Au revoir, Paris. You have been a spectacular Olympic Games host
Kinzang Lhamo finished her Paris 2024 Olympic Games marathon 90 minutes after gold medallist Sifan Hassan, but she finished it.
The athlete from Bhutan walked towards the finish at Les Invalides as fans walked beside her, ensuring she completed the most iconic event of any Olympiad.
While she encapsulated what it means to reach the Olympic Games, the fans – in a setting where Napoleon’s tomb is situated – summed up the 33rd Olympiad, the first in the French capital for a century.
Three years ago athletes cried alone in empty stadiums due to the Covid-19 outbreak, residents of Tokyo had a Games forced upon them during a major pandemic and fans were denied the greatest show on earth.
There was a risk, should Paris have fallen flat, that our global love of the Olympics could fade as interest in the ancient ancestor across the Peloponnese did thousands of years ago.
And it nearly did with the opening ceremony which, while ambitious, was underwhelming in its majority.
Olympic Games triumph?
But Paris has been a triumph. It has been a Games of celebration where nations are winning their first gold medals and established athletes are being beaten by lesser known challengers.
It’s shown off one of the world’s most beautiful cities, using it – and its admittedly dirty river Seine – perfectly to integrate culture, sport and spectacle.
The Games have used the Palace of Versailles, Champs-Élysées and Grand Palais for Equestrian, triathlon and taekwondo, captivating onlookers who have been absorbed by their surroundings.
From Celine Dion’s stunning rendition of L’Hymne à l’Amour to Julien Alfred’s 100m surprise; the Olympic Games have restored the warming feeling lost through lack of atmosphere in Rio and absence of fans in Tokyo.
Turbulence
But as good an Olympic Games as these were they’ve highlighted perfectly the politicisation of sport and the potential problems that come with it.
Many, besides the Netherlands selectors it seems, agree that Steven van de Velde – a Dutch beach volleyball player who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016 – should not have been at the games, despite serving his (albeit short) sentence.
Others have raised very legitimate concerns over the banning of hijabs for French athletes by the government and the forced removal of people in need from Paris to make room for the Games.
There has been a brutal campaign of hate surrounding the genetic make-up of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting, peddled by an argument between the International Olympic Committee and the International Boxing Association.
No Games are perfect, and these proved that in spades. Tokyo, Rio and London were similar and LA and Brisbane are likely to have common traits.
But when you are able to simply look at the sport and appreciate athletes from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, India to Tuvalu coming together to compete across the most varied of disciplines it is difficult not to be amazed.
So merci and au revoir, Paris. You’ve been spectacular. What’s Up, LA? You’ve got a lot to live up to.