Olympic Games (2024)

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    Paris Throws a Final Olympics Bash

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    Tens of thousands cheered, clapped, danced and sang to celebrate French athletes and to relive, one last time, the Games that uplifted a nation.Paris threw its last Olympics party on Saturday, a buoyant, nostalgia-tinged celebration of the 2024 Games that drew tens of thousands of cheering spectators to the streets of the French capital for a parade of athletes and an outdoor concert around the Arc de Triomphe.The festivities started with smoky blue, white and red fireworks, echoing the start of the opening ceremony on the Seine. Flag-waving crowds then roared and sang France’s national anthem as more than 300 French Olympic and Paralympic contestants paraded up the Champs-Élysées on a giant white runway.“Thank you all,” Teddy Riner, the French judo legend, told ecstatic spectators as they sounded air horns and chanted athletes’ names. “It was incredible!”Medal-winning athletes were later decorated with state honors, some of them by retired French sports legends, and a handful were honored by President Emmanuel Macron himself. France won 64 medals, putting it in the top five of the Olympics medals count. And it earned 75 medals at the Paralympics.Athletes paraded up the Champs-Élysées on a giant white runway.Gonzalo Fuentes/ReutersAfter night fell, the Olympic cauldron floated into the air one last time and a highlight reel of the Games was projected onto the Arc de Triomphe. Performers from the opening and closing ceremonies also returned for an encore on a ring-shaped stage around the famous monument (including Philippe Katerine, a.k.a blue Smurf guy). French fencers, rugby players and others led the concertgoers through giant karaoke sessions.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The No. 1 Breaker in the World Is … Raygun?

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      The Australian breaker who was mocked at the Olympics for her kangaroo-hopping routine is now atop the official world rankings. Here’s how it happened.The breaker known as Raygun did terribly at the Olympics, losing all three of her head-to-head battles, each by scores of 18-0. Her unusual routines also made her an unexpected face of the Paris Games and earned her mockery worldwide.But she did receive one accolade this week. Somehow, improbably, B-girl Raygun — yes, the same Raygun who hopped like a kangaroo in her Olympic routines — is now the No. 1 ranked women’s breaker in the world.Raygun is the nom de break of Dr. Rachael Gunn, a 36-year-old professor from Australia. While other Olympic breakers spun dazzlingly on their heads and backs in this year’s Games, Raygun thrashed about on her side, reached for her toes, and hopped around in a salute to the kangaroos of her native country. Fans around the world, many being exposed to breaking competition for the first time as the sport made its Olympic debut, were baffled, amused, and in some cases outraged.Raygun’s total score of 0 points put her in last place among the 16 breakers in the main Olympic competition.So, in the latest world rankings, how could Raygun be in the No. 1 spot? After receiving a barrage of questions, the World DanceSport Federation, which oversees the sport internationally, released a statement Tuesday explaining the seeming incongruity.The ranking is based on events over the past year, the federation explained. During that time, the majority of breakers were focused on qualifying for the Olympics.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Eiffel Tower Will Keep Olympic Rings Permanently, Mayor Says

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      “I want the two to remain married,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris said in a newspaper interview.The giant Olympic rings that were installed on the Eiffel Tower for the 2024 summer Games will become a permanent fixture on the monument, the mayor of Paris revealed on Saturday.Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that it was a “beautiful idea” to combine a quintessentially French icon, the Eiffel Tower, which was originally built for the 1889 World’s Fair, with a global one. The five interlaced rings of blue, red, yellow, black and green, which represent the different continents, were installed this summer between the tower’s first and second floors, more than 200 feet above the ground.“I want the two to remain married,” Ms. Hidalgo said in an interview with Ouest-France, a newspaper.The Eiffel Tower, already one of the most widely recognized monuments in the world, with about seven million visitors per year, has been a prominent symbol of this year’s Olympic Games, which ended earlier this month, and of the Paralympic Games, which will end on Sept. 8.Medals won by athletes are encrusted with pieces of the famous landmark; Celine Dion made a triumphant comeback by singing from the tower during the opening ceremony; and the monument has become a stunning backdrop for beach volleyball and blind football.Olympic competitors pass the Eiffel Tower at the start of the women’s road race in August.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesMs. Hidalgo said that she had written to President Emmanuel Macron of France to notify him, because the Eiffel Tower is “part of our national cultural heritage.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Jordan Chiles Lost a Bronze. She’s Not the First American Affected by a Medal Change.

