Updates on Olympians Aaron Small & David Smith

Here are a couple updates on deaf/hard-of-hearing U.S. athletes in the Olympics, kayaker Aaron Small and volleyball player David Smith.

This morning, Aaron Small competed as an individual in the quarterfinals of the K1 1000m event.

As he was being introduced with a camera on him, he signed, “Ready Spaghetti.”

[VIDEO CLIP] Credit: Olympics/Peacock

What does this mean? He explained in another video for Instagram page @trainatchulavista that he and his kayaking partner in the K2 500m event, Jonas Ecker, always sign “Ready Spaghetti” to each other before they go out on a race to communicate because sometimes they are a distance from each other or because it’s loud in the area. So that’s just their thing.

When Small’s K1 race started, Small paddled hard, but couldn’t keep up with the top competitors and was eliminated. Small’s kayaking partner Ecker, was also eliminated in the quarterfinals.

But this is not the end of the Olympics for Small. He will compete again in the K2 500m semifinal with Ecker on Friday, August 9 at 5:10 am EST.

The other deaf/hard-of-hearing U.S. athlete, David Smith, who is in the US Men’s Volleyball Team, lost their semifinal game against Poland today. They will play in the Bronze Medal match on August 9 at 10:00 am against Italy, who lost to France.

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Ready Spaghetti video: Instagram @trainatchulavista: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-V4QCCPB1l/

https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/results/canoe-sprint/men-s-kayak-single-1000m/qfnl--------