The best thing I saw at the Paris Olympics (2024)

The Olympics are overwhelming. Every day, dozens of sporting events are happening simultaneously. Even if you wanted to watch them all, you’d have no chance to do it. For those of us trying to cover the Olympics, we are constantly making choices of how best to spend our time, what sports to attend, what stories to write — knowing all along that it’s impossible to be everywhere.

Even in that hectic environment, some moments burst through and stick with you. As our team members depart Paris, we asked them to share their favorite memories of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Here’s what they said:

A night with the fans

By Sam Amick

I watched the Team USA men’s basketball gold-medal game win over France in the stands, just a few rows from the top of Bercy Arena on that night where Steph Curry’s shooting was so sinful that the local commentators deemed him the “devil.” And it was an absolute blast.

Let me explain.

As a result of the high media demand for that game, I was in what’s called an “untabled” seat next to friend and colleague, Raajik Shah of ESPN. We were surrounded by French fans, most of them with painted faces and flags and beautiful voices that sang the country’s national anthem before the game as if they wrote it themselves. I even bought popcorn, just to lean into the moment.

For someone who spends so much time on press row, where your attention is divided between the game and the laptop and cheering is a no-no, this was an entertaining reminder why people pay so much money to come to these games (those nosebleed seats, I was told, were approximately $2,000!). And to feel the mixed emotions of the fans when Curry went bonkers, hitting all those absurd late 3s that deserved their appreciation while inciting their frustration, was the kind of unique Olympic experience I’ll never forget.

A photo finish at the track

By David Aldridge

It’s hard to pick. Simone Biles was otherworldly in the all-around when she had to be. Stephen Curry impressed even himself in the men’s basketball gold-medal game. But I have to go with the men’s 100-meter final.

It wasn’t just that the race was close, or even that Noah Lyles won in a photo finish over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson. It was that the photo finish involved seven of the eight runners! Can you imagine being Jamaica’s Oblique Seville? You run 9.91 in an Olympic final … and finish last!

I’ve never been at a race where everyone maxed out, to their absolute best, in competition with one another. Usually two or three guys pull ahead. This time, Lyles’ lean was just enough. But even he didn’t think he’d won when he crossed the finish line.

The spirit of competition left me in awe. As it has always done when I cover an Olympics.

The Léon Marchand experience

By Nicole Auerbach

As much as I cherished my visits to the Eiffel Tower and Roland Garros, my lasting memory from the Paris Games won’t be something I saw. It’s what I heard — specifically, what it sounded like when French swimmer Léon Marchand swam at Paris La Défense Arena.

This was my third Olympics, so I should have been prepared for the experience of a homegrown superstar competing in front of his or her countrymen. But the crowd noise when Marchand swam, especially during the breaststroke legs of his swims, when they yelped each time he popped his head up, was unlike anything else I’d ever witnessed. The French fans roared. They thundered. They carried him. He won four individual Olympic gold medals, all in Olympic record times, and it was awesome to see him celebrate and get his medals. But I’ll never forget how it sounded before he touched the wall.

Djokovic climbs the last hill

By Matt Futterman

I’ve seen Novak Djokovic win just about everything over the years, including his record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last year. But no one had seen him win an Olympic gold medal, because somehow he hadn’t.

He was desperate to win that medal. He said he wanted it more than he wanted to win any tournament this year, including Wimbledon. When he did, playing the most remarkable two sets and nearly three hours of tennis I have ever seen, because Carlos Alcaraz, his opponent, was also playing some of the most remarkable tennis that anyone can play, he fell to the clay and shook with tears.

Really, he was shaking uncontrollably. You could see his thumb quivering on the clay. He’s 37. He’s won everything. Seeing him shake like that, and then climb into the crowd and wail like a small child when his daughter Tara grabbed him around the neck … that got me, and it will stay with me for a long time.

A flashback to my youth

By Chantel Jennings

As a kid, there were three sports I did — gymnastics, soccer and basketball — and three teams that played seminal roles in how my view of sports was shaped. The Magnificent Seven, who at the Atlanta Games won the first Olympic team gold for the U.S. in women’s gymnastics. The ’99ers, the women’s soccer team that won the 1999 World Cup in Pasadena in front of 90,000 (and one 10-year-old at home in front of her box TV). And the 2000 Team USA women’s basketball team, which won its second consecutive gold medal in Australia. I remember the commentators speaking at length about the challenges of the 1996 team to get to the top, but the tougher pressure for the 2000 team to stay there.

