Competing on the world’s biggest stage, the margin for error is incredibly slim. Unfortunately for 2016 Wharton graduate Sam Mattis, he ultimately fell 22 centimeters short of advancing into the men’s discus throw finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I know there’s a lot more in the tank for me,” Mattis said. “I had my worst heat of the year, which is a terrible time to have it, but that happens sometimes.”
Mattis did not enter the competition as a favorite to medal. But he did have something his fellow American teammates did not — experience competing in the men’s discus final. At the previous rendition of the Games in Tokyo, Mattis was the only American to advance to the final, culminating with an eighth place finish.
In his second straight appearance at the Olympics, Mattis was unable to recapture his Tokyo magic and saw his time competing in the Red, White, and Blue end after just one day.
“I was really ready to throw far,” Mattis said. “But it just didn’t happen on that day. I had three bad throws, which happens sometimes and just sucks when it happens to you, but that’s how it goes.”
Despite the disappointing finish in his personal event, Mattis had plenty of positive things to say regarding his experience in Paris. The Tokyo games were largely undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the athletes competing in empty, fan-less stadiums. This year marked the return to normalcy, with the Stade de France selling out all 80,000 seats across the 11 days of athletics-related competition.
For Mattis, being able to have his family in the stands cheering him on made the moment all the more surreal. His parents, aunts, brothers, and partner made sure to bring the energy — showing up in the stands with custom-made, matching “Team Mattis” shirts.
“I think it's hard to understate how incredible it was,” Mattis said. “I still haven't really wrapped my head totally around the fact that my family came all the way to France to watch me compete at the Olympics. That's something that a couple thousand people can ever say, which is just incredible.”
Outside of competing, Mattis was also able to fully immerse himself in the Olympic athlete network, another aspect of the experience that he missed out on three years prior. From meeting the stars of the U.S. women’s basketball team to talking with other athletes across various disciplines about the shared successes and struggles that come with training, it was a notable difference from his previous experience at the Games.
“I got a picture with Diana Taurasi,” Mattis said. “That’s probably the most famous person I’ve ever gotten a picture with.”
Furthermore, Mattis got to fully experience the Olympic Village, including the shared dining hall that all athletes were able to eat at. Mattis only lasted a few days eating in the dining hall, though, before he chose to find his meals from other sources.
“The food in the Village was horrific,” Mattis said. “After a couple days, I just stopped going to the dining hall. The U.S. had its own thing set up, so I would go there, or once my family got in, I tried to catch lunch with them and do whatever I could to avoid the dining hall.”
In fact, Mattis found the food so repulsive that he said he would rank the Olympic Village dining hall a full two steps below Penn’s Hill House dining hall.
This does not necessarily mean that Mattis champions Hill — he prefaced his statement by emphasizing how repulsive the food at Hill was during his time as a student. As recently as February 2023, the dining hall was found not in compliance with Philadelphia’s health code.
The biggest consequence of not eating at the shared dining hall was that Mattis missed out on one of the biggest social media trends that arose from this year’s games: trying the infamous chocolate muffin. The Olympic Village chocolate muffins became an internet sensation after Norwegian distance swimmer Henrik Christiansen went viral on TikTok fanboying over the muffin.
“There are a few regrets I have outside of how I competed,” Mattis said. “One is, I don't think I went to enough events outside of track, and then I never tried the chocolate muffin.”
Looking ahead, Mattis has turned his eyes toward Los Angeles 2028 and making his third straight Olympic team. In what will most likely be his last Games, Mattis would like nothing more than to cap off his career at a home Olympics with what he hopes will be his best performance yet.
“I want to get a move on with life at some point,” Mattis said. “So ending my career at a home Olympics would be awesome.”
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