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      A court invalidated the gymnast’s win. Here are other notable cases of Americans who lost (or gained) a medal after an event.Taking away an Olympian’s medal is unusual — but not uncommon. On Sunday, the American gymnast Jordan Chiles became the latest athlete to lose one.At the Paris Olympics, Ms. Chiles had won bronze in the individual floor exercise. She originally finished in fifth place with a score that was less than one-tenth of a point from third place, but after her coach appealed, she won the bronze. That appeal, however, came four seconds too late, a court ruled, reinstating Ms. Chiles’s original score. The bronze will now go to Ana Barbosu of Romania, according to the International Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee intends to appeal the ruling.Ana Barbosu of Romania will get the bronze medal that was taken away from Ms. Chiles.Daniel Berehulak/The New York TimesSeveral other athletes in Olympic history have had to return a medal — most commonly after a failed drug test or the use of a banned substance. Here are some other notable cases of U.S. Olympians giving up their medals — or winning new ones after another athlete was disqualified.Jim Thorpe, 1912 Stockholm GamesThe American track and field star Jim Thorpe won two gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm, setting a world record in the latter event, with 8,412 points, that stood until 1948.But Mr. Thorpe was also talented in several other sports, including baseball, basketball and football.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Paris, Uncharacteristically Giddy, Bids Au Revoir to the Olympics

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      A joyous Games, a cleaned-up Seine and improvements to the region brought cheer to Parisians as they handed off the Summer Olympics to Los Angeles.There were French firemen flipping like acrobats, a musician playing a piano that hung vertically in the air, and Olympic athletes overwhelming the stage and forming a mosh pit around the French electro-pop band Phoenix.The Paris Olympics ended much as they began, with a raucous spectacle before a joyous crowd, a generous supply of strobe lights, smoke and fireworks. And then the actor Tom Cruise rappelled off the stadium roof to collect the Olympic flag from the gymnast Simone Biles and carry it off on his motorcycle, à la “Top Gun” and “Mission: Impossible” to Los Angeles, where the next summer Olympics is set to take place in 2028.“Together, we have experienced the Games like nothing we have ever lived before,” said Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris Olympics organizing committee, adding that of all the records broken, among them was one for marriage proposals. “From one day to the next, time stood still and a whole country got goose bumps.”As Paris bids au revoir to the Olympic Games, many are reluctant to let go of its magic: of the adrenaline-fueled excitement, of the party free of political debate, of the sense of time deliciously suspended, like the glowing Olympic cauldron that has hovered wistfully over the city every night.The beach volleyball venue became one of the most popular, and most photographed, at the Games.Daniel Berehulak/The New York TimesThe Olympic cauldron hovering over the city.Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sifan Hassan Wins Olympic Marathon, Testing Limits of Endurance

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      The Dutch Olympian added a victory in the longest race of the Games to her bronze medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. “What was I thinking?” she said afterward.Sifan Hassan couldn’t stop laughing at herself.“What have I done? What is wrong with me?” she said of the inner monologue that had echoed in her head through the 26.2 punishing miles of the Olympic women’s marathon on Sunday.Hassan had already logged three Olympic races, and two bronze medals from them. She ran the first heat in the 5,000 meters on Aug. 2, the final of the 5,000 on Monday and the 10,000 final on Friday night. Then, only 37 hours later, she propelled herself across the starting line in the marathon, the most demanding race of them all, and ended up crossing the finish line first.An Ethiopian-born runner who competes for the Netherlands, Hassan, 31, had described her Olympic schedule — which initially was supposed to also include the 1,500 — as one driven by curiosity. She wanted to know if she could do all three events, requiring close to 40 miles of Olympic racing. The goal, she emphasized, was not necessarily to win medals in each race: Instead, it was simply to complete all three.No athlete had taken medals in all three events at the same Olympic Games since 1952, when Emil Zatopek won three golds for what was then Czechoslovakia. In the age of specialization in elite running, though, Hassan’s decision to even try all three races was unusually bold. To claim a medal in all three was, seemingly, unthinkable. Until she did it.As the words spilled out of her after the marathon, Hassan was still wrestling with the intense physical challenge she had set for herself, of whether testing her physical limits had really been the wisest idea after all.“Every single moment I regretted that I ran the five and 10,000,” she said.During the race, she said, she kept thinking of her competitors in the marathon’s lead group — Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, Hellen Obiri of Kenya, Sharon Lokedi of Kenya and Amane Beriso Shankule of Ethiopia among them — and their fresh, rested legs. “When are they going to break me?” she wondered.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      U.S. Men’s Basketball Was Tested. Stephen Curry Had the Answer.

