Billions around the world recently finished watching the 2024 Summer Olympic Games being held in Paris. Opening on July 26 and concluding Sunday, Aug. 11, the games have hosted 10,714 athletes from 204 countries and territories under the auspices of 54 national Olympic committees from Africa, 48 from Europe, 44 from Asia, 41 from North and South America and 17 from Oceania, who have participated in 329 events in 48 sports and disciplines.
As of press time, athletes from the United States had won 105 medals, including 32 gold medals, 38 silver and 36 bronze. The U.S. has more cumulative medals than any other country, followed by the Soviet Union, which ceased to be a nation in 1991.
Countries naturally tailor their coverage of the various games to their national audiences — while Americans see basketball, swimming and track and field, Malaysians and Indonesians are fascinated by badminton and Germans cheer on equestrian competitors. That said, there have been numerous events that have drawn the world’s eyes to the spectacles unfolding on the courts, tracks, fields and gymnasiums in Paris.
American Noah Lyles won the 100-meter sprint by five one-thousandths of a second, edging out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by the width of two fingers and becoming the first American since 2004 to win gold. American Fred Kerley won bronze.
Cole Hocker was the first American to win a medal in Paris, in the men’s 1,500 meters, besting Japanese former gold and bronze medalists, and set a world record. American Yared Nuguse won the bronze.
Cuban Mijaín “El Terrible” López, 41, won his fifth consecutive gold medal in the 130-kilogram class of GrecoRoman wrestling, becoming the first Summer Olympian to do so in the same event. After hugging his coaches, he walked to the center of the mat, untied his shoes, left them on the mat and walked away, the international symbol for retiring from wrestling, after an unprecedented 16-year run.
American Stephen Nedoroscik had just one event, the pommel horse. He became legendary by sitting on the sidelines until his event, then tearing off his horned-rimmed glasses like Clark Kent to do his pommel horse routine. His bronze helped secure the United States men’s national artistic gymnastics team its first medal, a bronze, in 16 years.
There are 12 NBA stars on the Team USA men’s basketball team, including LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, but during the opening ceremonies, James stood at the bow of a boat on the Seine filled with U.S. athletes as one of Team USA’s flagbearers, creating an image that fans have compared to the painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware.
South Korean Olympic air pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji achieved fame for her effortless cool as she fired, but 51-year-old Yusuf Dikeç of Turkey, shooting without the specialized glasses or equipment other athletes used, looked like a hitman in an action flick, winning the silver medal with his left hand casually in his pocket.
French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati was denied a medal while trying to clear the 5.7 meter pole due to his, er — equipment — knocking the bar to the ground. The event landed on late-night comedy shows and earned him the nickname the “Olympic Baguette.” French judoka Teddy Riner won two golds with epic bodyslamming take-downs of his opponents. Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa went viral after photos of her Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese sponsorship hit during the games, as she was seen cradling giant cheese wheels and doing the splits on parmesan. After Russia’s Kamila Valeryevna Valieva was disqualified in January for doping during the previous 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Russian team that won gold was demoted to third place. The American figure skating team, which had won silver, will be given gold medals, and Japan silver.
While I know rapper Snoop Dogg as the singer of “Gin and Juice,” and my kids know him as the computer technician showing kids how computers work on “StoryBots,” he’s been living his best life in Paris as an Olympic torchbearer, special correspondent and center of attention as he cheers on America’s best athletes. Likewise, iconic rapper Flavor Flav, co-founder of Public Enemy, is at the Olympics sponsoring Team USA women’s water polo and providing financial support to track and field athlete Veronica Fraley. He wears the clock so we know the time.
The best moment for me was the 4×400-meter mixed relay. The U.S. squad consists of two men and two women: Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown. My daughter and I watched the preliminary heat as Norwood shot out to an early lead, before handing off to Little, then Deadmon and finally Brown, who could have slowed down given her massive lead, but only pushed harder, setting a new world record. The team won silver in the finals, but their world record is now the one to beat.
Afterward, as we watched it a second time, my daughter ran back and forth from the couch to the front door over and over to show me how fast she could run. She’s not the only little girl inspired by watching the world’s best athletes giving the best of themselves for all of us to witness.
