Slow down: longer races offer fans more than sprints do
Middle- and long-distance races have a drama that short ones cannot match
IT IS NOT easy to predict which athletes will stick in the mind when an Olympic games ends, although Simone Biles is usually a good bet. Underdogs will triumph; local favourites will delight; the greats will be brought low and the humble raised high. The winners of the women’s and men’s 100-metre sprints, however, always stand a good chance of being among the Olympic darlings. Not only do they take home gold medals. They also lay strong claim to dazzling superlatives: the world’s fastest woman and the world’s fastest man.
Explore more
Discover more
Pep Guardiola, football’s greatest coach, is in a bind
A serial winner is learning how to lose
The Economist’s word of the year for 2024
The Greeks knew how to talk about politics and power
What do feta, cucumbers and cottage cheese have in common?
Social media and the internet are changing how people cook and relate to food
Germany’s former chancellor sets out to restore her reputation
But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds
The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist
Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies
What to read to understand Elon Musk
The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction