Unsung Heroes of the Paris Olympics
Brody Malone
The editing and publication schedule for Hero Redefined: Profiles of Olympic Athletes Under the Radar did not allow me to profile some of the unsung heroes from the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. But a couple layers beneath the limelight, there were plenty of them. Here are just a few:
Yaylagul Ramazanova, Women’s Archery, Azerbaijan
Those who know the sport of archery say a top-flight competitor must have steel nerves, sharp focus, mental strength, and the ability to block out distractions. That’s a challenging set of targets—made all the more challenging if you happen to be with child, as Ramazanova was.
“I felt my baby kick me before I shot this last arrow, and then I shot a 10,” Ramazanova told the official Chinese state news agency, Xinhua News. Ramazanova went on to defeat a favored Chinese competitor in an early round of competition before falling in the next round. Still, she summoned the willpower and the courage to compete while six-and-a-half months pregnant and to excel on the world stage. She told reporters she felt emboldened, not uncomfortable, by competing with her unborn child. “I felt that I was not fighting alone but fighting together with my baby.”
Becky Downie, Women’s Gymnastics, Great Britain
It is a great paradox that being thirty two years of age makes you very young in most aspects of life, but nearly ancient when it comes to elite gymnastics competition.
Yet there was thirty-two-year-old Becky Downie, competing in the all-around competition for her native Great Britain, and closing in on a potential medal in the uneven bars. Downie ended up missing a catch-and-release element during her routine, but her fall from the bars didn’t make her any less of a champion.
Downie had already shown her grit many times by then, overcoming the death of her twenty-four-year-old brother the week prior to the 2021 Olympic Trials, speaking out about abuse within British women’s gymnastics, and competing in her fourth Olympics at an age when most others have long since hung up their leotards.
“To be able to make it to Paris was a huge achievement regardless of the results,” she said to reporters covering the Games. No argument here.
Brody Malone, Men’s Gymnastics, USA
When Team USA ended a sixteen-year medal-winning drought to capture a bronze medal in the Paris Games team competition, the media darling was a pommel horse specialist named Stephen Nedoroscik.
But nearly lost in the hoopla was the crucial role played by Malone, who was only days removed from a disastrous qualifying round performance that he himself called the worst meet of his life. Malone put that performance in the rearview mirror and overcame the obstacle in his immediate past—just as he has done his whole life.
The twenty-four-year-old Stanford graduate saw his mother die of cancer in 2012 and his stepmother die from an aneurysm in 2019. He also dealt with a knee injury so severe it took three separate surgeries to repair. He is a profile in courage, resilience, and heroic efforts to bring out the best in himself no matter the challenges in his path.
