Daily Archives: May 19, 2024

Olympic athletes will have access to 220,000 condoms in Paris. Photo / Getty Images

Olympic athletes will sleep on cardboard frames that have been dubbed anti-sex beds at this years Paris games.

Games organisers say the cardboard beds which were first used in Tokyo in 2021 are returning to action, because the material will be cooler to sleep on during hot Parisian nights and it prioritises sustainability.

The beds are reportedly able to hold up to 250kg, and the frames and mattresses are recyclable.

I hope that Paris 2024s efforts to reduce its impact will show that it is possible to do things differently, Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the organising committee, said in a statement.

Similar beds, made by Airweave, were used at the Tokyo Games, where an intimacy ban was introduced to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Athletes at the time dubbed the frames anti-sex as it was thought they would collapse under vigorous motion.

Sky News in Britain said the cardboard beds were sturdy enough, apparently, to support 250kg of Olympian or Olympians.

The 10,500 athletes in Paris will have access to 220,000 condoms at the Games, about 21 for each competitor. Thats more than one a day over the 16-day duration of the Games running from July 26 to August 11.

It is very important that the conviviality here is something big, Olympic Village director Laurent Michaud told Sky News.

The Olympic condom count was first reported at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, when 8500 contraceptives were made available for athletes. It reportedly increased to 15,000 at the Atlanta Games.

At the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, 90,000 condoms were made available for athletes (according to the Associated Press). At the Sydney Games in 2000, 70,000 condoms were provided but a further 20,000 were rushed in by supplier Ansell as stocks ran low. Judging by the demand, the medal tally is certainly rising both in and out of the sporting arena, an Ansell spokesperson said.

Four years later in Athens, there were 130,000 prophylactics available and 30,000 lubricant packets (according to Reuters).

Beijing in 2008 offered a more conservative 100,000 condoms, with 150,000 in play for London in 2012.

Olympic condom supplies peaked in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, when 450,000 condoms were in circulation at the Olympic Village.

For the intimacy-hampered Tokyo Games, 160,000 condoms were handed out, with organisers gamely suggesting athletes could take them home as souvenirs.

Olympic sex stories have long circulated around the event. Author Matthew Syed, who represented Great Britain at table tennis in Barcelona, told Britains Times newspaper he got laid more often in those two-and-a-half weeks than in the rest of my life.

Former United States footballer and two-time gold medallist Hope Solo said she saw athletes having sex on the ground at the London Olympics. Ive seen people having sex right out in the open, Solo said. On the grass, between buildings, people are getting down and dirty.

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Olympic Games athletes to get 220,000 condoms and anti-sex beds in Paris - New Zealand Herald

Follow our Olympic coverage in the lead-up to the Paris Games.

HARTFORD, Conn. Security opened the doors to the XL Center in downtown Hartford at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. By 5:40, the screams started, the sort of largely female, high-pitched pre-teen squeals that you might expect to hear on the Eras Tour. They ebbed and flowed for 90 minutes of warmups, peaking into a crescendo every time Simone Biles did something.

The thing, of course, is Biles never does just something. She does some thing, moves that no one else in her sport dare consider let alone try, moves that defy what should be the human elements of gravity. At the Core Hydration Classic here, the last three all-around Olympic champions assembled for the first time in history Sunisa Lee, the 2020 winner back from a debilitating kidney disease; Biles, the 2016 winner; and Gabby Douglas, the wizened 28-year-old trying to return to the Olympics 12 years after winning gold. They were joined by two other Olympians, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles; two-time world championships team member Shilese Jones and a host of NCAA champions, a field that speaks to the depth of this U.S. teams potential.

Each earned more than their share of attention, appreciation and adulation.

None matched the noise that greeted Biles. At one point during warm-ups, after she did her signature Yurchenko double pike on the vault (also known as the Biles II), the screams grew so loud that even Douglas and Jones, a very strong contender for a medal in Paris, turned around to see what all the commotion was about.

They turned back around quickly, as if to shrug, Right. Simone.

Two hours later, after she finished on her final event, the uneven bars, Biles gave fans screaming her name a wave and blew them a kiss, causing an eruption that felt like it was teetering on hysteria.

This is what it is like to be Biles. She is incredibly famous, a world-class athlete whose name will leave a lasting imprint in the record books. The screeches here are understandable, largely from little girls who dream of being Biles able to see Biles in the flesh.

But she is also something of a fascinating dichotomy packaged into 56 inches of incredible human force.

