Let's start with the one event that goes right at the beginning, which was given an amazing location (as so many were in this Olympics). We saw some incredible things, from South Korea continue their almost laughable dominance winning every gold medal (again), to surprising finsihes in the team events from the Mexican women winning Bronze to a super chill Turkish Men's team winning silver. Finally, we saw some insane drama - from a semifinal coming down to a magnifying glass to see if a bow caught any part of the 10-point line (it did). Finally, we all collectively saw the moment the first time we saw the video angle of how for they really are shooting at. The accuracy is batshit insane. Oh, and the guy shouting "Ten!!!" - never gets old.
B is for Belgian Biker Pose
So, half of these roughly are going to be about the sports and athletic acheivement and what not. As it should be. The other half is going to be around just the great moments, images, memes and things that will just always last. Let's start with the amazing, cinematic moment of Belgian biker Remco Evenepoel, who won by a ton, just bossing that moment. The slow down at the line,, the turning his bike sideways, the amazing "are you not entertained?" pose, and of course the slow zoom out of the Eifel Tower looming above. Just magical.
C is for Crowds
It goes without saying really but part of the reason why this Olympics jsut worked so much more than the last was having crowds back. The crowds in France were amazing. Seemingly every venue was packed. The fans were loud, teh DJs egging them on perfectly. These were just amazing moments that were so pointedly absent last time around. Weirdly, I feel bad for Tokyo as I imagine the Olympics there had it been Covid-less would've been fantastic as well, but Paris, and more broadly Europe's centrality in the world geographically, just made it a place for millions to descend into and turn Paris and all the events into long parties.
D is for the Duel in the Pool
The pool returned to a whole bunch of fun, I would say specifically because America didn't outright dominate. We eked out the overall Gold race 8-7 over Australia, mostly due to strength in relays (four of the seven). American still won the Gold race, won teh most overall, but in so many cases we didn't have the best swimmer in certain sports. Of course, the story was Leon Marchand winning four gold medals, or Summer McIntosh winning three as a 17-year old, or the continuing dominance of people like Kristof Milak or Sarah Sjostrom. Other countries, other than Australia, don't have dominant swimmers in every stroke and length, but somewhere in teh world there's someone every bit as good as the American - other than against Ledecky in the 800m and 1500m that is.
E is for Eifel Tower Beach Volleyball
I honestly think every host city should take a page out of Paris's playbook and just build a beach volleyball court in front of your most iconic location. Fine, if you have a famous beach, like of course the Copacabana at Rio 2016, or Venice Beach for the LA28 games, but if not, hell if say Toronto was ever to host, put that in Eaton Square (an ice rink), or go ahead and put it in front of the Hagia Sophia if Istanbul is to win the 2036 games. That setting just made this tournament so cool. Of course, so was the DJ playing Imagine to breakup a tiff, or seeing the world take that sport over (first time the US didn't medal). Beach Volleyball is always fun, but that setting just elevated it so much further.
F is for Fencing at the Grand Palais
Talk about a location elevating the sport - fencing at the Grand Palais was just magical. It helped sure that the US did surprisingly well (Lee Kiefer ftw!) but that setting - the fencers descending down the stairs, the beautiful, haunting shade of light on teh glass ceilings. It was poetry, it was perfection, it was "grand". Fencing rose highly in my rankings of Olympic sports, in no small amount to just how amazing that setting was.
G is for GOATs
If there was anything this was missing from 2012 or 2016 was the lack of a Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt, but we did still have GOATs getting their flowers - from Katie Ledecky becoming the msot decorated American Woman in Olympics history, to Cuba's wrestler Mijain Lopez becoming the first person to win the same event in five Olympics. You had Djokovic win his gold. And of course, you had Simone Biles cementing her legacy as the greatest Gymnast of all time. Oh, and of course LeBron, KD and Curry sharing the court (and the US needing every last bit of their brilliance). The starpower wasn't as traditionally high profile as when you had two all-timers in Phelps and Bolt one-upping each other, but it was pretty close.
H is for Handball
I don't understand how this sport isn't more popular. I haven't understood for a while now, to be honest. It should be huge. It is fast, it is fairly easy to follow, it is surprisingly violent. Everything should be adding up to handball taking over the world, and this might've been the best tournament yet. Out of the eight knockout games in the men's tournament, five were decided by one goal. The final was a bit of a blowout, but an upset at that with Denmark winning. Out of all the sports, barring one to come, that I wish was a more constant presence throughout the years, none probably matches handball.
