Thanks to the 2024 Paris Olympics!

 OK, this is a Cleveland Guardians blog.

That being said, I am an Olympics geek and, of course, a nationalist, too.  I am not proud of the nationalist part but it was the environment when I grew up so, to some extent, it is part of me so I root for US athletes to get as many medals (legally) as possible.  Not rational, but I am comfortable with it.  Living and dying with the US Olympic athletes as I watched them pile up medals in their usual strong events.

However, this Olympics was, to me, different.  It was an escape for me.  My beloved Guardians were struggling mightily through most of the Olympics, so this gave me another outlet for my sports watching.  In fact, I didn't watch either of the doubleheaders last week because I chose to watch the Olympics, instead.  The Olympics were interesting.  The Guardians were, well, frustrating and not relaxing.

So, thank you, Olympics for giving me a diversion from life and baseball and for giving me my best Olympic experience EVER.  And not just the American team.  It just seemed like the stars were all aligned to give the best result possible, no matter which country or athlete was involved.  By that I mean that so many of the disappointments I witnessed on my television had silver linings in one form or another, meaning that even the heartbroken wound up with something from the Olympics to remember, performance-wise.  Here are just a few of the examples that come to mind.

• In the men's 1500 meter run the guy who promised he was going to win the race didn't even medal but came back to win the 5000 meters.
• In the men's steeplechase the winner of the last 3 silver medals in that event fell and didn't win a medal (my prayers that he has now completely recovered from that terrifying fall).  But he still has his silver medals which make him one of the top runners ever in that event and it opened up a silver medal for an unlikely American runner.
• The winner of the men's pole vault set a world record while the entire world watched.  Classic TV!
• The Italians, who had never won a women's olympic gymnastic team medal, won bronze, beating teams known for winning gymnastic medals and went on to add more in the individual events, including a gold in the balance beam when the two American favorites fell off.
• Jordan Childs was stripped of her bronze medal in floor exercise but still had her gold in the team competition and other medals from previous Olympics.  The girl who eventually received the bronze medal from Romania clearly, in my opinion, deserved to finish 3rd and now the crushing image of her leaving in tears can be erased from my memory permanently. 
• The two championship basketball games were absolute classics, maybe the best Olympic basketball games I have ever seen.  Steph Curry going off in the last 3 minutes of the game in what will be his only Olympics ever was truly satisfying, even for me, as a Cleveland fan.  The women's gold medal game was extremely satisfying as it gave us our 40th gold medal to bring us into a tie with China for gold medals in the games.  It was a great way to end the Olympics.  Plus, the home country French finished 2nd in both the men's and women's, a great result for them, although I am sure they are disappointed at not upsetting the Americans.
• Femke Bol, first buoyed by her miraculous finish in the mixed 4 x 400 running event that led her team to victory only to be crushed in spirit from her loss in the 400 hurdles, came back with redemption by running a great leg in the final of the women's 4 x 400 race, helping the Netherlands to win a medal there, making her last memory of competing in this Olympics a good one.
• The US archery guy didn't get to win an individual gold medal and will have to settle for knowing that he is one of the greatest US archery guys of all-time, despite not having at least one gold.  Pretty good for a career and it should show him that one medal, one way or the other, does not define his greatness in his sport.
• Lilly King, who lost a bronze medal by 0.01 seconds won a gold in the final relay of the Olympics, the 3rd Olympics that she won a medal in.
• In fact, many swimmers and track relay people from various countries won medals in relays even though they couldn't quite win a medal in individual events.
• France was able to demonstrate their nationalistic pride by doubling their medal total from the Tokyo Olympics, which also gives the US hope that they could smash their 2024 total of 125 medals (at least 40 of each type) in the upcoming 2028 games in LA. 
• Finally, a number of our older US athletes, seeing the examples of athletes like Florent Manaudou, a 33 year old swimmer who, in unlikely fashion, won a bronze in the 50 and anchored the 4 x100 team that also won bronze, appeared to be inspired by the home country preformances and those of other, older athletes.   Partially as a result, some of them alluded to being more likely to return to compete in Los Angeles in 2028 to end their careers which helps to bode well for the US team's CHANCES of doing well in 2028.

These are just some of the uplifting things from my viewing of the Olympics at a time where my baseball team was unbearable to watch.  Thanks again to all the olympic athletes as watching you compete and try your hardest was, as a fan of sports, just what I needed.