At 27, Biles is finally embracing lifes ordinary joys. A year ago she got married, and her Instagram page is stuffed with date nights with her husband (NFL player Jonathan Owens), girls nights out and visits to the Green Bay Packers sidelines for Owens games. Those social media posts exude more than just happiness; they scream contentment, a gift hard-earned after Biles well-documented mental health struggles in Tokyo.

Yet she remains extraordinary in the truest sense of the word, a woman so uniquely talented that she has more moves (five) named after her than any other gymnast in history. She has nothing left to prove. Biles owns 37 world and Olympic medals, including four Olympic golds, and has recorded a track record of dominance so singular it borders on absurd. Golf fans are currently giddy about Scottie Schefflers run of four wins in his last five starts. Biles again won the all-around in this meet Saturday, outdistancing Jones by 1.8 points. She has not lost an all-around in which shes competed and completed since 2013.

Thats 11 years. Without losing. Dating all the way back to when she was barely a teenager.

Except, of course, for the qualifier.

Are you Ready for It? Biles began her floor routine Saturday using the Taylor Swift song, an exceptionally appropriate choice. This is the question, of course, dogging Biles now for three years, since she withdrew first from the team competition and eventually from the all-around at the Tokyo Olympics, unable to compete because of her battle with the twisties, a sort of vertigo for gymnasts that causes them to lose spacial awareness while performing mid-air.

Her decision in 2021 sparked debate about team commitment versus mental health, but Biles remained steadfast in her decision to put herself and her safety before everything else. When she won bronze on the beam, Biles said the third-place medal was the most meaningful because of what she had to overcome to earn it.

There should, of course, have been no arguing her decision to withdraw, and the controversy, if it must be called that, did real good. Once verboten, the willingness of powerful seemingly impenetrable athletes to speak candidly about their mental health struggles has brought an openness to much-needed dialogue about what it is to not always feel OK. Biles does superhuman things; she is, however immensely human.

Biles took a full year off, returning to team competition in 2023. At the world championships in the fall, she promptly picked up where she left off, helping the U.S. to a team gold, while adding three more for herself. That should end any pent-up skepticism about her ability and strength to continue.

But the world feeds off skepticism and asks constantly for even the best to prove their worth. And for better or worse, Olympic-sport athletes face unique scrutiny because of the calendar in which they compete. Gymnastics fans may pay attention all the time; the rest of the world keys in every four years. With Paris beckoning, the city of lights will cast an especially strong spotlight on Biles.

All of that serves, then, as the backdrop to what happened at the Core Hydration Classic, Biles first competition since those world championships. She threw three of those named moves two on floor, and one on vault. She stepped out on her signature tumbling pass, but completed the triple back with ease. She took a hop back on the Biles II but landed it and scored no worse than second on any of the four apparatus.

She appears very ready for it.

GO DEEPER

Gabby Douglas withdraws from Classic amid comeback

(Top photo of Simone Biles at Saturdays Core Hydration Classic: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)

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Simone Biles looks ready for the moment as she starts her Paris Olympics build-up - The New York Times

Simone Biles won the U.S. Classic on Saturday night in Connecticut. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Simone Biles road to Paris is off to a great start.

Biles made her season debut Saturday night at the U.S. Classic at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and she wasted no time dominating the field. She won the all-around title with 59.5 points, which marked her highest all-around score since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Her score was nearly two full points ahead of runner-up Shilese Jones, too.

Biles had little issue in any of the events throughout the competition. She completed the Yurchenko double pike, a move that now bears her name and is widely considered the most difficult, on the vault to earn a 15.600. That was the highest mark of the night anywhere.

Biles took second on the beam, and she won the floor event with a 14.800 score. She finished strong through the uneven bars, too, and finished behind only Jones. Suni Lee beat Biles on the beam.

Biles was one of eight Olympic and world championship medalists competing, too, including Lee and Gabby Douglas though Douglas pulled out of the competition after struggling on the uneven bars in her first rotation. Lee only competed on vault, beam and floor. Fellow Tokyo Olympians Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey finished in third and fourth in the event, too.

Biles hasnt competed since October, when she led Team USA to the team title at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships in Belgium. Biles competed in every apparatus in that competition while picking up her 20th gold medal and the seventh straight for the United States in world championships. She also won a historic eighth all-around title at the U.S. Championship last year, which made her the first gymnast, man or woman, to win eight all-around national titles. She pulled that off at 26, too, which made her the oldest woman to do so.

