American sport climber Sam Watson leaves the Olympic Games in Paris with a world record and a bronze medal
LE BOURGET, France (AP) — Sam Watson leaves the Paris Games with another world record in speed sport climbing, but without an Olympic gold medal.
The American broke the world speed record for the second time on Thursday at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but he achieved the feat in the battle for the bronze medal after being eliminated in the semifinals.
The 18-year-old Watson, the clear favorite for the gold medal, lost to Wu Peng of China in the semifinals before setting a record of 4.74 seconds in the third-place heat. Leonardo Veddriq of Indonesia won the gold medal in the final with a time of 4.75. Wu finished the race with a time of 4.77.
“I just flew and did my thing. I don’t think anything really changed between my rounds,” Watson said. “A few millimeters of error is a big deal in this sport, so I don’t regret anything. I don’t think the pressure was too much for me or anything like that. I think I just stumbled a little bit.”
Watson first broke the record two days ago with a time of 4.75 in an elimination heat. He held the previous world record of 4.79 since April.
Watson said the world record meant “a lot” to him and was “a great achievement,” but he had not yet grasped what it meant to go home with the record but not the gold medal.
“I haven’t really been through that,” he said. “I think all of those things are more external than internal. I have an idea of who I am and that doesn’t really change regardless of my performance. But other people are going to see me a certain way and I hope that I see that view as a positive one and as a good representation of myself, my sport and my country.”
Watson said he would “take a little break, maybe a little holiday after working so hard” in Paris.
But only after eating the Olympic Village muffin, which he had been praising on his social media accounts since arriving in Paris.
“That was the first thing I did: I got my chocolate muffin that I had brought from the village and ate it right after, no matter what happened,” he said.
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