I is for Ilana Maher and US Rugby
Couldn't figure out how to get the Rugby Sevens into this, but figured I would link it to the baddest woman out there, America's Ilana Maher who bossed her way around the field. I just love the fact that the US did well - and not only did well but we beat the damn UK. I'm not overtly nationalistic - of course I root for American's to do well in the Olympics but I rarely outright lose for another country to do badly. My one exception to that is with teh UK at sports they decide to claim they invented and feel it is within their birthright to dominate - well my British friends, our country that doesnt' give two shits about rugby just beat yours. That's what I'm talking about.
J is for Judo
It's funny how much Judo is loved in France. I guess partially because Teddy Riner is like some sort of greek god of heavyweight Judo, but beyond that the France team did well, and because the French crowd got into Judo for the France judokas, they did for all others as well. I still don't quite get all the rules, mostly what times you can attempt a pin/submission when taking someone down vs. when you can't, but not to worry as there were a surprising number of Ippons this time around. So many great flings, great spins, great grabs, great attacks and of course good old Teddy Riner just ragdolling fucks, which was amazing.
K is for
L is for Lyles's 100
What else to say other than that was the most meaningful .005 seconds maybe ever. Hell, it was the msot important .01 seconds that separate Lyles and the guy who finished fourth. The race itself was great, with no one person taking a big lead, with Lyles chasing Thompson down, with the craziness of the aftermath where no one really knew who won. That is what the 100m race should be! It should come down to fractions of a milisecond. It was fun to watch Usain Bolt put people away for three Olympics, but the alternate result of an incredibly tight race was as much fun.
M is for Mondo Duplantis
Do you know how baller it is to already have won the Gold medal, reaching a height that you missed already but deciding to say "fuck it, let's go another one," and setting a new world record? That was just amazing. It doesn't hurt that the guy has model good looks, as does his actual literal model Swedish girlfriend, and they had their great celebration when it was done. Moreso than in years past, for me at least, these non-running track & field athletes got so much atetntion, and other than the French guy who's penis tripped him up, none more so than the great Armand Mondo Duplantis.
N is for Nadal
It's pretty clear Nadal is just physically unable to compete at the top level. He can compete in spurts, as we saw with his riveting comeback from 0-4 down in teh second set against Djokovic, but from his meek first set, to his tune-ups for this, it is clear the end is nigh. But man did he go out in a way that was still uniquely special - from some incredible moments with Alcaraz in doubles, to again that amazing four game run, there was some magic in that man. But none more than his role in the opening ceremony - so dominant was he in that city over his career that no one even batted an eye when he got the torch from Zinedine Zidane. In a weird way, it was French Royalty giving it to another member of French Loyalty.
O is for Opening in the City
I wrote a whole post about it, but still felt that I may have sold Paris a bit short on just how cool it was to have the opening ceremony play out all across the city. I'm shocked no city had tried this before, and while I implore LA not to do this (while the beaches and mountains are nice, the urban beauty of LA is next to zero) I do hope others take inspiration to try different things. Those moments of lighting the torch in the Tuileries, or of course Nadal, Serena and others floating down the Seine. All of it was unique, was beautiful, was weird at times, but perfectly French.
P is for Peacock
Seriously, Peacock and NBC deserve a whole bunch of credit for how they were able to Broadcast the Olympics. Technically, NBC's app had all the world feed streams of every event in 2021, and most if not all in 2016, but the interface was confusing. This time it was amazing. Of course, the Gold Zone got deservedly a lot of hype - how it took NBC this long to replicate the Red Zone for the Olympics is beyond me - by London 2012 the Red Zone was already established within the NFL. But finally they did it - and the rest of hte interface, from the key events, the multi-sport view, the live events were so great. As were the ways to see what times various things would be on. Peacock made it a pleasure to watch the Olympics, something I honestly thought I never would be able to say.
Q is for
R is for Relays
Be it in the pool or be it on the track, the relays were amazing this tournament. Nothing probably better than Femko Bol chasing down three other countries in the mixed relay with a ridiculous last 200 metres. Of course, it only gets elevated when you hear her delightful voice. Then we have the Canadian men's teams thrilling win in the Men's 4x100 with the great return of Andre De Grasse winning another medal. The US dominating the women's field was as great. These relays require such timing and precision on the handoffs and what-not, but also showcased some great comebacks and great dominant runs - one or the other always.
