PARIS: From a colorful, sometimes controversial opening ceremony to boxers caught up in a gender row to respectful bows on the gymnastics podium, the 2024 Olympics served up many memorable moments.
AFP Sport looks at 10 of the best:
-- 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, conservatives, and even US presidential candidate Donald Trump 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. He and others involved ended up facing vicious online harassment that led to police complaints.
Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky swims in the Seine river to the finish line during the men's 10km marathon swimming final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Pont Alexandre III in Paris on August 9, 2024. (AFP)
-- Novak Djokovic stunned Carlos Alcaraz in a memorable men’s final to clinch tennis gold and become only the fifth player to complete the Golden Slam of all four majors plus Olympic gold.
The 37-year-old celebrated with a roar that echoed around Roland Garros before the tearful Serb clambered into the player’s box to embrace his wife Jelena and two children.
“There is no greater inspiration than representing your country,” said the 24-time Grand Slam title winner.
Alcaraz was also in tears, claiming he “had let Spain down.”
Serbia's Novak Djokovic shows his gold medal after defeating Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the men's singles tennis final at the Roland Garros stadium during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, on August 4, 2024. (AP)
-- Simone Biles may have been the star of the show but she was widely praised for bowing to her arch-rival Rebeca Andrade on the podium.
Biles said it was “just the right thing to do” after she and team-mate Jordan Chiles finished in silver and bronze medal position respectively behind the Brazilian in the floor final.
“Rebeca’s so amazing, she’s queen,” said Biles.
Romanian Ana Barbosu was later awarded the bronze medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Chiles should not have been upgraded from her initial fifth-place finish.
-- 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 among all of them. I’m the wolf among wolves,” said Lyles whose victory was only confirmed after a photo-finish.
Silver medalist Simone Biles, of the United States, left, and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles, of the United States, right, bow to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade, of Brazil, during the medal ceremony for the women's artistic gymnastics individual floor finals at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, on August 5, 2024, (AP)
-- Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem won the men’s javelin title, his country’s first individual gold at an Olympics, with a Games record of 92.97m.
In second place was India’s defending champion Neeraj Chopra.
“Rivalry is there when it comes to cricket matches, other sports, the two countries have a rivalry, but it’s a good thing for the young people in both countries to watch our sport and follow us. It’s a positive thing for both countries,” said Nadeem.
-- Images of Olympic table tennis players from North Korea and South Korea taking a selfie together on the medal podium went viral in 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 Shin Yu-bin 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 phone, a South Korean-made Samsung.
“A selfie with both Koreas’ national flags and a Samsung phone,” said the widely read daily JongAng Ilbo.
-- 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 neighborhood. It’s just more spectators,” she told reporters.
Australia's Arisa Trew reacts after a run in the women's park skateboarding final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Concorde in Paris on August 6, 2024. (AFP)
-- On a raucous night at Roland Garros, the storied home of the French Open, 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 they failed 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.
-- Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez made Olympic history when he became the first athlete to win five consecutive individual golds in the same event, bettering the records of Games icons such as Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps.
The soon-to-be 42-year-old then placed his shoes in the center of the mat to signify his intention to retire.
“Wrestling has been the love of my life, for all of my life,” he said.
-- Turkish Olympic shooting silver medallist Yusuf Dikec became an overnight sensation for his casual style during competition.
His eye-catching posture saw the marksman wearing standard glasses, a team T-shirt and with his left hand casually tucked in his pocket.
Other than his pistol, he notably had none of the specialized equipment used by athletes in the hyper-precise event, like headphones, special lenses or a hat.
“The name’s Dikec. Yusuf Dikec,” said a social media post in reference to cinema icon James Bond.
