Fri August 2: A Special Experience at Track and Field

For my penultimate day of Olympic events, I started with one I’d been looking forward to, Track and Field at Stade de France (yes, it’s called Athletics, but I’ll always know it by the name of the arcade game I used to play in the mid 80s 😁). I’ve watched many football and rugby matches played at the legendary national stadium which was built in 1998 when France hosted the World Cup.

Taking the metro to St Denis, I immediately recognized the familiar oval shape of the Stade with giant staircases leading to the upper deck. I was excited to discover my ticket was in a suite upon arrival. When buying Olympic tickets, you purchase a seat in a ticket category and the seat is assigned later. Lucked out with this assignment.

I would discover how lucky as I found myself seated with two USA families watching their relatives compete that day. I chatted with hammer throw competitor Rudy Winkler’s brother in law and 1500m runner Cole Hocker’s father.

It was really special to see Hocker’s dad watch his son compete in person at the Olympics, since families weren’t allowed to travel to Tokyo 2020. It was nice to learn a bit about the event and the competitors from Cole’s father and I was lucky to be there in that special moment.

Sha’Carri Richardson wins her 100m prelim heat

After track and field, I walked across a bridge to the brand new Aquatics Center for Water polo. This was another sport I was excited to see because it’s one I was fascinated by as a child watching the 84 Olympics. At one end of the pool are the diving platforms, and the other end is the water polo setup.

Your helpful guide 🤣

I watched Australia beat Canada in a fun women’s match. The sport looks completely exhausting, treading water the whole time, and also quite physical as they try to tug at each other to get the ball.

After a brief stop at the hotel, I ventured down to the Urban Sports park at Place de la Concorde and watched some 3×3 basketball and skateboarding practice.