S is for the Seine
The Seine river played such a weird role in the entire spectacle, and in the end I don't know if it was quite worth it. Setting the opening ceremony on the banks of it worked, except I wasn't sure if I liked the boats for the parade of nations. And of course, we can't not talk about the poop water that delayed races, nearly cancelled some, and made it seemed a good amount of competitors sick. Talking about the E-Coli levels in the river was fun for a bit, but probably just next time don't pick a river in the heart of a city that gets overflow sewage if it rains.
T is for Turkish Chill Shooter Guy
This was the meme Olympics, but from the gymnast with the Parmesan sponsorship, to RayGun, there were people who had their moment in teh sun but no one, and I mean no one, will match the Turkish shooter. The assassin, John Wick the Babayaga himself showing up in a t-shirt, no fancy glasses, hand in pocket, strolling up and knocking out silver like a boss. I've never seen such a clear winner of the meme Olympics, to the point that dozens of other athletes started copying his pose as a celebration. That is true lasting power. We'll forget about RayGun's 15 mins of fame, but we'll never forget about the Turkish Hitman.
U is for US Exceptionalism
I mentioned earlier that in general I'm not super nationalistic, and generally don't cheer for the US to beat specific countries excepting those dastardly Brits, but that doesn't mean I don't take pride in our country continuing to do so well. Yes, China nearly beat us in Gold Medals, but in the end the US tied them, and cleared everyone in Silver, Bronze and Total medals. We won in stuff we normally don't like - men's fencing, rugby and others. It's also great when we continue dominance in certain sports, like the shot-put guys going 1-2 for a third straight Olympics. There was just such annoying discourse early on as China, and a few others took an early lead in gold medals, while the US basically always had the lead in total medals. The argument was how best to rank countries - and that Gold should outweigh total. In reality, we should go to some weighted system (say Gold is 3 points, Silver is 2, Bronze is 1) but in the end, be it by Gold medals, total medals or weighted, the US came out on top.
V is for Volleyball
The best Olympic event, or at least the best in long-form (e.g. not where they award umpteen medals). The striking ridiculousness of what these athletes are doing multiplied by how tall and giant they all seem, and finally sprinkle in how ludicrous the rallies can get, and you get something truly special. It all got exponentially increased by the French winning the men's tournament in front of maybe the best party scene crowd. The DJ's are always on point, and the "Monster Block!" song that comes on a big block is always a treat. I can't wait until Volleyball 2028.
W is for Waiting for Waves
In the run-up to the games it never struck me that while Paris has the Siene it is far away from actual ocean or sea of which you need for sailing and surfing. Of course, there ahve been inland hosts before - though surfing was only added in 2020. Choosing Marseille for the sailing, and inspirationally picking Tahiti for the surfing was a stroke of genius - two just amazing locations, but for these sports you are so beholden to the wind. It eventually came around but those early sailing races were slow moving disasters. The surfing was on and off throughout with a lot of jsut sitting there. Granted, that's how I remember surfing as well a lot in 2020. Hopefully LA can bring some better wind and waves - one of the few areas I have hope the LA games can improve on Paris.
X is for X-Canoe/Kayak
I'm butchering the name of the sport to make it fit into the 'X' category, but Kayak-X, where they just drop 3-4 kayaks into the water at teh same time and have them fight each other along with the rapids, was just unbelievably wild and enthralling. I was always finding myself more and more of a canoe/kayak slalom fan when it was jsut one person in the water navigating the gates, but when I saw them needing to do barrel rolls, and oar on top of each other, and the gamesmanship of what gate to pick to circumnavigate - it was all so fun and raw. I hope this stays for a long, long time.
Y is for Youth
It is amazing how young of the stars of the Olympics are each time. Yes. of course this is somewhat depressing for someone who is now 33. I'm already a bit annoyed that I'll be 37 next time around. Soon enough every medalist will be younger than me. But anyway, back to the youngsters, of course for years we had them in skateboarding (it is always crazy when I remember the Gold and Silver women's stakeboard winners were 14 and 15), but then add in Summer McIntosh at 17, or Lauren Scruggs at 20, or so many others that are still in US collleges. The youth came to play, and set us up so well for their return in four years.
Z is for Zero Regrets
