In terms of sportsmanship, there were several cheerleaders. Since the games were in Paris, what I remembered most was the pompous attitude of the French athletes at their home games.
The performances of the French athletes had the same flavor of the flow state as Britain had in its London 2012 summer games. Almost everything seemed to work.
France achieved the most Summer Olympic medals (64) since the 1900 Paris Games. There were 16 gold medals. In 1900, France collected more than a hundred medals, of which 27 were gold.
It is the second time that France has won at least 50 medals at the Summer Games. France almost doubled its medal balance from the previous Tokyo Games (33).
France’s success was versatile, as there were as many as 27 medal events. Among the huge group of medalists, two bright superstars stood out in particular.
At the opening ceremony by Marie-José Pérec with a real judo legend who lit the Olympic flame in a hot air balloon Teddy Riner35, won his third Olympic gold in the over-100-kilogram category. Riner had won at the Olympics for the first time already 12 years ago in London, and in Paris he returned to the first podium of that weight class after an eight-year break.
In addition, Riner was also able to enjoy the gold in the mixed team competition, which means that he has no less than five Olympic gold medals in judo.
Meanwhile, France was in the Olympic pool in Paris By Leon Marchand epic show. The 22-year-old swimmer won no less than four personal golds, i.e. from all the trips in which he participated.
He joined Michael Phelps, by Mark Spitz mixed Kristin Otton becoming the fourth swimmer who has been able to achieve four individual Olympic victories in the same Games. On the final day of swimming, he still got a relay bronze.
One of the most exciting moments of the entire Games was seen on the fifth day of the swimming competition, when Marchand won two individual Olympic golds in the same evening. Only three other athletes had previously been able to do this.
More: At the Olympic Games, we saw an amazing sports performance
He won his fourth individual gold medal in the 200-meter individual medley. The superiority of the new swimming king was witnessed by the president of France Emmanuel Macronwho wildly fanned the tie around his neck.
Marchand became the favorite of “all” France. The place roared whenever Marchand was present. Arrived at the pool. Swimming. Left the swimming sanctuary in front of 20,000 pairs of eyes.
News agency AP recounted the confusing moments during Marchand’s Olympic gold medal swim. At the same time, at other competition venues, spectators were watching the swimming star’s performances on their phones.
of the USA Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram played a tennis doubles match, a legend of the sport Rafael Nadal mixed Carlos Alcaraz against.
Krajicek did not understand why the crowd was making noise during the pass. Nadal, who won 13 Grand Slams at Roland-Garros in France, was on the sidelines in the stadium. The focus was on many events in the swimming arena.
France has been divided politically in recent years, but the international media have seen that Marchand united the people even for a moment.
The circle closed in the final moments, when Marchand got to retrieve the Olympic torch from the hot air balloon.
There were also French phenomena of the games Lebrun’s skilled table tennis brothers who enjoy huge popularity in their home country. The younger of them, 17 years old Felix Lebrun finished third in singles.
In the team competition, he and Alexis were able to celebrate the bronze medals together by Simon Gauzy with.
What spoke?
At the Olympics, once again, several things spoke behind the results. One of the most prominent was the “gender uproar”. Algerian Imane Khelifin and Taiwan Lin Yu-ting gender was questioned.
The International Boxing Union (IBU) had denied their participation in last year’s World Championships because, according to the federation, they did not meet the eligibility requirements for the women’s competition.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which organized boxing at the Olympics, disagreed, and the committee, which makes statements less often, commented on the matter, the chairman Thomas Bach down to.
The IOC made a statement shortly after Italy Angela Carini had given up against Khelif in the opening round of the 66 kg series.
More: An exceptional output from the IOC
Khelifi finally won the Olympic gold in that weight class on the third and final day of the Games. Yu-ting also celebrated the Olympic victory.
One of the lighter topics of conversation at the games was a rapper Snoop Doggwho served as the advertising face of the Olympics. The artist star was seen daily in the stands of the Olympics, sometimes watching gymnastics, sometimes horse riding.
Behind the scenes of the games, Snoop Dogg tried different summer Olympic sports. Among other things, a shot of Snoop Dogg wearing riding vests became a hit on social media. He wore superstar fan shirts, for example by Noah Lyles and Sydney McLaughlin-Levronen.
Of course, Snoop Dogg wasn’t there just for his good goodness. He worked as a special correspondent for the NBC channel and received according to media reports for promoting the Olympics $500,000 a day.
At the sports competitions, the buzz of numerous eye-catching people in the gymnastics venue became a big phenomenon. Simone Biles had become a megastar that all the celebrities wanted to see. The 27-year-old American returned convincingly to his throne in Paris, winning three golds and one silver.
More: An incomprehensible media circus around Simone Biles
Snoop Dogg and that example of gymnastics show that the Summer Olympics can still become a global spectacle today. Next, let’s get excited about what kind of advance drumming the United States will forge for its Los Angeles 2028 home games.
Frustration?
Before the Games, among other things, huge security measures were talked about. They held, and fortunately no shocks of any kind were seen.
The race arrangements work mostly well anyway. However, the poor quality of the Seine river’s water became a big topic of conversation. The swimming part of the triathlon and the open water swimming trips were taken there.
The problems were already known a year ago, when it was not possible to swim in the river during the Olympic and Paralympic preliminaries. About 1.5 billion euros were spent to clean the river, but the problems came to the fore even during the Games.
Now the Olympic men’s triathlon race was delayed by a day. Even on Tuesday, the concentration of E.coli and enterococci bacteria in the water was so high that it would have exposed the athletes to intestinal diseases. The men’s and women’s races were held the following day, Wednesday.
More: This is how triathletes finally commented on Seine’s water: “Tastes like vomit, I’m afraid of diarrhea”
The organizers were strongly criticized by many athletes.
– The race organizers could have invested more to have clean water. They just hoped for the best. They knew the athletes were competing because it was the Olympics, commented a member of the mixed silver team of the United States Morgan Pearson at the press conference.
For the Finns, the historic lack of medals became a big disappointment, even though Finland had no realistic hope of a medal in Paris. This is the first time that Finland has been completely without a medal in the history of the Summer Olympics.
There is once again a place for great reflection in Finnish elite sports. With what methods can Finland’s few talents be brought to the level required by their potential? In Los Angeles, Finland’s biggest hopes for success are young women: Silja Kosonen, Saga Vanninen, Heili Sirviö and Ronja Grönblom & Veera Hokka. Maybe also Pihla Kaivo-ojaif boxing is still on the Olympic program four years from now.