So, as I reflect on these Games, it is — of course — those three sports that resonate with me the most. I was in Bercy Arena when the Golden Girls, led by Simone Biles, won team gold. I covered the USWNT’s historic turnaround as it celebrated Olympic gold at Parc des Princes. And I was back at Bercy for a historic eighth consecutive gold medal for Team USA women’s basketball. Three teams. Three histories that meant so much to me. Three golds. Three stories that I imagine will mean so much to other little kids across the world, too.

Falling for Marseille

By Meg Linehan

It was my first Olympics following the USWNT in person, and it won gold, so it’s very hard to complain about this trip from a work front. But I’m mostly grateful for the team’s ideal group-stage draw, starting the tournament in Nice before shifting over to Marseille for another two games.

Did I have some FOMO over my colleagues hanging out in Paris, seeing some epic wins in person? Sure. But I think I truly made the most of the USWNT’s path through the Games, and in the process, absolutely fell in love with Marseille — especially thanks to my morning off to go swimming in the Calanques via a picture-perfect boat ride. I’m definitely not the world’s strongest swimmer, but floating in crystal clear teal water didn’t just help beat the heat in the south of France, it was the perfect reset to keep surviving tournament life.

Honorable mention for Marseille: my morning walk up the hill to Notre Dame de la Garde. A beautiful church, and the perfect view of a soccer field and the Mediterranean below.

The Biles/Chiles bow

By Dana O’Neil

The lasting image I will take is Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowing to Rebeca Andrade after the Brazilian won a floor exercise gold medal. An iconic moment and message, but what the three Olympians did was summarized every day outside of every venue where ordinary people showed the same Olympic spirit. People bearing the flags and colors of their countries mingled on the sidewalks, and inside the cafes, wishing each other well and congratulating them on their victories. The world can feel pretty insular, but the Olympics reminded me that the people who make up the world are pretty great. That’s the message I’ll take home, and the best thing I saw every single day in Paris.

Starting off with a bang

By Zack Pierce

I’ll never forget watching Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, seeing Simone Biles win a gold medal and experiencing beach volleyball beneath the Eiffel Tower, but the opening ceremony on the Seine will forever be the highlight for me. Of all the audacious plans Paris had for these Games, that topped the list. And they put on a heck of a show, even in the driving rain. For someone who had never been to an Olympics before, it was an incredible introduction.

I also must shout out Café Eugene, the bar/restaurant near our hotel that became our de facto office at the end of every night. When you’re away from home as long as we all were, it’s nice to have a place that feels welcoming and familiar (and serves food very late) to stay connected to each other and share some laughs after a long day. Thank you to Eugene for being that place for us.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

By Marcus Thompson

With apologies to the view at beach volleyball, and the incredible moment at Stade de France when Mondo Duplantis broke the world record, the best thing I saw was Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone run.

You just know when you see her compete you are seeing something that doesn’t come around often. Prodigies don’t always pan out. But this one has blossomed into a talent that is clearly among the all-time greats. She is so far and away better than anyone else. She almost beat the world record on a relay leg! That she keeps taking down world records and blowing away the field is a testament to her inner drive. It’s so cool how she flips the switch and becomes a monster on the track.

Of course, the Noah Lyles 100-meter win and the Cole Hocker upset in the men’s 1,500 meters were just insanely thrilling as well.

A whole summer to remember

By Joe Vardon

This summer, I’ve been to Las Vegas with The Avengers. And Abu Dhabi. And London and Lille and, my God, Paris.

Two deserts. It was so hot in Vegas, glass windows were shattering at people’s homes. In Abu Dhabi, I had to change clothes from sweat … after six holes on the golf course. The same thing happened to Grant Hill, the USA men’s basketball managing director. London was literally a breath of fresh air, Lille reminded me of Vienna and Paris — you see it once and just know, you know? This morning on my run along the River Seine, I stopped to take a picture of Paris’ Statue of Liberty. It’s smaller than the one they gave us, but looks just like her, positioned majestically in front of a bridge. It hit differently to see her, after the summer I had chronicling every move of America’s men’s basketball team.

As per the assignment, I don’t know how to pick a single moment. Seeing LeBron James in USA gear, a graying, 39-year-old gladiator, chiseled from head to toe, wearing the Red, White And Blue, playing like he’s 29 and with a demeanor that suggested, no, insisted that he would not allow the U.S. to lose. And he didn’t. Steph Curry with those 3s. Kevin Durant’s return. Anthony Davis’ emergence. Joel Embiid fighting back. Another gold when it seemed, time and again, like it might all end in failure.

My favorite moment from the Olympics? The summer itself, man. Now excuse me while I get in one more bottle of Côtes du Rhône, before my train leaves the station.

(Top photo of cyclists racing near the Eiffel Tower, one of the many iconic places used as a sports venue in these Games: Tim de Waele / Getty Images)