Olympians who finish near the bottom still marvel at what it took to get to Paris
Olympians who competed in Paris 2024 but did not get a gold medal reflect on the journey and honor of being one of the world's best.
PARIS — Even if Israel Madaye had skewed all of his arrows way off target and scored zero points, the archer from Chad in central Africa wouldn’t have cared.
Though he came last in his event, just getting to the 2024 Paris Games was a colossal achievement. He will always be one of the 10,500 athletes competing here who can call themselves Olympians, able for the rest of their lives to sign the honorific OLY after their names.
“My dream was to qualify for Paris,” said Madaye, 36, who lives in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena. “I always said that even if I scored zero points, I would still be pleased with my achievements because I worked very hard to get here.”
Although Madaye came 64th out of 64 competitors, perhaps the correct way to see it is that he is the worst, best male archer in the world. The 64th most elite bowsman to draw an arrow from a quiver, a phenomenal accolade given he has had to scrape together funding and equipment, his sport almost unheard of in his homeland.
Israel Madaye of Chad competes in archery July 30.Julian Finney / Getty Images“It was a huge achievement for me and my coach, and we really struggled without certain equipment and without suitable training conditions,” he told NBC News. “But we didn’t give up.”Madaye also stands as a reminder that, for most athletes here in Paris, this is not about medals or podiums or press conferences or TikToks or sponsorship deals. Only around 1,000 golds, silvers and bronzes will be handed out, but everyone here has made huge sacrifices and attained levels of sporting prowess that dwarf the efforts of mere mortals.
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