Naturally, that earned Biles The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award last year. She beat out former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball star Caitlin Clark and Spanish football star and Ballon dOr winner Aitana Bonmat in the voting.

Biles has made it clear she will compete at the Olympics later this summer in Paris, where shes sure to be one of the most-followed athletes as the sports world floods France. It will mark her first Olympics since she experienced the twisties at the 2020 games in Tokyo which knocked her largely out of competition in Japan. So far, though, it seems all is well for Biles in the leadup to Paris.

The Olympic trials are set for June 27-30 in Minneapolis, about a month before the Olympics kick off.

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Simone Biles dominates field at U.S. Classic ahead of Olympic return in Paris this summer - Yahoo Sports

Simone Biles reminded everybody why shes known as the G.O.A.T. in her 2024 debut at the U.S. Classic on Saturday. The Olympic gold medalist won the Core Hydration Classic with the highest score on vault and floor exercise, and showed off her signature moves like the Yurchenko double pike on the vault. I was just happy to be back out there, get through those nerves again, feel that adrenaline, Biles said after winning gold. The 27-year-old gymnastics legend is competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in the upcoming Paris Olympics, due to kick off in late July. Biles fellow Olympic champ Gabby Douglas was also hoping to make it to Paris but wound up pulling out of the competition after having a rough go of it Saturday. Douglas fell twice on the uneven bars in her first competition since the 2016 Rio Games.

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Simone Biles Kicks Off Olympic Year With Easy Win at U.S. Classic - The Daily Beast

The Tennessee Special Olympics Summer Games were held on Friday and Saturday, with over 800 athletes competing. Also in attendance was Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis.

Levis, who was selected by the Titans in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, was there to support those athletes competing. He was there as early as the opening ceremony when the athletes walked in while Levis watched with a pom pom in his hand and high-fiving the competitors. Later, he stayed to meet with the athletes.

You can watch the video of Will Levis meeting with every athlete at the Tennessee Special Olympic Summer Games, here:

In the video, Will Levis can be seen shaking hands, taking photos, signing autographs, and having conversations with various athletes at the games. He seems to make sure to give time to everyone individually and the athletes are clearly excited to see him.

Another video shared from the Special Olympics showed Will Levis working a slingshot along with volunteers to fire t-shirts into the crowd. He also took to the stage and spoke to the audience and athletes, calling for the powerlifters to show off as he flexed at them and for the swimmers as he pretended to swim.

Im very happy to be here now in Nashville, Levis also said.

The Special Olympics Tennessee is an organization that has the mission of providing sports training and competitions for children and adults who have intellectual disabilities. The Summer Games, which were held at Lipscomb University & Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, saw athletes compete in six sports Track & Field, Bocce, Powerlifting, Aquatics, Pickleball, and Volleyball.

Special Olympics Tennessee took to social media. There, they thanked Will Levis for his appearance at the event.

Big thanks to @Titans quarterback Will Levis for cheering on our athletes during State Summer Games Opening Ceremonies, the organization posted.

As a rookie in 2023, Will Levis played in nine games, starting all nine of those appearances. He completed 58.4 percent of passes for 1,808 yards and eight touchdowns to four interceptions. He also rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown. Now, hes looking to take a step forward on the field in his second season with a new coaching staff coming to the Titans.

Off the field, Levis is clearly making a good impression on the Nashville community, coming out to events like the Special Olympics and celebrating those athletes competing there too.

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VIDEO: Will Levis meets with every athlete at Tennessee Special Olympics Summer Games - On3.com

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Summer McIntosh smiles during the breaststroke leg on her way to breaking the World Record in the women's 400m IM at the Canadian Olympic Swim Trials in Toronto on May 16, 2024.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

Summer McIntosh has turned the volume all the way up at the Canadian Olympic trials this week.

Not just the sound levels inside the Pan Am Sports Centre, where she has dominated four events and drawn frenzied reactions from the Canadian crowds.

McIntosh has also cranked up the decibels on the buzz shes been generating around the world, as the weeks tick by until the Paris Olympics in July.

When she smashed her own world record in the 400-metre individual medley this week, the news reverberated from the United States to Australia, where her main competitors are all clocking her performances.

Yet, for all the noise McIntosh is creating these days, the 17-year-old from Toronto insists she isnt hearing any of it.

I think Im getting used to it at this point, McIntosh said of the din that now surrounds her. I dont really hear any of the outside noise. When Im at a pool like this, all I hear is the support and the screaming from the stands. So thats what I try to focus on.

As for the screaming, theres been a lot of it.

