Athletes watch Olympic sports for inspiration – Le Campanile

While some spectators view the Olympics as nothing more than entertainment, senior and future Division 1 track athlete Grant Morgenfeld watches every race from pre-race interviews to study the mentality of the runners , from the quick acceleration after the shot to the post-match interrogation, all to improve his performance on the rubber.

“I watch the races to see the strategy and also because it’s enjoyable. You can learn a lot by watching pros compete.

As the 2024 Olympics approach, Morgenfeld, along with many other students, is ready to look back at the history of the Games and how they have become, over time, the most important sporting event and the most popular in history. In 1896, in Athens, date of the first modern Olympic Games, the games brought together only 241 athletes from 14 nations and nine sports. Now, more than 10,000 people from 206 different countries take part in the games by participating in 40 different sports.

One of the most popular Olympic sports is swimming, with 2.7 million views per night during the 2021 qualifying events alone. The U.S. Olympic swimming team not only leads in viewership, but also of the total number of gold medals in Olympic history with 254.

Ella Detter, a competitive swimmer and Castilleja junior, said swimming has become one of the most popular Olympic sports thanks to its famous athletes.

“Swimming has become a bigger sport in the Olympics, especially with the big names that have competed,” Detter said. “I think they are well known inside and outside the pool and attract more attention from viewers.”

Detter also said that swimming in the Olympics is a great opportunity for young athletes to showcase their talents on a bigger stage.

“Swimming is unique in that young kids can make a name for themselves very early in their career,” Detter said. “When I compete, it’s really fun to see people compete who are good at what they do from a young age.”

Due to the four-year gap between each Summer Olympics, changes are occurring in athletes’ performances and in the structure of sports. These differences were illustrated by the return of four-time gold medalist gymnast Simone Biles and the upcoming addition of breakdancing.

Morgenfeld said the popularity of Olympic sports was affected by these changes.

“One aspect that has changed is that the sport has become more popular over time, (with) a lot more media coverage and hype around the events, and that attracts a lot more people,” Morgenfeld said. “Americans are becoming more and more enthusiastic about athletics.”

Morganfeld also said he believes Olympic athletics will continue to change.

“We’ve seen a lot more high school athletes start to run faster,” Morgenfeld said. “Technology has improved a lot with training, and as time goes on, athletes will only get faster and stronger. I think we’re going to continue to see world records go down, we’re going to continue to see more and more people running fast.