👟 Why The Olympics Banned Nike
Plus the best stories from the first week of the Olympics.
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
Usain Bolt is not a big fan of Nike.
For years, the Swoosh has been developing super shoes. Highly engineered running shoes that use special foam and carbon plating to make athletes faster. In some cases, 4% faster than those wearing normal running shoes.
These super shoes have already broken records across long-distance running. Nike were the pioneers, but now all of the major brands are in an arms race to develop the fastest shoes on the planet. Their ultimate target is Usain Bolt and his 100m record.
Noah Lyles will line up for the 100m in Paris in a pair of Adidas super spikes. These theoretically make him faster. If it’s as much as 4% he would break Bolt’s record (based on his current personal best).
Bolt has called it “weird and laughable” that these super shoes are allowed in competition.
Perhaps he has a point. Does all of this technology give certain athletes an unfair advantage in a sport that is supposed to represent human excellence?
We explored the rise of the Super Shoes and the impact they could have on the Olympics in our latest video.
One of the best things about the Olympics is its ability to throw up some incredible stories. Whether it’s moments of triumph or hilarious memes.
Paris 2024 has been no different. Here are some of our favourite moments from the first week.
🧀 Meet Giorgia Villa, an Olympic silver medallist in the Gymnastics.
And yes, she is posing next to a wheel of cheese. That’s not just because she’s a big fan. She is actually sponsored by the cheese brand Parmigiano Reggiano.
Villa has regular photo shoots with the brand. In fact, if you search her name in Google Images, several photos of her with cheese will appear alongside her medal photos.
While it’s unconventional for an athlete to be sponsored by cheese, the partnership has certainly paid off. One post about the sponsorship on Twitter received more than 14 million impressions in less than 24 hours.
🇮🇹 🥇 Next up we have a masterclass in turning an unfortunate mistake into a PR triumph.
Gianmarco Tamberi was selected to carry the Italian flag during the opening ceremony. While floating down the Seine with the rest of Team Italy, Tamberi saw his wedding ring slip from his finger and into the river.
He took to Instagram to make an apology to his wife.
"I saw it fly... But unfortunately the bounce was in the wrong direction. ... It will stay forever in the riverbed of the city of love. ... If you want, we'll throw yours into that river, too, so they'll be together forever, and we'll have one more excuse to, like you've always asked, renew our vows and get married to new." Tamberi explained.
A brilliant move to reframe him losing his wedding ring into a symbol of love and an excuse to renew their vows. The apology has also gone viral, with over 400k users liking the post on Instagram.
You might remember Tamberi from another incredible moment at the last Olympics. Tamberi was tied with Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim in the high jump at 2.37m. As neither could clear the 2.39m height the two competitors, who are good friends in normal life, decided to share the gold medal. A particularly emotional moment for Tamberi, who was unsure if he would compete again after a bad injury before Rio 2016.
🏓 The essence of the Olympics is human achievement. The idea that anyone can overcome the odds and achieve greatness. The story of Zeng Zhiying encapsulates that perfectly.
Zeng Zhiying has just made her Olympics debut at 58-years old. She was born in China, but is now representing Chile in table tennis. That’s not even the most impressive part.
At age 18, she was considered one of the best table tennis players in the world. She was set to go to the Olympics for her birth country, China, until a a 1986 rule change requiring the two sides of the table tennis racket to be different colors hurt her play. Normally, she liked to confuse her opponents by frequently swapping sides during play. Her playing style was now more predictable and she fell out of the Chinese national team's ranks.
She then moved to Chile and, after a short stint coaching table tennis, she quit the sport. During COVID, she bought a table and started playing again. Her dream was to make the 2024 Olympics representing Chile. And, at age 58, she did it!