During her race Saturday night, her fourth of the trials, McIntosh won the 200-metre butterfly in a time of 2 minutes 4.33 seconds, as the roar from the roughly 1,700 fans in attendance drowned out the announcer.

It was the fastest time in the world this season for that event, solidifying her as Canadas leading medal contender in the pool in France.

McIntosh allowed herself a brief smile when asked about the season-best time she put down, then quickly pointed out that its all just more noise.

Shes got 10 more weeks to Paris, and thats where shes putting her energy and attention, McIntosh said.

I try not to focus too much on how fast it was compared to others. When it comes to the Olympic Games, everyones going to give that much more, McIntosh said.

McIntosh also won the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, and 400m individual medley at the trials this week.

Saturdays victory secured McIntosh entry into her fourth individual event at the Summer Games, in addition to multiple relay events she will likely swim for Canada.

She first made noise at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, arriving as a precocious 14-year-old who was part of a Canadian relay team that narrowly missed the podium. Now, heading into Paris, shes arriving as a contender, a serious threat expected to win a medal in multiple events, and a generational talent for Canada.

It will be her biggest stage yet. But until then, McIntosh said her preparation is devoted to the small details: honing her technique a little more, shaving milliseconds from her times and whatever else it takes.

Ive got about 10 weeks until Paris, not a ton of time, but enough to still have time to improve on some small things, McIntosh said. Just small little tweaks.

Until then, shell be doing everything she can to tune out the noise, which given the way shes been swimming lately will only grow louder.

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As Summer McIntosh wins at the Canadian Olympic trials, the noise around her grows louder - The Globe and Mail

Many of the most beloved Air Jordan colorways of all time were inspired by Michael Jordans legacy on the court. Largely that means borrowing palettes from the uniforms of his six-time champion Chicago Bulls or his championship-winning UNC Tar Heels. Less common but just as desirable are the Js that pay tribute to Jordan's feats with the United States men's national team, with whom he won gold at the 1983 Pan American Games, the 1984 Summer Olympics, the 1992 Tournament of the Americas, and the 1992 Summer Olympics.

The Air Jordan 6 Olympic is one of the most beloved USA squad makeups. This particular red-white-and-blue version didnt debut until the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydneyeight years after Jordan and the Dream Team ran rampant in Barcelonawhere it was worn by Team USA legends of the era like Ray Allen. It returned at London 2012 with a slightly revamped silhouette, featuring a narrower profile and redesigned outsole, not unlike the popular Air Jordan 6 Carmine, one of the best-known Jordan 6 retros. The Olympic colorway has appeared more recently on an Air Jordan 5 and as a cleated golf version of the AJ6, but the OG hasn't gotten a proper release in over a decade.

Ray Allen wearing the Air Jordan 6 Olympic at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Thats set to change this summer, when Nike will reissue the Air Jordan 6 Olympic just in time for Paris 2024. The Jordan 6 has been somewhat underrated by sneakerheads in recent years, and underrepresented as a retro model by Jordan Brand in general, with few must-have releases dropping outside of the return of the Carmine in 2021. The Olympic shows the silhouette at its best, with a crisp aesthetic thats at once sleek and strikingly geometric. The dominant white and blue offset by the red Jumpman logo looks about as perfectly clean as Air Jordan colorways get.

The Air Jordan 6 Olympic is set to return via Nike and the SNKRS app on August 3but if you really can't wait to get your hands on a pair, you can nab the 2012 release via StockX right now instead.

Nike

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12 Years Later, Air Jordan Is Finally Re-Releasing a Legendary Olympic Sneaker - GQ

The University of Limoges' Centre for Law and Economics of Sport (CDES) claims that the 2024 Olympic Games will generate a net economic gain of somewhere between 6.7 billion and 11.1 billion for the Paris region.

The Paris 2024 Organising Committee commissioned the independent study to model the overall economic impact of construction work, extra tourism and event organisation on the le de France region from 2018-2034. The Paris Tourism Office expects up to three million tourists to visit Paris during the Games and spend around 2.6 billion.

In 2016, the CDES carried out a previous economic impact study in support of a Paris Games bid which estimated the economic gain at 5.3-10.7 billion. Three years ago, the Pariseconomy was estimated at 765 billion by the French national statistics agency.

At under 10 billion, theGames budget is set to be smaller than recent editions with at least 2.6 billion coming from public funds. In an intermediate scenario, each euro of public spending will lead to an around three euros of economic impact.Eighty percent of the public investment is in Seine-St-Denis, home to the Olympic Village which will be converted into 2,800 housing units and two new schools after the Games.

