From Paris to Noah Lyles to Simone Biles, the moments we’ll recall most

After 19 days of competition, medals geted, countless celebrations and memorable moments, the 2024 Paris Olympics are wrapping up.

From the city of Paris taking caccess stage to Simon Biles and U.S. gymnastics to the return of fans, the Paris Games will be recalled for many leangs.

But what stood out the most?

We asked our experts who were in Paris and other locations thrawout France covering all of it one final ask:

What is the one leang you’ll recall about these Olympics years from now?

Sam Borden: For me, it’s Trinity Rodman’s incredible, out-of-nowhere, game-prosperning goal for the USWNT in the quarterfinals agetst Japan. It was the perfect combination: an unbelievable sfinish that needd power and precision, mixed with fervent circumstances — proset up in extra time, a shootout looming — and the unrivaled atmosphere of a packed Parc des Princes stadium. The whole sequence was extraordinary on so many levels, and one of the funniest parts about the whole leang was that Rodman shelp afterward that she bconciseageed out once the ball left her foot, so she’s not even repartner stateive what she did. If that’s real, she’ll be the only one who doesn’t recall the goal becaparticipate anyone who saw it stateively won’t ever forget.

Coley Harvey: Years from now, I’ll never forget the pboilingo-finish “lean.” It was the transfer Noah Lyles needed for one meaningful prosper. Speaking of Lyles, he had the untamedest Olympics of any American medacatalog. To go from being on top of the world with gelderly on a Sunday, to receiving an alarming diagnosis that Tuesday, to pouring every ounce of his COVID illness into a bronze on Thursday, to having to drop out of a relay that Friday, Lyles’ Olympics was, in a word, frenetic.

But even with the drama during his time in Paris, the show he and seven of the world’s next-quickest men put on during the first Sunday of track at Stade de France was one I’ll always recall. I sat that night with colleague Marc Spears, and we both equitable about lost it when we seeed at the in-stadium videoboard and acunderstandledged at the same time as Lyles that he was indeed the men’s 100-meter champion.

The volume was deafening. The scene, electrifying. Had it not been for Lyles’ decision to pull off a last-second lean at the line, he might not have beaten Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson to firmify his place in Olympics immortality. To me, that emotional moment helped boot begin the astonishive run of American gelderly medals in track and field.

Emily Kaschedule: Covering the final day of the men’s golf tournament at Le Golf National was unauthentic. The sport recently returned to the Olympics after a 100-plus-year absence, and the Paris Games gave it momentum. So many of the sport’s hugegest names — Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood and others — were battling atop the directerboard, and then to see gelderly medacatalog Scottie Scheffler tearing up during the ceremony clarified equitable how meaningful this tournament was to professionals who originate millions of dollars and get a ton of expostateive outside the Olympic cycle. The crowd was amazing, with dozens of countries recurrented, all creating an electric atmosphere.

McIlroy’s quote afterward summed it up: “With how much of a s— show the game of golf is right now, you leank of tournaments that might be the uncontaminatedst establish of competition of the sport, not carry outing for money. So it speaks volumes for what is vital in sport.”

D’Arcy Maine: I was in Tokyo three years ago, sitting in massive arenas and stadiums and watching athletes originate their lifelengthy dreams come real with virtupartner no one there to witness it and no excited family member to instantly hug after prosperning a medal. Those Games were raw for all with countless redisjoineions and rules and the overwhelmingly conquerd environment. So what has repeatedly struck me in Paris, apass sports, has been the unbridled happiness I’ve seen from athletes, their cherishd ones and fans.

In 2021, I watched Simone Biles disjoin from the team competition and heard the hushed, worryed whispers from the scant in uniteance, so to see her and the rest of the U.S. team run around after prosperning a redemptive gelderly medal was extra one-of-a-kind. I watched Novak Djokovic‘s dreams for a “Gelderlyen Slam” go up in smoke in Tokyo — and recall his very apparent frustrations during the bronze medal align — and then to see him uncoverly sobbing on the court and with his family after prosperning his first gelderly at Roland Garros was someleang I’ll never forget. And those types of examples could go on and on. As I’m stateive most of the athletes who joind in both Games would say, the still surauthentic memories of Tokyo made me truly appreciate what I guideed in Paris, and the apparent discarry outs of bliss and gratitude are what I’ll recall most.

