Apart from the unrivalled array of multi-sport thrills that each Olympic Games edition offers, Paris 2024 will be known for accomplishing several firsts: most notably, becoming the first Games to achieve gender parity and the first to feature an opening ceremony outside a stadium. (Year-Enders | More Sports News)
After 16 glorious days of action in the playing fields and outside them, the French capital bid goodbye to the Olympics, passing the baton to Los Angeles, where the 2028 Games will be held.
Let us relive some of the most memorable moments and highlights of the Paris Olympic Games 2024:
No Debate Necessary: Simone Biles Reaffirms G.O.A.T Status
If there was any doubt remaining, Simone Biles dismissed it emphatically in Paris. Already the most decorated gymnast of all time by then, the 27-year-old American added three more gold and a silver to dazzle all and sundry. It was the most incredible comeback one could hope to witness, after her withdrawal from the Tokyo edition. She now has seven gold, two silver and two bronze medals in an Olympic Games journey that started in Rio 2016.
Leon Marchand's March Towards Greatness
Four gold medals on home soil. Two individual golds on the same night — the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly — and that too in Olympic-record times. No star shone brighter for the hosts than the 22-year-old Leon Marchand, whose exploits in the pool left viewers stunned and French fans delighted.
Arshad Nadeem Upstages Neeraj Chopra, Puts Pakistan On Olympic Athletics Map
Would you expect an Asian athlete to dethrone Neeraj Chopra on a day the Indian has come up with a season-best effort? No? Think again. Arshad Nadeem comfortably did that with an astonishing 92.97m throw that lit up the Parisian sky and shattered the Olympic javelin throw record. Nadeem's gold was Pakistan's first-ever athletics medal, and the nation's only first-place finish at the Summer Games apart from the ones in hockey.
Viral F(r)ame: Gabriel Medina Rides Wave To Perfection
It was dubbed the "picture of the Olympics”, and for good reason. Three-time world champion Gabriel Medina celebrated his near-perfect 9.90-scoring wave at the surfing competition in spectacular fashion, leaping from the surfboard and holding aloft a finger to the sky, with the massive wave in the backdrop. Photographer Jerome Brouillet from Agence France-Presse captured the serendipitously enduring moment, which immediately went viral online.
India's Strides In Hockey And Shooting
From an Indian perspective, while the Games were replete with near-misses and disappointments, they also punctuated the nation's resurgence in two disciplines that had failed to deliver on promise in the recent past — shooting and hockey.
The Indian men's hockey team did not end up with the gold medal it fought so hard for, but gave a sterling account of its rising prowess with a third-place finish. The semi-final loss to Germany was really narrow, and the team was left wondering what could have been. Elsewhere, the shooting contingent ended the two-edition medal drought and returned with three podium finishes, two of which involved the history-making Manu Bhaker.
'Turkish Hitman' Yusuf Dikec's Foray Into Memeverse
Even lay viewers holding no interest in Olympic sport caught on to the Yusuf Dikec meme mania. The 51-year-old shooter's seemingly ultra-casual approach, sans custom glasses and large ear protection and a hand resting in one pocket, endeared him to the digital world like few else.
That he bagged silver added to the allure. Such was the all-pervasive impact of the Dikec meme that even pole vault legend and world record holder Mondo Duplantis imitated the shooter's stance upon claiming gold again.
China's Utter Dominance In Diving And Table Tennis
Going one better than its feat in Tokyo (seven out of eight gold), China ran away with all eight diving gold medals in Paris 2024. The sweep was historic and unprecedented. As for table tennis, the Asian powerhouse merely underlined just how invincible it is at the global arena, winning all five gold on offer and marking the sixth time it has collected the full set.
