PARIS – The hype around the Olympics returned in a big way at Paris 2024, with a mix of awesome performances by athletes, controversy, and memes that entertained millions.
And for Kelly VanderBeek of Canmore, she was right in the middle of it all.
The former alpine ski Olympian and World Cup medallist was working as a sideline reporter, broadcaster and analyst for CBC during the Games for sports like skateboarding and breaking.
And before curiosity sets in any further: yes, VanderBeek saw Rachael Gunn, the Australian breakdancer known as Raygun doing her thing live. But that’s still to come.
In all, VanderBeek covered Canadians in seven sports: breaking, skateboarding, 3X3 basketball, fencing, Taekwondo, triathlon and archery. Of those sports, Canadian B-boy Phil “Wizard” Kim won gold in breaking, Eleanor Harvey won bronze in fencing and Skylar Park won bronze in women’s 57 kg Taekwondo.
“At the end of the day, I’m just happy to see that the Olympics are back, baby,” said VanderBeek.
“The Olympics are exciting and there’s been a real buzz since Paris to the point where … I just think people have been reminded that Olympians have value and the Olympics kind of kick ass.”
As an in-depth storyteller, VanderBeek’s goal has been known to go beyond a Google search of the sports and athletes she’s covering. It paid off for the alpine skier when she was called in at the last minute to cover triathlon, a sport that she’s also competed in once upon a time.
Once at the finish line, after the triathletes gave it everything, VanderBeek said it felt like the Olympic version of a warzone.
“When they crossed the finish line they crumbled, they threw up, they had no emotional control left because every, like, literally every ounce of energy they have was left on the court,” said VanderBeek. “There was a rawness to their interviews and a rawness to their engagement … there was a profound sadness, but there was also a profound pride, and it was because [they] came here to try and win a medal and they] gave everything in that moment, and that’s honourable.”
The Raygun backfires
The most common question VanderBeek receives about Paris 2024 isn’t about Canada’s Phil Wizard winning a historic gold medal in breaking, who the Canmore reporter was covering, but rather if she saw those performances from Raygun.
“The No. 1 question,” said VanderBeek. “I was there. I did watch her compete, and everybody’s like, ‘Did it look as ridiculous in person?’ And I'm like, ‘No, it didn’t because it wasn't on the meme reel being shown again and again and again.”
Raygun was Australia’s 36-year-old B-girl, whose green jumpsuit, goofy facial expressions and unusual breakdancing went viral not only at Paris 2024, but she’s become somewhat of a global sensation for all the wrong reasons.
Many online viewers quickly united in mocking her eyebrow-raising moves, which included imitating a kangaroo hopping, windmilling her arms, taming the cobra, the sprinkler, slow-moving rolls and spins on the floor, and, generally, performing awkward dance moves that many believe weren’t even close to an Olympic standard.
Within no time at all, thousands of internet memes followed. Raygun was even parodied on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“The memes are absolutely hilarious,” VanderBeek said. “They are funny, they’re well done. It's such a memorable moment, unfortunately. But as far as the actual moment for myself as a reporter, there was nothing unusual about it because every Olympic event has continental representation, which means you always have some athletes who are significantly weaker than the rest of the field.”
However, VanderBeek said Gunn wasn’t making a joke out of it, adding the B-girl is a “very proud athlete going there to do her best” and recognizes there’s a human behind those memes.
Despite it being a guilty pleasure for most to watch, Raygun’s performance will be the main, and perhaps, the only thing remembered from the sport’s lone Olympics experience.
VanderBeek said she hopes that Raygun will be able to embrace it at some point.
“I talked as much or more about the social stories that became viral than I did about personal experiences or gold medals,” said VanderBeek. “That’s just a reality of what catches people’s interest because, at the end of the day, people also want to laugh and they want to be entertained. That’s part of what life is.”
It was the eighth time VanderBeek covered an Olympics as part of CBC’s broadcasting team for English and French speaking audiences across the country.
Even though she ended up covering seven sports, the three she was originally meant to cover – breaking, skateboarding and 3X3 basketball – are all relatively new to the Olympics, with each only being introduced in 2020 or 2024.
Even before Raygun’s kangaroo pose took the world by storm, breaking hadn’t been picked up by LA 2028, so Paris will be its only appearance thus far.
When covering newer or older sports at the Games, as a reporter, analyst and storyteller, VanderBeek said she always feels a responsibility to try and sell what people are watching or an athlete’s story.
“I think that a big part of my job when I'm there is to elevate and educate a sport or a person's profile … Once you get to know it, every person is fascinating,” said VanderBeek.
“However, I do feel like with the newer sports a lot of my communication is just a level of educating the audience, like, with breaking, you know, Raygun didn't get a point, but it's not a point system in that way. [Breaking had] a comparative system. Did somebody do it better than somebody else? So those kinds of things are where I try to make sure that I really understand the ins and outs to ensure that I'm communicating accurately.”
Still a Canadian in a foreign land
One thing that many Canadians can resonate with is how politeness travels with us.
On a day off, VanderBeek found herself on the subway heading to one of the road cycling events. The streets were packed with people going to watch the race. However, the local reporter and photographer with camera in hand, made a side trip to get some crepes and a glass of wine.
After the delicious treat, VanderBeek headed to the venue where there were way more people than she expected.
“Like 15 people deep along the fences,” said VanderBeek. “So I'm like, 'I'm not gonna get anywhere near seeing this venue', but I was just very Canadian, very polite, and I had my CBC shirt on and I had all my camera gear, I was like, ‘Please excuse me, excuse me, excuse me.’”
Managing to get to the front for photos, an appreciative VanderBeek didn’t want to block any views so she sat down on the ground. The people she was in front of, a Dutch family, were also appreciative of the gesture.
It didn’t hurt that the Canadian’s media accreditation had her ancestral Dutch last name on it either.
“They were there with three generations: the grandparents all the way down to the 10-year-old granddaughter who had never met an Olympian in person before and the conversation just kept going longer and longer because they saw my name,” said VanderBeek.
“We saw the races, we enjoyed the race, but it was the experience that made that event.”
Another moment that brought out the Canadian in VanderBeek was during the skateboarding competition.
Fay De Fazio Ebert, only 14 years old and the youngest Canadian at Paris 2024, was unable to complete a run and was “quite devastated after her competition.”
When VanderBeek chatted with the young skater, she tried to give her something positive to hold on to.
“I think for me it really comes down to respect and also it comes down to recognizing I'm always interviewing a person,” said VanderBeek. “Fazio Ebert’s mom sent me a note after the Olympics and said, … ‘I just wanted to say thank you. You really made her feel good and that she was just really happy with how that went.’”
“I responded by just sort of saying, ‘well, thank you.’”
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