The economic gains of major sporting events are hard to measure with the study's authors urging caution with regard to interpreting the results. In March, French central bank governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said that the Games' impact would be more psychological than economic.

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Olympics to provide 7-11bn boost for Paris region, says independent report - Insidethegames.biz

Alyssa Roenigk, ESPN Senior WriterMay 17, 2024, 11:38 AM ET

The past and future of American gymnastics is colliding in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday. At the U.S. Classic, the first step toward this summer's Olympic trials in Minneapolis, the past three Olympic all-around champions -- Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles and Suni Lee -- will compete alongside one of the most talented groups of Olympic hopefuls in history. It is a meet rife with storylines -- but it is Douglas' return to the sport that is perhaps the most unexpected plot twist of this quad.

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Twelve years after becoming the first Black gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title at the 2012 London Games and inspiring a generation of Black girls to pursue elite gymnastics, Douglas returned to competition at the American Classic in Katy, Texas, in April. Now 28, she looked at times shaky and inconsistent and at others ready to reclaim the Olympic spotlight.

In Katy, Douglas' difficulty scores on bars and beam were on par with the top gymnasts in the country and she was as good as ever landing a double-twisting Yurchenko vault. But she came off bars twice, landed low on her beam dismount and stepped out of bounds on two tumbling passes, finishing 11th overall.

But no matter the outcome this summer, Douglas has said her quest to make the Paris team is as much about ending her career on her terms as it is about proving she's one of the five best gymnasts in the country right now. To many of the young Black women she's competing against for those coveted spots, her return means even more.

"Seeing her up there on the podium [in London], I was, like, 'Oh, I want to do that. I want to be there one day,'" 17-year-old Kaliya Lincoln said during a national team camp earlier this year. "That moment inspired me."

Twelve years ago, Lincoln watched Douglas win in London and reset her goals for herself. She never imagined that, more than a decade later when she came of Olympic age in a sport once defined by youth, she'd compete against Douglas for a spot on the 2024 Olympic team.

"Not in a million years did I think I'd ever compete against Gabby," said Lincoln, who will share the floor with Douglas for the first time Saturday. "It's surreal. Seeing her passion and love for this sport after so many years is really inspiring."

Until April, Douglas hadn't competed in elite gymnastics since the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she became the first all-around champion since Nadia Comaneci to win the title and return to the Olympics four years later. In Rio, Douglas helped the U.S. team win a second straight team gold and qualified into the uneven bars final, where she finished seventh.

Despite finishing third overall in qualifying, Douglas was unable to defend her all-around title due to the two-per-country rule. Teammates Biles and Aly Raisman represented the U.S. and took gold and silver. Biles became the second Black woman, and fifth American woman, to win the Olympic all-around.

Five years later, at the postponed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Lee became the first Hmong American and the first Asian American to win the title. In 2022, Konnor McClain led the first all-around podium trio of Black gymnasts at the U.S. championships, and at the 2023 world championships in Antwerp, Belgium, in October, Biles topped the first podium of three Black gymnasts in world championship history.

"I remember looking at Simone and we were like, we did it," two-time world champion Shilese Jones said in Antwerp. Jones is the only woman who was part of both podiums, having taken silver in the all-around at the 2022 U.S. event and bronze at 2023 worlds. "It's been a long time coming. Sometimes I feel we get overshadowed. This means so much to younger girls and the Black community."

Jones, who is a favorite to make the Paris team, also credits Douglas' win in London with changing the course of her career, and her life. "I saw the 2012 Olympics and was like, 'That's where I want to be. I want to be Gabby Douglas,'" she said. "That's when it clicked for me. Like, 'Oh, we can take this to another level.'"

Jones, 21, began to formulate a plan. Three years later, at 13, she persuaded her parents to move from their hometown of Seattle to Columbus, Ohio, so she could train at Buckeye Gymnastics alongside Douglas, who trained there through the 2016 Games.

"I thought, 'You're elite now, but you need to get somewhere where you're training with other elites,'" Jones said. "That's when I moved and trained with Gabby. We became close, and I got a different view for the Olympic-style athlete."

Skye Blakely, who is also in the mix to make this summer's Olympic team, was 8 when she watched Douglas walk to the top step of the Olympic podium and bow her head to receive her first Olympic gold medal.

