You're Counting Down to the Opening Ceremonies

Cue the John Williams. It’s a special Olympics edition

Hi friends,

I hope you all survived the great internet outage of 2024 — and maybe got a pseudo three-day weekend out of it. I know multiple people dealing with grounded flights. If that’s you, I hope you get out soon and are at least stuck at an airport with a good bookstore.

Since the Paris Olympics start this week — the Opening Ceremonies are on Friday — I thought I’d do a special Olympics edition of the newsletter. Hope you enjoy it!

And, now, what to read if …

You’re All in on the Artistic Swimming

Swimming Pretty by Vicki Valosik

Synchronized swimming is now known as “artistic swimming,” one of the many facts I learned from Vicki Valosik’s unbelievably comprehensive history of women in the water. (I also learned from a news story while writing that the Paris Olympics were supposed to be the first featuring co-ed artistic swimming events, but no men qualified. Better luck next time, boys.) 

I picked up Swimming Pretty expecting it to be a history of synchronized swimming, but was delighted to learn it was so much more. Hollywood swimming star Esther Williams doesn’t even enter the book until roughly three-quarters of the way in. Instead, Valosik highlights the way “feminine, pretty” swimming laid the groundwork for women to begin entering bath houses, pools and other bodies of water to learn to swim. These women introduced new, practical swimwear, helped reduce drowning rates and showed society, again and again, that women were far more capable than they were thought to be.

There’s so much to learn from Swimming Pretty: Benjamin Franklin’s obsession with “scientific swimming,” the history of lifeguarding in the U.S., and the golden era of the “aquamusical,” when tanks were rolled onto stages. Most of all, I appreciate that Valosik starts from an assumption that artistic/synchronized swimming is a sport that requires real athletic skill. Yes, it has sequined costumes, but don’t underestimate the athleticism or stamina of these swimmers. (My mom — hi Mom! — did synchro as a kid, and years later, I remain impressed by her lung capacity.)

You Appreciate Leslie Jones’s ‘Superfan’ Commentary

Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones

In 2016, fresh off of starring in “Ghostbusters,” comedian and SNL star Leslie Jones, a lifelong Olympics obsessive, dedicated herself to posting real-time commentary on the Rio Games to her social accounts, even setting up a MacGyvered control room to play three events at once. NBC, which airs both the Olympics and SNL, quickly invited her down to Rio, where she provided on-site hilarity. Fortunately, for those of who’ve grown to consider Jones a critical part of the Olympics experience, she’ll be back in Paris.

For even more of Jones’s brand of laughs, grab her memoir Leslie F*cking Jones, which recounts her childhood in the South, teen years playing basketball and the years she spent driving from comedy club to comedy club before breaking out on SNL in her 40s. She takes us behind the scenes into the famed writers’ room at 30 Rock and doesn’t shy from frankly discussing the obstacles she faced as a “a tall-*ss Black woman with a trumpet voice.”

Quick note that I listened to the audiobook — narrated by Jones herself — rather than reading the physical book. I note this because my understanding is that they are two completely different experiences, with the audiobook being kind of an extended ad lib, roughly following the arc of the print version.

Either way, it delivered the laughs and made me like and respect Jones more than I already did. It’s raw, honest and worth a read/listen for any fans of her work.

You’re Ready for More Soccer

The Striker and the Clock by Georgia Cloepfil

It’s a big summer for soccer fans. The men’s Euro Cup just wrapped (I know Spain won the tournament, but this video means England won my heart), Copa América made more headlines for its poor crowd control than the ball handling on the field and now there’s Olympic soccer. For more of what non-Americans call football, read The Striker and the Clock, Georgia Cloepfil’s memoir of her years playing the Beautiful Game.

Cloepfil began playing soccer as a child, competed in college and ultimately played professional soccer for six years, on six teams, in six countries. During her time spent living out of one suitcase, she lived in an isolated South Korean compound, played European Champions League matches to empty stadiums and constantly waited for her next big break, even as she knew the years she had left were waning.

I loved the structure of The Striker and the Clock. It’s 90 short essays — one for each minute of a soccer game — plus one at the end for “extra time.” This organization makes it a very quick read, but it also accentuates that Cloepfil’s exploration of time as a guiding force — in a soccer game, in her life and her attempt to start a writing career. I look forward to more from her.

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Thanks for reading! Let me know what Olympic events you’re most excited about.

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