Culture

Perfection, by Lamine Yamal

Published

3 weeks ago

July 10, 2024

Press Room

Follow live coverage of England vs Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-final today

A tear in the universe opened up at the Allianz Arena.

A space that wasn’t apparent to the other 21 players on the pitch, notably France goalkeeper Mike Maignan, or the 75,000 fans in the stands, suddenly appeared. When it did, Pedri, on the Spanish bench, brought his clasped hands from his neck to his face. He looked frightened by what he had just witnessed. Frightened by the portal to a new dimension his team-mate Lamine Yamal cut into with his left foot. The portal to a Euros final. The portal through which Yamal’s immense potential could be glimpsed.

Pedri watches Yamal’s goal in disbelief (BBC)

Time travelled with the ball as it went from out to inside the far post. Yamal was 13 when the last Euros took place three years ago. He watched Spain go out in the semi-finals to Italy at a shopping centre with his friends. Dani Olmo, the man of the match in that game, missed a penalty in the shootout. But in Munich, Yamal showed an alternative reality was possible.

Olmo scored the winner against France. His goal was exquisite in its own right for its dexterity, its elusiveness, its affirmation of Spanish technical supremacy. Olmo was playing with the confidence of someone who has scored in three games in a row. But France were also in a state of sheer disbelief and disorientation.

Four minutes earlier, Yamal had cancelled out France’s opener. Up until then, it had looked like this might be Kylian Mbappe’s night. Mbappe had discarded his mask in the way a gladiator might throw one onto the bloodied sand of the Colosseum floor. A statement of intent. His vision was no longer impaired by the “horrible” accessory he’d been forced to wear to protect a broken and bruised nose. Inside 10 minutes, Mbappe even made Randal Kolo Muani, a player who famously missed a one-on-one in the 2022 World Cup final, not to mention another against Portugal four days ago, finally score.

We’ve grown accustomed at this tournament to no one coming back against France. They’re not supposed to, anyway. The only goal Maignan had conceded so far was a penalty from Yamal’s Barcelona team-mate, Robert Lewandowski, in the 1-1 draw with Poland. Maignan had saved Lewandowski’s first effort only for the referee to order it to be retaken for encroachment. Beating him would take something truly special. Something out of this world. “We were in a difficult moment,” Yamal acknowledged. “Nobody expected to concede a goal so early.”

When a Fabian Ruiz roulette ended in a tangle 30 yards from goal, Yamal collected the loose ball and moved to puncture the enthusiasm behind the French goal. “I picked up the ball and I did not think about it, I tried to put it where it went, and I’m just very happy.”

Standing up to him was France’s giraffe-like midfielder Adrien Rabiot. Clearly, Yamal thought he needed to wind his neck in. On the eve of the game, Rabiot had said: “We’ve seen he is a player who can deal with stress very well, he has lots of qualities of playing for his club and in a major tournament. We know what he is made of. He keeps a cool head, but it can be difficult to deal with a semi-final in a big tournament. It will be up to us to put pressure on him, but we want him to come out of his comfort zone. If you want to play at a Euro final, you need to do more than he has done up until now.”

Yamal responded on Instagram with a post of a hand moving a pawn on a chessboard. “Move in silence” read the caption. “Only speak when it’s time to say ‘checkmate’.” Yamal let his left foot do the talking. His move came in the 21st minute. Yamal hid the ball, at first, by wrapping his left foot around it to go outside Rabiot only to reveal it again by nudging it inside with the outside of the same boot.

Rabiot shifted from side to side like an Arctic crab. He threw out a claw as Yamal set to shoot, but Rabiot caught none of the ball. Neither did Maignan. He covered his goal as well as he could. The AC Milan goalkeeper’s gloved hand eclipsed the top corner, but it couldn’t shut out the sun, the light of Yamal’s talent. “Habla! Habla!” Yamal shouted at Rabiot. “Talk! Talk!” All the Frenchman’s talk had been cheap. Yamal’s strike, on the other hand, was priceless. “We saw a touch of genius,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.

It’s commonplace to hear people say perfection doesn’t exist. That it’s unattainable. But Yamal’s shot challenged that notion. “His shot was magnifique,” Didier Deschamps praised. It made Yamal, at 16 years and 362 days, the youngest goalscorer in Euros history. He will turn 17 on the eve of the final. The only gift Yamal wanted, he said, was “just to win, win, win. My objective was to be able to celebrate my birthday here in Germany. And I am very happy to celebrate it here with the team”. He then added: “I told my mum she does not need to buy me any present if we manage to win the final.”

