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August 08 2024
Sam Watson: Sam Watson made headlines at the Paris Olympics, setting a new world record in speed climbing at the Le Bourget Climbing Venue. In a race that was over in just 4.74 seconds, Watson scaled the 15-meter wall during the bronze-medal match, marking an extraordinary achievement even without taking home the gold. Earlier in the semifinals, a slight mistake saw him narrowly beaten by China’s Wu Peng, who finished in 4.85 seconds to Watson’s 4.93 seconds. In the final, Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo claimed gold, but it was Sam Watson’s record-breaking climb that truly stood out.
Such is the nature of speed climbing, which is a separate event at the Olympic Games for the first time. Athletes race head-to-head, not against time, and the contest is over in the blink of an eye.
Watson, 18, said later that she made a mistake near the top of the wall in the semifinal against Wu. "Just a few millimetres from a certain hold allowed me to get less power from it and slow down a lot," Watson said.
Here, many things are highly relative.
Watson is the fastest man in the sport again — he set a world record of 4.75 seconds in the preliminary heats on Tuesday. And yet he still didn't make it to the top of the podium. How is he navigating the mix of achievements and emotions?
"I don't really know," Watson said. "I haven't really gone through it. I think all that kind of stuff is external rather than internal. I have a view of myself in my mind and it doesn't really change regardless of my performance. But other people will see me in certain ways and I hope that way is positive and represents me, my sport and my country well."
Watson did not show much joy immediately after breaking his own world record in the bronze medal race. However, a few minutes later Watson was able to soak in the moment. "I smiled," he said. "I’m really grateful to the organizers. I asked them to snap a photo with the world record, just like Usain Bolt."
Another accolade for speed climbing, down to a millisecond. Races are usually very, very close: for example, Wu beat Italy's Matteo Zerloni in the quarterfinals by 4.995 seconds to 4.997 seconds. The start of the quarterfinals of the gold medal race took 20 minutes.
How fast can Watson run? He said, “I’m hoping to break the 4.6-second mark.” "That would really mean a lot to me."
Word record: 4.74 seconds. Word count: 474. But sadly, neither of us got a gold medal.
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