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      Scott Cacciola and Stephen Curry had French defenders draped all over him like shrink wrap, but it hardly mattered. Fans across the world had seen this show before; only the stage was different. Playing in his first Olympics, Curry made the most of the moment, sinking a series of late 3-pointers — each more preposterous than the last — to lead the United States to a 98-87 win over France in the men’s basketball gold medal game.James Hill for The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York TimesCurry, the longtime face of the Golden State Warriors, scored 24 points as the United States won its fifth straight gold medal. He had plenty of help from fellow N.B.A. stars like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, who scored 15 points apiece, and LeBron James, who added 14 points and collected his third gold medal — this time with flecks of gray in his beard.James Hill for The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York TimesThe United States has now won gold in men’s basketball at eight of the last nine Olympics, a stretch of dominance that dates to 1992 with the formation of the so-called Dream Team at the Barcelona Games.James Hill for The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York TimesSince then, the sport’s global growth has meant that the talent gap has closed. Yes, the Americans won all six of their games in Paris. But they were threatened in the semifinals by Serbia, a team headlined by Nikola Jokic, the three-time N.B.A. most valuable player, trailing by as many as 17 points before escaping with a victory.James Hill for The New York TimesThat left the United States with a chance for gold against France, which was led by Victor Wembanyama, 20, one of the N.B.A.’s emerging stars. At 7-foot-4, Wembanyama caused problems for a host of American defenders. He scored a game-high 26 points, but it was not quite enough — not against Curry, who made 8 of 13 3-pointers, and not against a U.S. team that was pushed but was not about to be broken.James Hill for The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York Times More

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      The B-Boys and B-Girls of Breaking Put a New Spin on the Olympics

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      Talya MinsbergChang W. Lee and Breaking announced itself as an Olympic sport in Paris, making a memorable debut powered by a backbeat. Time will tell if the sport — really more of an art form — will become an Olympic staple, but it didn’t lack for exposure at these Games.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesGabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesThe competition came to a conclusion on Saturday with the men’s event in which Phil Kim of Canada, above, known as Wizard, took the gold medal. Danis Civil of France, known as Dany Dann, won silver and the American Victor Montalvo, known as B-Boy Victor, took the bronze.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesChang W. Lee/The New York TimesThe first Olympic medal in breaking was awarded on Saturday night to Ami Yuasa of Japan, known as B-Girl Ami. Dominika Banevic of Lithuania, known as B-Girl Nicka, earned the silver, and Liu Qingyi of China, known as B-Girl 671, took the bronze. That diverse podium shows just how far breaking, born in the Bronx in the 1970s, has spread globally.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesWhile not everyone received positive reviews, the breakers were met with generous cheers and earnest curiosity at La Concorde in Paris. The hosts of the event, standing at the center of a stage built to look like a record, repeated a refrain every few minutes. “You are witnessing history,” they said.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesGabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesGabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesGabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesIt’s hard to say how breaking’s success at these Games will be evaluated. The event will not return to the Games in Los Angeles in 2028, but it could reappear in future Olympics. By then, a new generation will have to put its own spin on the sport. Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times More

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      When Olympic Sponsors Go Rogue

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      LVMH and Samsung intruded on previously sacrosanct spaces at the Paris Games, angering fellow sponsors and raising concerns about a repeat at the closing ceremony.When the French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH agreed to pay about $175 million to underwrite the organizing committee for the Paris Olympics, the company, owned by France’s richest person, Bernard Arnault, asked for more than any previous sponsor had ever done. Organizers of the Games, desperate for that cash, appeared to have said yes at every turn.The medals? Made by the LVMH-owned jeweler Chaumet. The French parade uniforms? Made by the LVMH-owned label Berluti. The medal trays for every event? The unmistakable checkerboard pattern of Louis Vuitton. And on and on it went. But there was one secret that had been held back, Antoine Arnault, who is Bernard Arnault’s son and the family’s representative to the Olympics, told a gathering of well-heeled Parisians on the eve of the Games.Keep an eye out, he and other LVMH executives said, for “a big surprise” involving the company.The Louis Vuitton logo displayed on the roof of the company’s Paris headquarters.Pool photo by Lionel BonaventureIn the end it was hard to miss. Among the parade of athletes cruising along the River Seine was one carrying different cargo: suitcases and trunks encased in Louis Vuitton leather. The Louis V vessel was just one part of the show, an hourslong broadcast that also featured a long video segment beamed to millions of people worldwide that showed the making of the trunk and then panned to dancers in LVMH-designed clothing.The audacious segment — effectively a three-minute advertisement for LVMH during one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the Games — left some longtime Olympic executives slack-jawed. But it also outraged several of the International Olympic Committee’s top partners, billion-dollar companies that have been involved with the Games for far longer than LVMH.“I was very surprised to see the level of LVMH branding in the ceremony,” said Ricardo Fort, a former executive responsible for events like the Olympics and the soccer World Cup at Coca-Cola, whose Olympic partnership dates to the Amsterdam Games in 1928. “This is so unusual I can’t even think about another opening ceremony where a brand had such a visible role.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More