Olympics Coverage Concludes with Perfect Embodiment of the Iconic Event
“This is the pinnacle of your journey,” said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee. “You have come to Paris as athletes. Now, you are Olympians. Stepping into Olympic village, you realise like generations of Olympians before: now I am part of something bigger than myself.”
These were the words that greeted Olympians from around the world in the opening ceremony in Paris’ 2024 games. They were also the words that began NBC’s notorious montage to conclude their coverage of the games on Sunday night. It was a montage that included the best video and audio clips from the past two and a half weeks, strung together to the tune of “Titans’ Spirit”, a soundtrack from the film Remember the Titans.
The video begins with shots of the Eiffel Tower, a monument that we would’ve thought could not get any more iconic. It will now forever resemble an incredible Olympic games. LeBron James is highlighted as the flag bearer in the opening ceremony, shared with Coco Gauff, becoming an instant hit as many appreciated what could’ve been LeBron’s final games.
Then, the montage begins with the games.
There is so much to appreciate from the last two and a half weeks. It seems every single day fans across the world were treated to a new spectacle. Sunday, the final day of the games, it was USA women’s basketball winning by one point against the host French team that lost on a failed game-tying three pointer, which was ruled a two with Gabby William’s foot on the line.
It was played on the same court where the USA men’s basketball team beat France the day before in a close battle, ending in a USA gold which seemed highly unlikely when the US was down double digits at halftime of their semifinal game against Serbia.
Earlier in the games, we saw Katie Ledecky dominate the pool again at the Olympics, most notably winning the 1500 meter by over ten seconds, a new Olympic record just one hour, 13 minutes after she swam in the 200 meter race. Ledecky said names in her head throughout the long 1500 meters, names of those who push her every single day.
In the same pool, we saw an unbelievable invested French crowd for their phenom Leon Marchand, who dominated the pool winning five medals, four of them gold. “It was shocking for me when I went on the poolside and I heard the pool just going crazy,” said Marchand in an interview on the TODAY show. “I’ve never seen that before as a swimmer. I was just so grateful for this week.”
On the golf course, Le Golf National, we saw a one stroke win from USA’s Scottie Scheffler, who’s become notorious for not only golf domination we haven’t seen since Tiger Woods, but also an even-keeled nature that leaves many fans looking for his moments of emotion. In Paris, we received that moment as the world’s top golfer became emotional on the podium, hearing his national anthem played on the world’s grandest stage.
Another dominant star is Simone Biles, one of the greatest Olympians of all time, who struggled emotionally and performance wise in the 32nd Olympiad in Tokyo, and thought “the world hates me” after her tough performance three years ago. In Paris, Biles, and “The Golden Girls”, did anything but struggle, winning the team gold medal as the oldest group of US Gymnasts to compete, hence the Golden name. It was so easy to tell that this was the thrill of victory to follow the agony of defeat.
Who can forget Noah Lyles, who entered the games as the fastest man in America, and now the fastest man in the world. The 100 meter race was the closest run we’ve seen since the 1980 games in Moscow, as Lyles beat Kishane Thompson by five-thousands of a second, a photo finish for the ages, a redemption race for Lyles after struggling with the 100 meter run previously.
Paris provided one of the best venues for tennis as Olympians competed at the coveted Roland-Garros, site of the French Open, and history was added to the venue when Novak Djokovich defeated the phenom Carlos Alcaraz for the men’s singles title, the Golden Slam for the Serbian Djokovich, who’s now won each grand slam title and an Olympics gold medal. One of the greatest players in tennis history was on his knees, shaking after the historic win.
Armand Duplantis stole the show on the poles, with a pole-vaulting performance for the ages, winning the gold for Sweden, representing his mom’s home country instead of his. Duplantis grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana and attended LSU, so it was only fitting that the Olympian compared the crowd at Stade De France to an LSU football crowd at Death Valley afterwards. Duplantis had already clinched the gold medal, but decided to raise the bar, literally, and attempt a world record in three tries at 20 feet, six inches. He tried once and failed. He tried twice and failed. On his third try, he would leave either way as a gold medalist, but not resetting the world record. He succeeded on that third and final chance, setting a world record that continues to change, the ninth reset on the record since 2020.
Perhaps the best moment, or at least my favorite, was the young girl sitting in the Paris stands in the pool, who received a glance and a wave from Katie Ledecky after that legendary 1500 meter performance. The fan was overwhelmed immediately by the two second interaction. After 30 more seconds of total freak out mode, she fell into her seat, completely overwhelmed and satisfied on the slight recognition from her hero.
The truth is, these moments happened every single day during the last two weeks. They happened all over the world, fans of all sorts of sports, people of all sorts of countries and regions, cultures, races, religions.
At the same time, nobody and everybody wins the Olympics simultaneously.
You win the Olympics by letting yourself be impacted. Being impacted by the closest event the world has to total world peace, and perhaps the closest thing we’ll ever have to it. You win the Olympics by letting John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” be the world’s national anthem. You win by not worrying about why Jayson Tatum didn’t play as much as he perhaps could have, or the questionable choices of the IOC over the years.
None of it really matters.
The ending montage was the perfect encapsulation of the Olympic spirit. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and 1,433 days that will be filled with blood, sweat and tears by every single athlete before the opening ceremony in Los Angeles, California in 2028.