If you’ve been tuning in to events like the pole vault, steeplechase, or 100-meter dash at the Paris Games, you might’ve noticed something a little…different about the Olympic track. And no, your TV’s display isn’t glitching: The surface really is purple. Well, to be specific, two different shades of purple: Organizers chose a delicate lavender […]
In the months leading up to the Paris Games, one of the biggest questions wasn’t only which athletes would be competing, but whether the Seine river would end up being safe enough to host them for some of the swimming events. As the Games progressed, speculation only intensified. In advance of the men’s and women’s […]
What happens when the sport you love, the one you have spent your entire life dedicated to, decides you are no longer eligible to compete? That is the reality that many trans women athletes across a variety of sports are currently living, one where their dreams of success have been shattered. Laws to ban transgender […]
Being a face of a newly minted Olympic sport would stress out anyone, let alone someone who’s barely out of her teens. But Logan Edra, a 21-year-old California native who now lives in Florida, is handling the pressure with more chill than athletes twice her age. “If I fail, then I fail,” she tells SELF. […]
While a lot of people think artistic swimming is delightfully antiquated—a bunch of “bathing beauties” in floral swim caps and cherry-lipped smiles—that idea is a tired old stereotype that Daniella Ramirez, a Team USA artistic swimmer set to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games, is sick of hearing. She’s amassed a TikTok following with her […]
One of the best things about the Olympics is that nothing’s set in stone. Athletes having the day of their lives can—and often do—upset event favorites to clinch a spot on the podium. And that’s pretty much what happened in the women’s Olympic road cycling race on August 4. That’s when Team USA’s Kristen Faulkner […]
American women’s soccer fans could be forgiven for feeling a bit nervous heading into the Paris Games. Last year, the US National Women’s Team exited the World Cup earlier than ever, not even reaching the quarter-finals following a 5-4 loss to Sweden in the Round of 16. And some of the team’s long-time superstars, including […]
In the gardens of the Château de Versailles—an iconic setting about nine miles from Paris proper—the Olympics’ four-legged athletes (and their two-legged riders) have been sailing over fences that are far more than mere poles in the ground: They’re meticulously crafted, gorgeous masterpieces that almost draw our attention away from the amazing jumps the equestrians […]
Runners continue for a total of seven and a half laps, clearing five evenly-spaced barriers with every loop. Where TF did the water pit come from!? Okay, the water pit is…odd. The track steeplechase, in all its puddled glory, likely originated from the horse event of the same name. In the first equine steeplechases, jockeys […]
The crystal-clear waves of the Olympic surfing beach in Tahiti might look like paradise from the comfort of your couch, but drama under the surface of the Pacific is making this year’s surfing competition way more dangerous than you may think. Across the world from the action in Paris, Olympic surfers are living and competing […]