This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian. John McFall’s sporting record alone would be enough to justify him being the flag bearer for the 2024 Paralympics. He won silver in the 100 meters (T42) and bronze in the 200 meters at the 2006 IPC …
Read More »Judging Breaking at the Olympics Is an Art, Not a Science
Back in 2017, when I was watching the breaking battles at the Silverback Open in the suburbs of Philadelphia, a B-boy drew up into a handstand. It’s a basic element, to be sure, but this dancer tweaked it by balancing on the back of his wrists, an innovation that excited …
Read More »The Olympics' Hostile Architecture Is a Preview of What's to Come
On a graffiti-stained sidewalk in Paris, a strange sight appeared days before the Olympic opening ceremony in July: Around 40 giant cement Lego-like blocks in neat rows beneath the Pont de Stains, a bridge in the northern suburb of Aubervilliers that connects two Olympic sites, the Stade de France and …
Read More »No, the Seine Cleanup Wasn’t a Failure
When Olympic triathletes plunged into the Seine river close to the Alexandre III bridge in Paris on July 31, they were making history—and not just by going for gold. The event, which also saw the competitors cycle and run along the Champs-Elysées and past the Grand Palais, was far more …
Read More »Dengue Fever Threatens to Gate-Crash the 2024 Summer Olympics
Every time the Olympics come around, it seems there’s a different disease stalking the event. At Rio 2016 it was Zika. At the postponed Tokyo games it was Covid. And at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer? Take your pick. Authorities have been working to contain both dengue and measles, …
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