, breaking and skateboarding. Or indeed beach volleyball.
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