Take your pick. Tom Pidcock coming back from a puncture and surging through a seemingly impossible gap to clinch the mountain biking gold. Andy Murray and Dan Evans winning their tennis match from five match points down. Swimmer Adam Peaty missing his third consecutive victory by a fingertip or 0.02 of a second.
And that’s just the first few days. And that’s from an admittedly patriotic Team GB perspective. As time goes on there will be many more, and every country will have its own heroes, its own tales to tell.
There may be wars and conflicts, economic crises, climate change, natural disasters – yet somehow the Olympic Games manages to rise above all that, providing joyous relief from the rest of the world for three magical weeks.
It’s true that Paris 2024 did not get off to the best of starts, with the torrential rain and technical difficulties with the sound producing awkward moments. But then there was the spectacle of the Eiffel Tower and the voice that is Celine Dion. The Opening Ceremony came good in the end, and of course, once that is over, there is the sport.
Alongside the football World Cup, the Olympics is the world’s largest sporting event. There are bound to be problems and issues, boycotts, walkouts, incidents of doping and cheating, claims of commercialisation, budget overruns and more. However, like clockwork, every four years, overall it generally manages to deliver, producing something that is bigger than sports, that for a few weeks achieves something remarkable in uniting the world, with all its differences, in a way that other occasions simply do not.
What’s responsible is finely-honed branding. Strangely, the organising International Olympic Committee or IOC receives a more negative press than the event itself. The IOC is regularly at the centre of disputes and accusations of playing geopolitics, favouritism and corruption. That is not the case with the actual competition.
There, once the starting gun is sounded, it’s all about endeavour and brilliance. Who cannot delight in the sheer grace and athleticism that is Simone Biles? The US may be divided socially and politically, much of the world has an anti-American bias, but surely, no one can fail to be awestruck at the genius of the country’s star gymnast.
Ever since the Olympics was resurrected in 1896, and the ‘Modern Games’ began, the Olympic Movement has crafted an image that is an example to others. There may be major, world commercial brands but none match the Olympics for the way in which its symbolism and messaging fit and work together. It really is a triumph of branding and marketing.
Key is the Olympic Brand Guidelines. “Our vision is to build a better world through sport. To inspire, by being the best that we can be. The best of what we can achieve. Together.”
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony – in pictures
The brand framework is built on five values: “hopeful,” “universal,” “inclusive,” “vibrant” and “progressive.” That same five is repeated in the five Olympic rings. Each ring represents one of the continents competing in the Games. Each country’s flag is contained in the colour of the rings.
Every single part of the brand has a purpose. Everything is fully integrated – it all relates back to that vision statement. Discipline is tight, the narrative is rigorously maintained.
The Olympics reaches a vast, global audience across different age groups, demographics and languages. That requires an incredible effort by a PR, communications team knowing how people consume their media and what appeals to them. They produce tonnes of curated content for digital and traditional media, scouring events for stories of human endeavour.
It’s designed to connect, to pull at heartstrings, drawing the audience in – and critically, emphasising the brand messaging.
Tellingly, so often the athletes without thinking evoke those values themselves. There is GB’s Peaty in the pool, suffering the crushing disappointment of being denied a third successive gold by the narrowest of margins. What does he do? Rush to congratulate the Italian winner. Brilliant, directly on message and in front of the watching millions of TV viewers.
It helps of course where the Games are held. Some cities lend themselves to playing host, blending the splendour of the surroundings with the beauty of the sporting pageant. The combination makes for a magical, memorable occasion. Paris, Athens, London spring to mind as recent locations that fell into this category.
Aiding the headiness of the mix is how much the nation and city want the Games. London in 2012 took to hosting, recruiting thousands of happy volunteers, putting on concerts and effectively turning holding the Olympics into an excuse for one mass, ultimately exhausting party.
Paris is similar. Emmanuel Macron was desperate for the Games, as was the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo. The French, too, have embraced them. Alas, they’ve coincided with the president suddenly appearing weak in the face of political turmoil – ironically that he chose to exacerbate by calling a snap election.
Hidalgo, too, has her difficulties. A week ago, she pronounced the Seine clean enough to swim in, and demonstrated as much by somewhat clumsily diving in herself. Now, the wet weather has caused the return of pollution and the triathlon has had to be postponed. This, after spending £1bn cleaning up the river so it could be used for the Games and afterwards by Parisians.
Fortunately, her enthusiasm and that of Macron have not been dampened. Hidalgo is proposing adorning the Eiffel Tower permanently with the five rings. She also hopes a hugely popular hot air balloon tethered to the Olympic cauldron will find a permanent home in Paris, as could the statues of 10 French women that were part of the opening ceremony.
“We should explore possibilities for these three symbols,” Hidalgo said. “These three artistic, symbolic and magnificent objects deserve our full attention.” It’s no surprise. The Olympics has that effect on people.