As Yamal turned and dashed towards the enraptured Spanish bench, sliding on his knees in a state of euphoria, memories of a very similar goal the Barcelona winger scored against Mallorca flashed before the eyes of the Catalan journalists in the press box. But this was better. For the occasion. For the way it made Mbappe puff his cheeks in a look of awe and helplessness. “I don’t know if it’s the best goal of the tournament,” Yamal said. “But it’s the most special for me.”

Maignan is powerless to stop Yamal (Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images)

Yamal’s display will be condensed to the analysis of a moment. Rodri, however, expanded on it. “I personally went over to Lamine and congratulated him for his performance,” he said. “People will remember the game for his goal and what he did is something only a few chosen ones can do. But I personally thanked him for his defensive commitment. The recoveries, the tracking back, how he helped out the full-back. It’s been outstanding for a guy his age. I personally really rate this.”

At the end of the game, the Spanish players huddled together and jumped up and down in celebration at reaching the final. Yamal, initially, stood apart from them, nearer the halfway line like a star from a galaxy far, far away.

(Top photo: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

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Culture

Marchand wins gold in 200M butterfly and 200M breaststroke

Published

5 hours ago

August 1, 2024

Press Room

Marchand wins gold in 200M butterfly and 200M breaststroke

NANTERRE, France — French sensation Léon Marchand continued his spectacular run at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first swimmer in history to win the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke at the same Games. And he did it on the same night.

Marchand earned his first gold medal of the day in the 200-meter butterfly and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:51.21 in an incredible come-from-behind win over Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, who finished second in 1:51.75.

UNREAL. LEON MARCHAND WITH AN INCREDIBLE COMEBACK TO IGNITE THE CROWD IN PARIS. 🇫🇷#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/oErY1zMUvu
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

About two hours later, Marchand set another Olympic record by swimming the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:05.85. It was arguably the greatest one-night swimming performance in Olympic history.

“I knew it was possible for me to do — to finish the races, but maybe not win them,” Marchand said. “I never knew (if I could win both).”

Earlier in the week, Marchand won a gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley. So, he’s three-for-three in gold, with one event left in his program.

He is just the fourth male swimmer in Olympic history to win more than two individual gold medals at the same Games.

“Marchand’s march to greatness CONTINUES!” 🇫🇷
Leon Marchand just can’t be stopped in his home country. He wins gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/DEAEFeIxG4
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024

The 22-year-old Frenchman, competing in his home Olympics, has been under a microscope all meet, carrying the pressure and hope of his countrymen and women in each of his swims. And he’s absolutely delivered.

Marchand’s time of 4:02.95 in the 400 IM also set an Olympic record, breaking the mark set by Michael Phelps in 2008. It was Marchand’s first Olympic gold medal and a moment that gave him goosebumps. Marchand said he was proud of himself and also his country.

Wednesday was always going to be a highlight of Marchand’s program in Paris, with him hoping to swim in the finals of the 200 fly and the 200-meter breaststroke in a span of two hours. It’s an ambitious double with two grueling races, but a schedule that Marchand said he’d been prepared for because of his NCAA experience at Arizona State. He’s used to doubles and short turnarounds between races and felt confident he could handle this schedule here.

Marchand’s coach, Bob Bowman, told him he thought he could complete Wednesday’s double after the 400 IM final because of how strong his breaststroke looked.

Marchand said the last few days have felt “kind of like a marathon,” but he thought he had enough time to recover and prepare in between. Winning two gold medals in one night was a dream of his.

“I had two gold medals in two hours, and that is quite incredible,” he said.

Marchand has been confident in pretty much every setting he’s been in at his home Games. Paris La Défense Arena has embraced him with both arms, the crowd loud and rollicking each time he steps up to the starting block that a competitor compared the environment to the feel of a soccer match.

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND LISTEN. 🔉
Leon Marchand had the Paris fans in an absolute frenzy during his comeback win. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/3a5tdktQ0a
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 31, 2024

But Marchand had been preparing for this moment, and he knew coming into the meet just how hard he’d been working to succeed on this stage. Bowman has been through similar experiences with his former protege — Phelps. He’s tried to keep Marchand in his routine, avoiding as many potential distractions as possible.

