Paris 2024 – the winners and the losers
The ups and downs of 16 days of competition.
The 2024 Paris Olympics comes to a close on Sunday after 16 days of competition.
Here, the PA news agency selects five winners and five losers from an eventful Games in the French capital.
WINNERS
Keely Hodgkinson
Carrying the hopes of a nation, Hodgkinson ended her 800 metres final at Stade de France with a crown on her head. The 22-year-old from Atherton in Greater Manchester led from the front and stormed down the final straight to become the first British woman to claim 800m gold since Dame Kelly Holmes in 2004. A fan in the crowd duly ‘crowned’ Hodgkinson on her lap of honour, and there appears no limits for the new track and field poster girl.
Simone Biles
Three years on from the Tokyo Olympics when Biles withdrew from three individual finals citing a mental block known in gymnastics as the ‘twisties’, the 27-year-old American was back to her brilliant best. A who’s who of A-listers – including Lady Gaga, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Spike Lee, Tom Brady and Tom Cruise – turned up to watch Biles underline her status as the hottest ticket in town. Three triumphs, the all around and vault titles, plus the team competition, took her Olympic gold medal total to seven.
British rowers
What a difference three years makes. One silver and one bronze was the return for Team GB’s rowers in Tokyo, a traditional powerhouse of British Olympic sport. They languished at 14th in the rowing medal table, but in Paris re-joined the elite and finished second with three gold, two silver and three bronze. The men’s eight capped the regatta with gold on the final day, and 36 of the 42-strong squad returned home with medals to boost hopes of increased funding for the next Olympic cycle.
New sports
Skateboarding and sport climbing built on an Olympic breakthrough at Tokyo by staging packed out events at impressive venues. Place de la Concorde played host to skateboarding’s spills and thrills, while the world’s best speed climbers literally rose to the challenge at the state-of-the-art Le Bourget Climbing Venue. Breaking made its debut in Paris as dancing came to the Games, with top-rocks, freezes and down-lows appealing to a whole new Olympic audience.
Paris
Has there ever been a better Olympic backdrop than the one beach volleyball had in Paris? As athletes played their shots, there stood the Eiffel Tower like a proud parent. Grand Palais (fencing, taekwondo), Trocadero (cycling), Les Invalides (archery) and Chateau de Versailles (equestrian) were also present. Swimmers even swam in the Seine despite controversy over failing water quality tests, all no doubt adding up to a huge boost for the Paris tourist board.
LOSERS
Decency and values
Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde competed in Paris despite being a convicted child rapist. Van de Velde was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after admitting three counts of rape against a 12-year-old British girl, having met his victim on Facebook and travelled from Amsterdam to Milton Keynes. The 29-year-old served 12 months before ending up being selected for the Dutch volleyball team. Booed at the tournament, many fans clearly disapproved of his presence in Paris.
Jade Jones
Double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones arrived in Paris mired in controversy following a missed drug test in December. The 31-year-old ultimately escaped sanction after being found to having committed a no-fault doping violation on confidential medical grounds, allowing her to return to competition at the European Championships. A silver medal there suggested Jones was in good form, but she lost in the first round to destroy hopes of striking gold again after London and Rio.
British boxers
Under Robert McCracken’s guidance, British boxers had won 14 medals, including six golds, at three previous Olympics. Anthony Joshua, Lauren Price and Nicola Adams were among those to put their name up in lights. Paris 2024 was a different story as only Lewis Richardson in a six-strong squad left winning a bout. Richardson went on to win bronze, but dodgy decisions and sub-par performances reigned. Defeat for highly-regarded super heavyweight Delicious Orie was a particularly bitter pill to swallow.
Beth Shriever
The Olympic BMX champion appeared a nailed-on certainty for glory. Shriever, twice crowned world champion since winning gold in Tokyo three years ago, had bossed every round in qualifying and semi-finals before disaster struck when it mattered most. The 25-year-old from London was unable to recover from a poor start as Australian Saya Sakakibara, the only rider quicker than the Brit in qualifying, stormed through to take the title.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
The Norwegian’s 1500m showdown with fierce British rival Josh Kerr was described as a “race for the ages” by Lord Coe, World Athletics president and double Olympic champion over the distance. Ingebrigtsen, gold medallist in Tokyo three years ago, led at a fast pace for most of the race before being passed by Kerr in the final straight. American Cole Hocker also surged past him to pip Kerr to gold, with Yared Nuguse taking bronze to leave the fading Ingebrigtsen empty-handed.
