The 2024 Paris Olympics are officially over, leaving behind in their wake a host of great sporting moments and controversies.
From comebacks and world records to gender rows and disqualifications, there was no lack of drama in the French capital in the last two weeks.
Here are Sportstar’s top 10 moments from the Paris 2024 Olympics:
Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting win gold after gender controversy
Boxers Imane Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting from Chinese Taipei clinched gold in their respective weight categories after being in the eye of controversies surrounding their gender.
It started on August 1 when Italy’s Angela Carini walked out of her bout against the Algerian after just 46 seconds, saying how she hadn’t been hit so hard. This incident threw Khelif and Lin into the spotlight since the duo had been banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) during the 2023 World Championships for failing the gender test.
Gold medalist Algeria’s Imane Khelif poses during the medals ceremony for women’s 66 kg boxing. | Photo Credit: AP
However, the two boxers were allowed to participate in Paris because the IBA was stripped of its status by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which meant that the boxing competitions were conducted under the IOC at the Games.
A barrage of online trolling was cast on the duo which questioned their gender identity. Despite all this, the athletes persisted and went on to stand on the top step of the podium with the gold medal in their hands.
“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,” Khelif said after winning gold in the women’s 66 kg category.
For Lin, it was all about having blinkers on and focussing on that medal for her country. “As an elite athlete during the competition, it’s important to shut myself off from social media and to focus. That is extremely important.”
Armand Duplantis breaks the world record, yet again
Since 2020, Armand Duplantis has been in a league of his own.
Four years ago, the Swedish pole vaulter broke the men’s world record for the first time with a jump of 6.17m.
At the Paris Olympics, Duplantis broke the world record for the ninth time. The athlete perfected his jump that reached a height of 6.25m.
Gold medalist Armand Duplantis of Sweden sets a new world record during the Men’s Pole Vault Final. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
The gold medal at the 2024 Olympics meant that Duplantis became the first man to retain the pole vault title at the Games since USA’s Bob Richards, who did it in 1952 and 1956.
“The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of,” he said after the event.
100 grams cost Vinesh Phogat an Olympic medal
In the lead up to the Paris Olympics, Vinesh Phogat led protests against former Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, came back from a knee surgery, and drastically changed to a lower weight category.
After grappling with all of this, Vinesh had an unstoppable run to make the 50 kg women’s freestyle gold-medal match, which included beating the top seed in Japan’s Yui Susaki in the Round of 16.
However, on the second day of competition, Vinesh missed the required 50-kilogram weight by around 100 grams during the weigh-in. This led to her disqualification from the Paris Olympics.
Vinesh filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), asking for a joint-silver medal. The final verdict is set to announced the CAS on August 13.
India and Pakistan on the podium in javelin throw
Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan celebrates with his medal on the podium with Silver medallist Neeraj Chopra of India and Bronze medallist Anderson Peters of Grenada. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Neeraj Chopra would have experienced the weight of expectations when he set out to defend his Olympic title in men’s javelin throw. However, his friend from across the border scripted history and shattered the Olympic record.
Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan became his country’s first individual gold medallist after a monstrous 92.97m throw. Nadeem’s name was all but written on the gold medal after that throw.
However, Neeraj kept himself in contention after he registered his first legal throw, in his second attempt, that covered a distance of 89.45m - the Indian’s season best.
Neeraj could not register a valid throw in the subsequent chances and had to concede the Olympic title to his rival. But for the sport, Pakistan and India getting one-two on the podium made for a notable highlight. Grenada’s Andersen Peters finished third which meant that for the first time the javelin throw podium at an Olympics did not feature a European athlete.
The Chinese give the diving board a golden touch
China, the second-most successful nation at the end of this Olympics, clinched the gold medal in all eight diving events. For the first time in the history of the Games, a country stood on the top step of the podium at all diving events in a single edition.
Apart from the eight gold, the Asian country also won two silver and one bronze, taking its total medal tally in diving to 11. The second-best nation in the sport at the 2024 Olympics was Great Britain, which won five medals (one silver, four bronze).
