With the start of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 less than 24 hours away, the excitement about competing in the greatest sporting spectacle on earth is being felt by all of the athletes lucky enough to be here in the City of Light.
It is a feeling very much being experienced by Germany attacker Lena Micheel, who is representing Die Danas at a second Olympic Games after a sixth-place finish at Tokyo 2020.
“It took us some time to arrive (mentally) and make ourselves at home, but now we feel pretty comfortable”, said the 26-year-old after a training session at the magnificent Yves du Manoir Hockey Stadium on Thursday (25 July).
“Of course, you are excited and everything is pretty overwhelming at time, like in the Olympic village and meeting the other athletes. It took us time to get focussed, but now we are here.”
With Germany women opening their Olympic campaign against Pool A rivals Japan on Saturday (27 July), Micheel – who will make her 113th appearance for her country – does not have to wait long for the action to begin. While clearly focussed on the job in hand, Micheel is determined appreciate every moment of her Olympic experience in Paris.
“The challenge is to have a good balance between getting in focus and experiencing everything, enjoying it because the Olympics are special. This is the Olympic dream of your childhood: meeting other athletes and getting in touch with everything. Tokyo [2020] was a whole different story with Covid.”
In terms of meeting other athletes at the Olympic village, Micheel said the highlight to date had been seeing Spanish tennis superstars Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz. “We met them in the dining hall. We took pictures with them. They were pretty nice. I think that was the most exciting thing so far.”
“We are beginning to have a feeling of the magic that is going to happen here, so we are really looking forward to getting everything started.”
The hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will take place from 27 July to 9 August 2024. Both the men’s and women’s competitions feature 12 teams, split into two pools of six ahead of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches. For more details about the competition, visit Olympics.Hockey.
