🏉 Paris 2024: My first Olympics.
and how I found a sense of pride I was not even aware I had lost.
👨✈️ The Briefing Room:
Notes and open topics from the editor’s desk.
Welcome Departures! The place to be for where to go and what to see. As much as I was ready to continue publishing about my wonderful adventures of the last few months, this week has turned out to be quite an unexpected emotional adventure on its own. In spite of having been in proximity to several Olympic Games over the years, I had never gotten the opportunity to attend them. This time around, living within walking distance of the game’s epicenter, made it almost impossible to not go. But little did I know that what I initially thought as some extracurricular activities to fit around my daily Parisian routine, would end up shining a light into a dark corner of my brain I had not even realized was there. So my apologies in advance for not bringing the usual tactical travel advice you are used to. But I am having a bit of a moment and I’m hoping someone else out there might be able to relate.
Now without further ado, let’s take it away!
Alvin
Once upon a nomad.
First, let me take a moment to put some context to where I’m coming from. I’ve been away from the US at this point way longer than I ever lived in it. Ever since leaving, I’ve never felt homesick or held any feeling of longing. Like many nomadic expats, I grew disenchanted with the environment of the time and in no uncertain terms jumped ship to never look back. From there on, my journey as a full time traveller and location independent citizen has always been forward looking. I have made a habit of prioritizing my next destination above and beyond whatever came before it.
Over the years, as I became a bit more self aware about the negative contributions my excessive travels were having on myself and those around me, I began to slow down my pace. Traveling to one destination for months instead of weeks or days. I began to look for more depth in every destination. Placing myself in local communities off the beaten tourist path. I started making new friends and fostering long term relationships with locals. Going as far in certain countries to begin learning the language and take part in volunteering efforts in the communities I would surround myself with.
“Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.”
-Marcus Aurelius
At this point, I’ve already been in France at least part time for several years. I use Paris as a base to springboard on to other destinations and only returning to the US for very short visits. Throughout this entire time, I have always felt very welcomed as a guest regardless of the country I decided to stay. All this to say in so many words, that at an emotional and physical level, I have been 100% detached from my country of origin for years. As such, I don’t hold a lot of the biases common to those who live a little closer to their homestead.
Fast forward to 2024 and as some of you might’ve seen on my other socials, early this year, I embarked on another longterm adventure. This time to South America. I planned this trip in a way that would allow me to unplug from the digital world as much as possible. With one of my main goals being to break some of the problematic device habits I have developed over the past 15 years of being glued to my phone. In that spirit, I put myself on a very strict media diet. Seldom posting any updates or consuming much of anything but the moment I was living.
After returning to Paris, the truth is I've not had much chance to get up to speed with everything that has changed in the world over the last few months. Even less, look at the current rankings for the games I would be attending. Yet as the saying goes, time doesn’t hear if we ask it to wait and next thing I know, the alarm is ringing to tell me the Women’s Rugby Sevens game is in a few hours. So off I go.
Game Day.
There is no shortage of sports to follow this side of the Atlantic. Since moving to Europe though, I have been drawn to Rugby. It is after all American Football’s long distance cousin. So when the option to buy tickets for the Olympics became available, it was the first sport that made the short list. This day was already going to be special in more ways than one. Not only would this be my first Olympics, but it would also be the first rugby game I attended and my first time in Stade de France. I arrived early to give myself a chance to walk around a bit and find my loge without having to rush too much. After touring around the area for a bit, I made my way to the main gate and up to my assigned entry door. As I found my loge and walked to the window facing the field I saw the day’s line up. To my surprise, the US team had made it to the semifinals. Before long, the stadium, was filled to its capacity. It had been years since I last set foot inside a venue of this magnitude and the excitement of just being there was impossible to hold back. Drinks, snacks and cameras in hand, I sat down on my seat to watch the game, with not a single clue of the emotional rollercoaster I was about to go on.
Separating the art from the artist.