List of all the Chinese divers to win gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics:
| Event | Women | Men |
| 3m springboard | Chen Yiwen | Xie Siyi |
| 10m platform | Quan Hongchan | Cao Yuan |
| Synchronized 3m springboard | Chen Yiwen/Chang Yani | Wang Zongyuan/Long Daoyi |
| Synchronized 10m platform | Chen Yuxi/Quan Honghchan | Yang Hao/Lian Junjie |
Leon Marchand paints the pool blue, white, and red
Leon Marchand of France, reacts after receiving his gold medal for the men’s 200-meter individual medley. | Photo Credit: AP
Host France won four gold medals in swimming at the Games. All four were won by 22-year-old Leon Marchand.
The Frenchman went a step further and broke the Olympic Record in all the four events — men’s 200m breaststroke, men’s 200m butterfly, men’s 200m individual medley, and men’s 400m individual medley.
The athlete from Toulouse was also part of the men’s 4x100m medley relay team which clinched the bronze medal behind the United States and China.
Marchand left Paris as the most decorated male athlete of the Games, and the first man since Michael Phelps to win four golds in swimming at a single edition.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone blazes a trail
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of United States celebrates with her national flag after winning 400m hurdles gold and setting new world record. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
While the sport is different, American sprinter Sydney McLaughlin has one thing common with Duplantis: breaking their own world record multiple times.
McLaughlin broke her own World Record to emerge as the winner in the women’s 400m hurdles with a timing of 50.37 seconds.
The 25-year-old was also part of the quartet that clinched the gold in the women’s 4x400m relay. What left fans in the arena and on social media in a frenzy was the McLaughlin’s incredible split of 47.71 seconds in the second leg of the relay race.
So Long, Olympics
One of the greatest to ever hold a paddle, Ma Long, hung up his boots and called time on his Olympic career after the Paris Games. With the gold in men’s team event, Long became the Chinese athlete with the most number of gold medals.
China’s Ma Long, with his teammate Wang Chuqin, plays against Sweden’s Anton Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson during the men’s gold medal team table tennis match. | Photo Credit: AP
The table tennis legend won at least one gold medal in each edition since the 2012 London Games. He said goodbye to the Olympics after having won six gold medals, which include two in men’s singles and four in the men’s team event.
In the 2024 Olympics, while he didn’t participate in the singles category, he helped China clinch the men’s title by beating Sweden in the final. This was China’s fifth consecutive men’s team title at the Olympics.
“These past 12 years have been a journey filled with ups and downs, and I feel incredibly fortunate. I’ve played many different roles in each Olympics,” he said. “After Tokyo I didn’t expect to be here in Paris, but these three years have helped me grow mentally and technically. This gold medal is a great way to conclude my Olympic journey,” he said after the win.
Cuba’s Mijain Lopez retires after creating history on the wrestling mat
Cuba’s Mijain Lopez Nunez removes his shoes, symbolising his retirment. | Photo Credit: AP
After winning a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal, Mijain Lopez of Cuba quite removed his shoes and placed them on the mat, symbolically announcing his retirement.
The 41-year-old grappler defeated Chile’s Yasmani Acosta in the Greco-Roman 130kg category final to move past some of the greats of the Olympic Games with whom he was tied for four consecutive titles. These names included Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Al Oerter, Paul Elvstrom, and Kaori Icho.
Lopez wouldn’t have had a chance to stake a claim to this achievement if he didn’t reverse the retirement decision he took after the Tokyo Games.
Simone Biles being Simone Biles
Simone Biles, of the United States, holds up her medals after the women’s artistic gymnastics individual apparatus finals. | Photo Credit: AP
Simone Biles made sure she exorcised the ghosts of the Tokyo Olympics where she made the headlines for pulling out of the competition due to mental health reasons.
After winning a solitary medal in Tokyo, a bronze in the beam event, Biles clinched three gold medals — in the team, all-round, and vault events — and a silver in the floor exercise event in Paris.
She now has 11 Olympic medals hanging around her neck, and is her country’s most decorated gymnast of all time.
In the Olympics, she now sits behind Larisa Latynina of the erstwhile Soviet Union and Vera Caslavska of erstwhile Czechoslovakia, both of whom have won 18 medals.
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