From Biles to Yee and Bol: 10 great moments at the Paris Olympics

Three years after Simone Biles was forced to withdraw from all but one of her Olympic finals due to the twisties, she returned to produce one of the great Games comebacks. Across nine days of excellence that yielded three gold medals and a silver, Biles most notably held off a brilliant challenge from Rebeca Andrade to become the oldest ever all-around champion, at 27. Her comeback has underlined the importance of mental health, longevity, sportsmanship, athletes having the freedom to express themselves and, of course, her peerless genius.
At 37 years old, Novak Djokovic arrived in Paris knowing this was his last realistic chance to win the Olympic gold medal he has always dreamed of. He has had a difficult year, including knee surgery in June, but, up against Carlos Alcaraz in the final at Roland Garros, Djokovic played an incredible match to win in straight sets. As his childhood rival triumphed, Andy Murray, one of the greatest ever British sportsmen, ended his career in Paris. He finished with some unforgettable reminders of his iconic grit and perseverance, alongside Dan Evans, in their run to the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles. Down five match points in the opening round match, they won seven points in a row to keep his career alive. They saved two more in the second round before Murray finally bowed out with defeat by US pair Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
Femke Bol has established herself as one of the great athletes of her generation with consistent excellence across the 400m hurdles, flat and relays. The sight of the Dutchwoman chasing down her rivals in the final leg of the 4x400m relays is fast becoming one of the great sights. In this year’s mixed event, Bol picked up the baton well down in fourth place but produced a ridiculous 47.93sec final leg to flit into first place and become an Olympic champion for the first time. It was the perfect start to the athletics in Paris.
Towards the end of the men’s basketball quarter-final between the USA and Brazil, the sight of LeBron James on the big screen drew a strong ovation. But then the screen spotlighted Léon Marchand in the crowd and utter pandemonium followed, with 20,000 people singing his songs and chanting his name even as the game continued. Marchand’s dominance of the swimming pool, with four individual gold medals and one relay bronze, will for ever be linked with the Paris Olympics. And he will never have to buy his own meal in the city again.
Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen somehow managed to elevate the men’s 1500m into one of the spiciest events in the entire Games. Ever since Kerr beat Ingebrigtsen to win last year’s world championships, they have traded trash talk while continuing to run brilliantly. The problem, as they found out, is that the 1500m is not a two-man race. While they tussled down the final 100m, they were both beaten on the inside by Cole Hocker, who sealed gold with a shock Olympic record after an incredible final kick.
Noah Lyles’ mouth has made him one of the most divisive track and field athletes of his time, but this man sure knows how to step up in the big moments. Lyles edged out Kishane Thompson of Jamaica by four thousandths of a second to follow his world title by becoming the Olympic champion. The impossibly tight race for gold was astounding enough, but the depth of the field was also immense. Oblique Seville registered 9.91sec yet finished in last place.
The triathlon always delivers. Not even the questionable state of the Seine could stop a classic from unfolding as Alex Yee trailed his rival Hayden Wilde of New Zealand by 14 seconds at the start of the final running lap before roaring back to win the battle by more than six. It was all the more dramatic considering how the comeback began, with Yee beginning to make up ground on Wilde while off-camera – a rapid turn of events that ended with a gold medal for the Briton.
In a race billed as a battle between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol, the 25-year-old American made it clear that she is in a league of her own. Her world-record effort of 50.37sec in Paris is a decent time in the 400m flat – it would have only just missed out on qualification from the semi-finals in that event. Similarly the greatest of all time in his event at such a young age, the 24-year-old Armand Duplantis had the Stade de France in the palm of his hand as he won his second Olympic gold medal in the pole vault before earning his ninth world record – raising the bar to 6.25m.
The rugby sevens competition had been scheduled early with hopes that France would set the tone for an incredible Olympics to come. They played their lines to perfection in the end, shaking off the early tension before rolling through to defeat Fiji for the Olympic gold medal. Antoine Dupont lived up to his superstar billing with some electrifying, genius solo tries.
Cindy Ngamba arrived in England from Cameroon as a child and she has lived there ever since. Before she was granted asylum in the country, she was arrested and sent to a centre where she was forced to come to terms with the prospect of being deported. Despite the support of GB Boxing, her British citizenship applications have been rejected by the Home Office numerous times. Now she is the first member of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team to win a medal after sealing a brilliant bronze in the women’s 75kg division.