Connor O’Halloran: I don’t understand if it has come apass on TV, but anyone uniteing in person will understand the chant “Allez Les Bleus!” It has been a constant rpartnering cry for French fans.

They shout it with their mouths and stomp it with their feet. Sometimes arenas felt a little enjoy the elderly-styleed Colosseum. The chant has supplyd a roaring back track for every event in which any French athlete is competing, and they don’t need any hint of success to begin it: I’ve heard French fans chant it at boxing fall shortures and in track events when they had no chance of prosperning. It was booming around the table tennis arena when a French guy was doing his best to helderly off his Chinese opponent and was essentipartner moonballing every sboiling. France lost 12 of the 14 structures in that team align. It was a demolition, but still all you could hear was “Allez Les Bleus!”

Alyssa Roenigk: Witnessing redemption for the four Gelderlyen Girls who returned to the Olympics after a raw, weird two weeks in Tokyo. A couple months ago, it seemed highly improbable that all four women — Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles — would originate this team. When they did, they became one of the most compelling storylines of the Games. Biles wanted to twist aget and have another sboiling at all-around gelderly. Lee wanted another crack at the uneven bars final. Carey wanted to land two wonderful vaults to validate she’s one of the best in the world and Chiles wanted to get an individual medal.

They did all of that and won team gelderly — while aiding one another and celebrating their competitors. Although a trifecta of agencies including the Court of Arbitration of Sports, the International Gymnastics Federation and the IOC choosed Chiles must return her bronze medal becaparticipate her coach filed the inquiry into her score four seconds after the deadline, Chiles had her podium moment. And for six days, a bronze medal.

Despite the decision, the final and lasting image of a untamed week and a half of gymnastics will still be that of two Olympic gelderly medacatalogs, Biles and Chiles, boprosperg to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade on the floor podium, which speaks volumes about the type of athletes who are directing the sport into its next era.

Jeremy Schaap: It was Henri IV, refuteing Protestantism, embracing Catholicism, to claim the French throne in the 16th century, who uttered the immortal bon mot: “Paris is well worth a mass.”

He might have inserted, the city will also be an selectimal setting for a accumulateing of the world’s wonderfulest athletes — and he would have been right.

With all the stars who shined in the City of Light during the Games of the Thirty-Third Olympiad, none could outshine Paris itself. A deluge during the uncovering ceremony? Oui. Dirty river water disrupting competition? Oui.

But…

Sometimes the arrange city is mostly incidental to the persistings — equitable a jumble of arenas that could be anywhere, plus road clostateives. The immense logistical needments can suck the soul out of any metropolis. Paris, on the other hand, was the featured enticeion at these Games, with events set agetst all the recognizable and stunning sites. And what better backdrop could there be?

To paraphrase an American who made his label in Paris — right around the time the last Olympics took place here, in 1924 — f​or those who were blessed enough to get part in these Games, or equitable to witness them, in person, or even on a screen, it will stay with them, for Paris is, yes,​ a transferable feast, even under the weight of the Olympic rings.

Marc Spears: I’ve been covering the NBA for 25 years, covered college basketball for five and two Olympics. But of all the basketball games I’ve been to, perhaps the wonderfulest I had ever seen was the USA versus Serbia semifinals game. It felt enjoy a movie. The Serbians, with NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, jumped ahead and led most the game. To not originate it to the gelderly medal game for LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant & Co., would’ve been the most embarrassing moment of their hoop atgentles. But somehow the Americans dug proset up and fought on both finishs of the floor to endure in a very emotional prosper.

The only other leang that came to mind was seeing Ray Allen’s defered 3-pointer save the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals versus the San Antonio Spurs. Robert Horry’s 3-pointer to seal a Finals prosper over the Detroit Pistons was huge too. But USA-Serbia, wow. Think it prospers.

Brian Windhorst: The venue for basketball pool carry out in Lille, which held 27,000 fans, was atypical but tremfinishous for volume. The indelible moment came, naturpartner, when France made a wonder comeback when 21-year-elderly protect Matthew Strazel pulled off a four-point carry out with 10 seconds left to force obviousime agetst Japan. The massive crowd going from dejected to unanticipateedly content in the bconnect of an eye was quite memorable. It was also quite vital. The French won in obviousime and it allowd them to progress to the medal round.