by This was everything Paris had hoped for.
The world was captivated by the wonderful variety that the Olympic Games brought; the venues were buzzing with excitement and energy.
There were daring reinterpretations of Olympic norms – the opening ceremony was no longer held in a stadium, but on the water and in a cauldron floating in the air.
All of this contrasts with the soullessness of the large, empty stadiums in Tokyo – where we faced daily COVID testing and movement restrictions – while the athletes were once again cheered and inspired by the crowd.
The postcard memories will be remembered for a long time, just as Paris intended.
Beach volleyball under the Eiffel Tower, fencing under the curved glass roof of the Grand Palais and horse riding amidst the splendor of Versailles.
It is not only athletes who are on a lap of honor.
President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the achievements of French athletes with a flood of selfies and clips on social media, posting that Léon Marchand had become a French sporting legend overnight with four gold medals in swimming.
And this despite the fact that the transitional government held together despite the sudden elections before the Games and ensured stability during the Olympic Games.
Fears of political paralysis or union unrest have not materialized.
Even the railway lines were quickly repaired after mass acts of sabotage had occurred on the routes to Paris on the day of the opening ceremony.
France exuded prestige and unity – but how many people in the country were really convinced of this? – and used sport as an instrument of soft power.
More about the Olympics:
Team GB athletes who made a comeback
Video shows man climbing the Eiffel Tower
The most unforgettable Olympic moments in pictures
Team GB’s Andrea Spendolini Sirieix in action. Image: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes
“France is capable of great achievements,” said French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra before the Closing ceremony.
“This country has the potential to become huge.”
With this vision, France and the Olympic Movement hope that the tense and divisive moments that saw criminal complaints about the abuse suffered by athletes in Paris are finally over.
For all their idealism, these Olympic Games were also, at times, a platform on which the world’s anger was vented.
It is not just about medals, but also about culture wars, which even IOC President Thomas Bach referred to.
When I asked Mr Bach about this, he replied: “You can’t expect the games to have unprecedented relevance in the world and yet no one is commenting on it.”
“That’s why we accept this and see it as a sign of the social and political relevance of the Games. It is just the other side of the coin of success.”
Complaints were received from Christian groups, even the Vatican, because of the insult caused by the opening ceremony by depicting the Last Supper with drag queens.
The inclusivity initiative elicited the desired response from the creative team of the Paris Organising Committee, before it was met with resistance and backtracking.
The conflict between the ideals embodied in the French national motto – Liberté, égalité, fraternité – seemed to be a backdrop for this sport.
More about the Olympics:
Boxer at the centre of gender dispute wins gold
Olympians receive high-tech equipment for Paris 2024
US sprinter diagnosed with COVID leaves the track in a wheelchair
Imran Khelife celebrates his gold win. Image: Reuters
Often there were conflicts with the sport and the limits of equality were played out in the boxing ring.
Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting were on full display in their femininity as debates about gender equality, safety and fairness degenerated into aggression and online toxicity towards the gold medal winners.
At times it was interrupted by larger geopolitical struggles that loomed over the Olympic Games.
It was a banned boxing federation run and funded by Russia, raising doubts about whether the boxers were women.
At these games, Russian athletes were also not allowed to compete under the Russian flag (this time because of the war in Ukraine). Only 15 athletes with neutral status were allowed.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player.
Is Russia involved in the gender debate at the Olympic Games?
And Russia was accused of being behind disinformation campaigns and trying to undermine the entire event.
Ukraine celebrated the nation’s determination through medal success.
They brought their smallest team in Olympic history, and the medal haul was about a quarter smaller than in Tokyo, showing their resilience in being in Paris while mourning the athletes killed by the Russians.
During the Games, war in the Middle East continued to rage, exposing the hollow hope of a UN-backed Olympic truce.
Israeli athletes face death threats in Paris and the Palestinian delegation was weakened by the horrors of war.
The strained relations between the US and China also had an impact on the Olympics, as a doping dispute escalated – and even threatened the hosting of the 2030 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which had originally been awarded here.
But the International Olympic Committee was keen to ensure a few harmonious weeks for athletes from all over the world.
At the closing ceremony, Bach said: “I call on all who share this Olympic spirit: Let us live this culture of peace every single day.”
But at these Games – his last as leader of the Olympic movement – he also warned of the dangers of climate change.
In the future, it will be “very difficult to organize the Olympic Games in August,” he said.
More about the Olympics:
How does Team GB’s medal haul compare to previous years?
Australian professor’s breakdance routine goes viral
Athletes swim in the Seine during the men’s triathlon. Image: The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images
Storms were attributed to climate change in Paris, which polluted the Seine, postponed events related to triathlon competitions.
One Olympic legacy, however, is that more than a billion pounds will be spent cleaning the river so that Parisians can swim in it for the first time in a century.
However, these were not Olympic Games, which would have required enormous expenditure on building new venues with questionable histories.
And that was precisely the charm of Paris: sporting competitions spread across the entire city, transforming existing venues and putting landmarks in the spotlight.
In four years, the beach atmosphere will be completely different. Los Angeles is already breaking new ground by digitally placing the Olympic rings on the Hollywood sign at yesterday’s handover in Paris.
It took a century for the Olympic Games to return to Paris.
And it could be the last Summer Games in Europe for at least 16 years – Brisbane has already been nominated for 2032 and 2036 and is attracting interest from India, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
But it is not quite “Au revoir”, Paris, because in less than three weeks the countdown to the Paralympics begins.
