The Opening Ceremony
A couple weeks ago I joined my mom on her work conference in Washington DC and had a real enjoyable time visiting the nation's capital. It was that Friday night in the hotel room we watched the Opening Ceremony that had unfolded earlier that day in Paris. The event was unlike any Olympic ceremonies before, as it was held outdoors in the city, instead of the usual stadium. This was a genius idea to really show off the beautiful architecture and landmarks of this historic city. For the first time ever the parade of athletes would not take place in a stadium, yet rather onboard boats on the Seine River.
I didn't really get to watch the ceremony in it's entirety, but I think I caught the main events, and the most talked about moments on social media. The entire show was held outside during heavy rainfall, with video montages, and a mysterious character running on the roofs of buildings (who reminded me of Arlo from Assassin's Creed). The first musical performance was by Lady Gaga singing on stairs, surrounded by dancers and pink feathers. While visually stimulating I thought this particular performance was rather bland and pulling too much into American pop-culture.
However then it was a purely French show, with French fashion, ballet dancers, and French musical performances that fused classical and modern genres. Such as an incredible operatic performances of the French national anthem on top the Grand Palais. As well a visually breathtaking rendition heavy metal performance at the Conciergerie giving homage to Les Misérables and Marie Antoinette. There was also an entertaining performance by the French pop icon Aya Nakamura in front of the Institut de France. The river then became the main focus whilst the athletes journeyed towards the Eifel Tower. There was a great musical rendition of Imagine by Juliette Armanet which has become a tradition at the Olympic Opening Ceremony ever since Atlanta 1996.
Finally when all the athletes had assembled near the Eiffel Tower, then began the ceremonial lighting of the torch. As usual this is the main event of the ceremony and usually consists of an incredible pyrotechnical display. Then there's of course the reveal of who actually will be lighting the torch. The mysterious assassin's character passed the torch over to the great Zinedine Zidane, who then passed it to the Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal (a strange choice but reasonable as he has won the French Open 14 times). Serena Williams and Carl Lewis also shared in the torch relay until it was handed off to athlete superstar Marie-Jose Perec and judo superstar Teddy Riner who lit the beautiful hot-air baloon cauldron. (Although not household names these guys are both decorated French Olympic champions).
However for me the highlight of the night came from the Eifel Tower. Prior to the lighting of the cauldron the tower presented an incredible two minute light show. Then after the hot-air balloon took flight came the main event of the night. The great Celine Dion took centerstage as she sang the beautiful song LHymne a L'amour by Edith Piaf. This was the perfect choice for the closing act for various reasons. The song selection was homage to the great French musical icon Edith Piaf. And who better to perform this beautiful song, by the powerful vocalist Celine Dion who is French Canadian. Even more special was that she had been struggling with cancer for the best four years and this marked her big return. She truly knocked the performance out of the park and left everyone in sheer awe. This was definitely a great start to the Paris Olympics.
Swimming
The first week of the Olympics usually brings on the swimming events, and the big names to watch this year were Katie Ledecky and Caleb Dressel. Performing in her fourth Olympic games, Katie went on to have another solid performance winning 2 more golds in the individual long distance races of the 800m and 1500m freestyle. She has now become the all time most decorated female swimmer with an impressive 14 medals (9 of which are gold). And at the young age of 27 it wouldn't it be shocking for her to compete in 2 more games.
Caleb Dressel on the other hand wasn't able to repeat his impressive 5 gold performance from Tokyo. He missed the podium in the 50 freestyle and failed to qualify for the 100m freestyle. He did however win 2 golds and a silver in the relays. A new superstar emerged from France however in Leon Marchand who became the home star hero of the games. He won 4 individual gold medals and a bronze medal in the 4x100 medley relay. Other breakout stars included American Torri Huske (3 golds and 2 silvers) and Regan Smith (2 golds and 3 silvers).
Tennis
After skipping out on Wimbledon and carrying the torch in the opening ceremony it would have been quite special if Rafael Nadal was able to win another gold medal for Spain (he won gold in 2008). However his dream was cut short by the great Novak Djokovic who was also quite desperate for the one medal that alluded him. It seemed the only one who could stop Novak was the world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz. However in the end experience beat out the youth and Novak finally won his first ever gold medal for Serbia. For the women, Zheng Qinwen won the first ever gold medal for China in tennis.