Or in this case, separate the athletes from their countries. Being a fan of a certain team or athlete has everything to do with athletic achievement. It is the individual’s effort or their effort within the team that informs my thought process on who to admire and root for. Yes, it’s very easy to get distracted and go down tangents on how unsustainable the Olympic games themselves are and how problematic the institution behind them can be. In a similar way it is very tempting to focus on how a particular country’s antics outside the sport can play a role in current world affairs. All important topics to discuss without a doubt. But the devil here really lies in the details. Nuance matters. Athletes are a product of their hard work and dedication to the sport and not the Olympic Committee or the whims of whatever political party happens do be in power in their country of origin.
I just can’t stress enough how much I appreciate everyone that has put in the effort to make it this far. These are all people who in many cases worked their ass off their entire childhoods to be able to achieve world class status in their respective disciplines. It is through this lens that I can go to any sports event and bask in joy watching others push the boundaries of what humans are capable. Regardless of the flag they carry. But I digress.
The matches started on time and ran like clockwork all afternoon with short breaks at halftime and in between matches. With so many teams from different countries competing one after the other, it can be kind of hard to grasp at first glance the audience’s demographics. Once the teams are introduce and make their way to the field, the cheering makes it obvious there’s a fairly even spread of fans distributed across the stadium. That was until the US team made its way on to the green.
Enter the USA.
I hope I’m not butchering the facts here when I say the United States is not known for its world class Rugby league. It is a very niche sport that has been historically underrepresented since its rules were codified in back in the 1800’s. Men or women, the US has to my knowledge never brought home a medal in Rugby. Having a team in the Olympics is already a pretty big deal. Having that team within grasp of the podium in a sport that the country has never won? That is what Hollywood sports blockbusters are made off. A true underdog story in every sense of the word. So it was to my great surprise that as the US team was announced and the girls ran out into the field, there was a very poignant silence relative to the reception given to the rest of the teams before them.
Throughout all these years of travel I have experienced plenty of the low key contempt that comes from having our passport. Everything from light hearted jokes all the way to public gang-mockery. Broad stroking of what is without a doubt well earned stereotypes based on the way we are, the things we like and the shit we do. As an individual, I have no shame and zero fucks to give. I have heard every single trope more than once and I am well equipped to brush it off and move on. For some reason though this felt different. I was saddened, borderline tearful for every single one of these girls as I looked around and realized the only people cheering for them were the group in the loge right next to mine.
Laugh about my naïveté all you want, but I never thought it’d be possible to feel so isolated amongst so many people. I could’ve jumped the rail to their side and asked for a hug, but who’s got time for that kind of pity party? So I shoved the camera back in my face and shot through the rest of the match.
Looking back, I’m really glad I did. It was a nail biter from start to finish. In the end, the girls delivered the goods. In a last minute play they defeated Australia and brought home the Bronze.
Be good to yourself.
I have no clue who these people were but their vibe pulled me out of my cynicism. I did not care if they were Ford or Chevy, iOS or Android, or if they vote red or blue. They were a masterclass of pride and country. In a stadium with 80,000 people, they were for a moment, the only people I could relate to and the only indication I was not alone. I am very fortunate to have seated next to them and the girls are very lucky to have them as their biggest fans.
On my way home I could not help but ponder on the more existential side of this whole experience. It’s not easy facing without warning the reality of how out of touch you’ve been. The truth is no one owes us anything and sadly we are laying on the bed we made. Respect is earned not asked for and if we are ever interested in having the US regain its place in the World, we are going to have to work harder with each another and with everybody else.
Who knows. Maybe if we build a good team, invest the time and put in the effort, we can pull a last minute move that brings us back to the top. In the mean time let’s keep on cheering for each other. In the words of Journey:
-Be good to yourself, when nobody else will.
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For me Paris2024 was also the first time I attended the Olympics. And I loved every part of it. The atmosphere was amazing.
So great you made it to the Olympics! I'm from London (though I live in Belgium now) and there was such a special vibe in the city when we hosted the Olympics in 2012