PARIS — The biggest sporting event of 2024 was without doubt the Parisian high-wire double-act of the Olympic Games followed by the Paralympics. From a colourful, sometimes controversial and sodden opening ceremony to boxers caught up in a gender row to refugees on the podium, they served up many memorable moments.
As part of our sports yearenders package, AFP Sport looks at 10 of the best:
– Rain on the parade –
Organizers promised a spectacular opening ceremony and the rain-soaked boat parade on the River Seine ended up making global headlines but not for the expected reasons.
Church leaders and conservatives were left outraged by a scene involving drag queens and lesbian DJ Barbara Butch that appeared to parody Jesus’s Last Supper.
Artistic director Thomas Jolly denied any such intention but he and others involved ended up facing vicious online harassment.
– ‘Marchons, Marchand!’ –
If Paris luxuriated in the honour of hosting the Games, Toulouse took French bragging rights for the exploits of its athletes with local rugby star Antoine Dupont securing Sevens gold and Leon Marchand dominating in the pool. The 22-year-old, urged on by the rhythmic chorus of “Leon, Leon” at the La Defense Arena, won five medals in total, four of them gold including a double in the space of two hours which sent the crowd into paroxysms of “joie”.
The downside of such instant celebrity? “I can’t go out to restaurants like I used to anymore,” he said when he got back to Toulouse. “I wear a cap and glasses. I try to hide a little.”
– Biles bounces back –
Simone Biles proved as popular a draw as the Eiffel Tower, the 1.42m (4ft 8ins) bundle of gymnastics brilliance standing tall on her return to the Olympics after the trauma of Tokyo in 2021. In Japan she was forced to withdraw from most of the Games with a debilitating mental block known as the “twisties”. Three years on, watched by an enraptured full house at Bercy Arena including her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, Tom Cruise and Lady Gaga, Biles resumed the gold run she had begun at Rio 2016.
Biles pipped Rebeca Andrade for the coveted all-around crown on her last move on the floor. That was book-ended by titles with the US team and vault — where she executed her Yurchenko double pike, the Biles II, her sixth eponymous skill.
Stumbles on the final day as tiredness — both mentally and physically — set in left her with silver behind Andrade on the floor. In a mark of her class as a person she bowed to the Brazilian on the podium.
– Lyles just in time –
World champion Noah Lyles roared to victory in 9.79sec to claim gold in a dramatic men’s Olympic 100m final in the closest finish in modern history — just five thousandths of a second separated him from Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.
“I’m the man amongst all of them. I’m the wolf amongst wolves,” said Lyles whose victory was only confirmed after a photo-finish.
– Djokovic’s ‘greatest a chievement’ –
At the age of 37, Novak Djokovic finally won an Olympic gold medal to go along with his 24 Grand Slam titles, describing the moment as his “greatest achievement”.
The Serb defeated Carlos Alcaraz, 16 years his junior, in a memorable final at Roland Garros where he has already been crowned French Open champion three times.
Djokovic achieved his dream the hard way — having to defeat career-long rival Rafael Nadal in the second round in the pair’s 60th and what proved to be their final meeting.
He then overcame aggravating a knee injury which had needed surgery in June during his quarter-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
– The Golden Couple –
One of the iconic shapshots of the Games came when Tara Davis-Woodhall celebrated winning the women’s long jump by galloping over to kiss her husband Hunter Woodhall in the stands. A few weeks later the roles were reversed at the Stade de France as Hunter, who had both legs amputated below the knee when he was 11, bounded over on his blades to kiss Tara after winning gold with an electrifying performance in the men’s 400m T62 final at the Paralympics. “It has been honestly the craziest journey of our entire lives,” said Tara.
– Korean podium selfie goes viral –
Another Olympic snap that went viral was the selfie taken by the table tennis players from North Korea and South Korea, hailed as a rare show of cross-border unity.
After South Korea won bronze and North Korea silver in the mixed doubles behind China, South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon took a group photo after the medal ceremony.
North Korea’s Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong, the South’s Shin Yu-bin and the victorious Chinese team Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha all beamed into Lim’s (South Korean-made) Samsung.
While the photo was well received around the globe, it was viewed more dimly in Pyongyang: media reports in September said Kim and Ri were in hot water with the hierarchy and had been placed under “ideological scrutiny”.
– Gender-row boxer beats ‘bullying’ –
On a raucous night at Roland Garros, Algerian gender-row boxer Imane Khelif claimed gold and used her platform to hit back at “attacks” and “bullying” before defiantly declaring: “I am a woman like any other.” Together with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who also fought in Paris, Khelif was disqualified from last year’s world championships after failing gender eligibility tests.
However they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
“I am fully qualified to take part, I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman,” said the 25-year-old.
– Dreams come Trew –
Australian skateboarding sensation Arisa Trew, just 14, won the women’s park event to become her country’s youngest ever gold medallist.
Trew nailed a high-risk and high-speed final round in her trademark pink helmet, bringing the crowd to their feet at a sun-drenched Place de la Concorde.
The event also featured 11-year-old Zheng Haohao, the youngest athlete ever to represent China at the Olympics.
“Skateboarding in the Olympic Games isn’t much different from skateboarding in my neighbourhood. It’s just more spectators,” she told reporters.
– Refugees on podium –
The Refugee Paralympic team made a mark on the Games by winning its first-ever medals. Zakia Khudadadi, the first Afghan female taekwondo practitioner, became the first-ever member of the Refugee Team to win a medal when she secured a bronze in the women’s K44-47kg category. “It’s a reminder that people everywhere crave the same things in life: safety and a chance to fulfil their dreams,” said Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. AFP