Throughout her career, Blakely, 19, has trained at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Texas, the same gym where Olympic all-around champions Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin once trained. She said that she remembers hearing about their wins and watching replays of their performances on YouTube but that she wasn't impacted by them in the way she was when Douglas won in London.

"It was seeing Gabby compete with my own eyes," Blakely said. "She was Black; she looks like me and was someone I could relate to. I was like, 'Wow, it is a possibility.' Since then, it's been my goal to get there. I was like, 'I see the plan. I see the vision. Just keep working hard and you can get there, too.'"

With Douglas' return to the sport alongside two-time Olympian Biles, 27, in a field that could yield the first over-20 Olympic team in U.S. history, Douglas is once again helping to shift perceptions of what an Olympic gymnast looks like.

"I'm only 17," Lincoln says. "Now I look at it like, I still have a lot of time. It's not, 'If I don't do good this season, then that's it.' I have many more years in this sport."

That's how Douglas once viewed her career, too. It's why she never used the word "retired" after Rio. But she knows this is her last go-round, so she's trying to take in every moment along the way.

"Happy and grateful to be back out there on the floor doing what I love again," Douglas wrote on social media after competing in Katy. "With anything there are always kinks to work out, get better and improve. I've never been more excited to get back into the gym and work even harder ... I'll see you in Hartford."

The rest is here:

What does Gabby Douglas' comeback mean to the sport? - ESPN

That Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were the overwhelming favourites to win the 2024 Thailand Open was well known by the business end of the BWF Super 500 tournament.

They were the highest ranked pair and did not face a seeded pair in a draw already depleted by absences and then blown wide open by the early losses of the other top pairs.

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But every favourites tag on paper must be justified with on-court performances and the top seeds did just that, rubber-stamping their credentials with a dominant title run, without dropping a game. They beat China's world no. 29 pair Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15 in a performance that grew more commanding as the match progressed.

This title - the second of the season out of 4 finals - sealed their return to the world no. 1 spot in the seesaw of men's doubles rankings again. More importantly, this title is a morale boost after a rough couple of months - due to injury and early losses - after a splendid start to the year (three straight finals).

The Indians came into the Thailand Open after tough losses in the two tournaments they had set their targets on this year - a second-round loss at the All England Championship in March and two back-to-back narrow losses at the Thomas Cup in May, where defending champions India made a quarterfinal exit.

It also was a chance for Satwik, whose injury had forced them to miss the Badminton Asia Championship in April, to test his match fitness over the course of a tournament. The title run was a win on both counts, as they looked fit and fast after a slight off-colour performance earlier this month. In this respect, the lack of big names in the field didn't matter as much as testing the rhythm of their own performances.

Thailand has always been a happy hunting ground for Sat-Chi, a fact both reiterated after their semi and final wins. It is this very Thailand Open title that, back in 2019, heralded the young Indian pair's arrival on the scene. That was their first major title, then on the back of a giant-killing run.

Their path to the title this time could not have been more different as they did not face a single Top 25 pair. It took them only 35 minutes to win the semifinal, and while the final was only 10 minutes longer and looked easy enough on paper, it was also a reminder of how much both Satwik and Chirag have grown.

In the first game, for example, Chen and Liu fought back after an early burst to extend the rallies and levelled things at 7-7 before taking a slim 1-point lead at the mid-game interval. But the Indians, whose natural game is swift points, recalibrated and got into the longer rallies to build their points and raced away in the second half.

The second game saw the top seeds build a sizeable lead right at 11-6 before the Chinese pair clawed their way back to reduce the gap to just 1 at 16-15. Satwik and Chirag then turned on their afterburners and did not lose another point. The very next shot was pure doubles symphony; the two punching in back-to-back angled smashes - all returned - before Satwik found the spot they opened up and sent down the kill shot.

These are small moments in the bigger picture but it adds on to their confidence and comfort on court in what is a very important season. As much as the trophies and points on the BWF World Tour count, 2024 is very much about the Paris Olympics and planning their performance ahead of it. Satwik and Chirag are one of the medal favourites from India and have spoken about how crucial calendar and fitness management will be ahead of the Games in July.

Also Read: Path to Paris: After historic 2023, 'hungry' Sat-Chi embrace pressure, master the mind games

They have not entered next week's Malaysia Masters, also a Super 500, and will likely play the Singapore Open Super 750 the week after. With the confidence they would have gained in their fitness and momentum this week, the Indian will be back to being favourites the next time they play on tour.

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Satwik-Chirag peel off rust to claim Thailand Open silverware ahead of Paris Olympics - ESPN India