“The main thing is just getting prepared in the water — the main thing is just swimming as fast as possible,” Marchand told The Athletic this spring. “But it’s also not only about swimming when it’s a home Olympics.”

A home Olympics also means that his smile is a bit bigger after he touches the walls and the cheers are even louder than he could ever have imagined.

Marchand has another opportunity to medal in the men’s 200-meter individual medley. He’ll swim in the prelims for that event Thursday morning.

For more on swimming at the Olympics, follow The Athletic‘s live blog.

Required reading

(Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty Images)

Culture

Mbappe becomes majority owner of Ligue 2 club Caen as takeover approved

Published

12 hours ago

August 1, 2024

Press Room

Mbappe becomes majority owner of Ligue 2 club Caen as takeover approved

Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has become the majority owner at Ligue 2 club Caen via his Coalition Capital investment fund.

Coalition Capital has bought the 80 per cent of the club’s shares which had been owned by asset management company Oaktree Capital Management, which also owns 99.6 per cent of Italian club Inter Milan.

Coalition Capital is the investment fund of Interconnected Ventures, founded by Mbappe and “committed to driving continuous innovation in sports, media, and investments”.

Caen — based in the city located in Normandy, 240 km west of Paris — confirmed the transfer of funds from Oaktree to Coalition Capital on Wednesday.

Ziad Hammoud, CEO of Interconnected Ventures, will become Caen president.

Coalition Capital annonce la reprise des parts d’Oaktree dans le @SMCaen aux côtés de PAC Invest. #SMCaen #TeamSMC
— Stade Malherbe Caen (@SMCaen) July 31, 2024

“As the lead investor in this project, we are very excited to continue the development of Caen, alongside PAC Invest (Pierre-Antoine Capton’s investment company, which remains a minority shareholder of the club),” Hammoud said.

“Our shared vision with the club of sporting excellence and community engagement is at the heart of our approach. We are determined to create an environment where young talents can flourish and where the club can defend its identity with strength and ambition.”

Caen have played in Ligue 2 since 2019 (JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)

When he was 13, Mbappe came close to joining the youth academy of Caen, who tracked him for three years and held talks with his family over a move. However, the striker joined Monaco.

Caen finished sixth in Ligue 2 in the 2023-24 season, missing out on the promotion play-offs to Ligue 1 by one point, having finished fifth the previous term.

The club spent five seasons in the French top flight until relegation in 2019 and gave senior breakthroughs to players including N’Golo Kante, Raphael Guerreiro and William Gallas.

(Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)

Culture

North and South Korea table tennis Olympic medalists pose for shared selfie

Published

19 hours ago

July 31, 2024

Press Room

North and South Korea table tennis Olympic medalists pose for shared selfie

Olympic medalists from North Korea, South Korea and China posed for a selfie following the table tennis mixed doubles medal’s ceremony.

China’s Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin beat North Korea’s Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong in the final to win gold, as South Korea won bronze with pair Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin defeating Hong Kong.

South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon took the photo of all the medalists together in which they were all smiling broadly. The picture was taken with a South Korean-made Samsung phone.

“I congratulated them when they were introduced as silver medalists,” Lim said after the photo, in quotes carried by Korean media.

South Korea and North Korea both claim to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea — which has been partitioned since September 1945 — with military tensions between the two states and a heavily fortified border.

Prior to this Olympics, all individual items including mobile phones were banned from medal ceremonies, with photos only being allowed to be taken by official media.

All six mixed double medal winners posed for the selfie (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

However, an agreement between Samsung and the IOC allows their products to be used in ceremonies. “Athletes can take creative selfies with the Galaxy Z Flip6 in various angles due to its foldable nature,” Samsung said in a press release this week.

The Athlete 365 app is preloaded on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip6, which was given to competing athletes prior to its official launch earlier this month, into which the “victory selfies” of competitors can be added.

The shared photo comes just days after 143 South Korean athletes were incorrectly introduced as North Korean during the Olympics opening ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was forced to issue a “deep apology” for the incident which saw the South Korean delegation announced as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the full official name of North Korea, as their boat passed down the Seine. The formal name of South Korea is the Republic of Korea.

North Korea, which has 16 athletes as part of its first delegation since 2016 (it was not represented at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic), was properly introduced later in the program in French and English.

(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)