Gymnastics
The main story coming into gymnastics was whether the great Simone Biles could redeem her poor performance from Tokyo 2020 where she suffered from a mental collapse known as the "twisties". However this time she didn't give in to fear and instead put forth a stellar performance all around winning 3 golds medals and a silver (including the team event and the all-around event). Watching her hit those flips and such tremendous height and speeds, it's no question she is the greatest in the sport. Another break-out star was the Brazilian Rebeca Andrade who won silver in the all-around and gold in the floor exercise. Sunni Lee won bronze in the all-around and the uneven bars. For the men, Japan won gold in both the team event and all-around event.
Track and Field
My favorite sports of the Olympics are the Track-and-Field events also known as Athletics, since I myself once partook in this sport. While the field events are great I especially enjoy the running events, from the sprints to the long-distance. I see the 100m dash as the most glorious of all Olympic events and this time around it lived up to it's expectations. It was one of the closest races of all time, where Noah Lyles just won by a thousands of a second. He was however unable to do the double in the 200m dash, perhaps due to Covid, he was only able to finish bronze. In the women's sprints Sha'Carri Richardson fell short to St. Lucia's Julien Alfred in 100m dash. While Gabby Thomas won gold in the 200m dash. The American men failed to reach the podium yet again in the 4x100m relay, yet the American women won gold in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay races. Gabby Thomas went home with an impressive 3 gold medals.
The women's hurdles were especially exciting thanks to the defending champion Sydney McLaughlin looking to set another world record. This time however she had a worthy opponent from the Netherlands, Femke Bol who just put up a golden anchor leg performance in the 4x400 mixed relay. The 400m hurdle race was not even close however as Sydney defended her title with yet another golden medal while Femke won the bronze. In the 110m hurdles, after coming up short in Tokyo with the silver, Grant Holloway was able to win the much deserved gold medal this time around. The mens pole vault was also quite noteworthy where Armand Duplantis (representing Sweden) defended his golden title and set another world record.
Quite surprisingly the US performed very well at the long distance races that are usually dominated by Kenya or Ethiopia. This opened with a bronze performance from Grant Fisher in the 10,000m race and then a shocking gold medal for Cole Hocker in the 1500 meters. He was able to edge by the favorite Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway who did not medal at all in the event. Ingebrigsten was able to redeem himself however by winning gold in the 5000m, while Grant Fisher yet again won another bronze. The Steeplechase was actually won of the most exciting races, where American Kenneth Rooks fought fiercely to win silver for America. The women's distance runs were just as exciting where Kenya superstar Beatrice Chebet won gold in both the 5000m and 10,000m and Sifan Hassan won bronze in both those events however also won gold in the women's marathon.
Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony is always a sad ending to such a wonderful event that brings the world together. The Olympics are such a magical period where we see athletic greatness on display but also global unity. Normally the format is to bring all athletes in together in a mixed pool rather than with their countries at the opening ceremony. It can be quite the party, as I vividly remember the Rio Closing Ceremony to be a non-stop festival. While it ends on a rather sad closure it does look to the future, where it presents a hand-off to the next Olympics host, in this case Los Angeles 2028.
This time Paris moved away from their urban opening ceremony and back into the usual venue format. Overall I felt this closing ceremony was somewhat dry and without too much surprise, especially compared to their mesmerizing opening ceremony. There was a decent musical performance by Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, and Kavinsky and lots of classical pieces as well. The presentation of Los Angeles will probably win the spotlight after Tom Cruise jumped from the stadium to collect the Olympic Flag. This was followed by live musical performances from the LA beaches by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, and Snoop Dogg. I can't wait for the games to return to LA in 2028 for the third time. They will certainly have a tough act to follow after Paris really did change many standards and expectations of the games. They provided great athletic competition but did so in a unique artistic way that truly embodies Paris.
Netherlands
United States
Great Britain
Spain
Ecuador
Australia
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