news

Text | Wang Zhongyun

When I woke up, the Paris Olympics was really over!

On August 11th local time, the 33rd Summer Olympic Games came to a close at the Stade de France in Paris.

In this Olympics, the March of the Volunteers was played 42 times in the Paris Olympic Stadium. Together with the four medals won by the Hong Kong team, 2 gold and 2 bronze, the Chinese team (excluding Chinese Taipei) won 42 gold, 27 silver and 26 bronze medals, a total of 95 medals. The number of gold medals won by the Chinese sports delegation exceeded that of the 2012 London Olympics (39), reaching the highest number among all overseas participants.

In the past two weeks, not only Chinese athletes, but also athletes have brought countless unforgettable moments to audiences around the world with their wonderful performances. Many Chinese audiences will wait in front of their TVs every night, even in the early hours of the morning.

Early in the morning, the topic of "Olympic withdrawal reaction" became a hot search on Weibo. Without the company of the Olympics, I felt a little empty inside.

Unlike the opening ceremony, which was a flowing feast held on the Seine River, the entire closing ceremony was held in the Stade de France, returning to the traditional presentation method.

At the beginning of the closing ceremony, as the Olympic flame slowly went out, French swimmer Marchand escorted the preserved flame to the Stade de France.

Weightlifting Olympic champion Li Fabin and women's hockey team captain Ou Zixia appeared as flag bearers of the Chinese sports delegation, holding the five-star red flag high.

Chinese table tennis player Sun Yingsha appeared as a representative of Asian athletes and blew out the Olympic flame at the end together with athletes from other continents.

In his speech, IOC President Bach said that this was an amazing Olympic Games, which was as stunning and fascinating as the Seine River.

Indeed, the level of “abstractness” of the entire closing ceremony was no less than that of the opening ceremony.

The 62-year-old Hollywood star Tom Cruise appeared on the stage from the top of the Stade de France in a thrilling rope rappelling. He took over the Olympic flag that symbolizes glory, and under his leadership, the five-ring flag "flew" from Paris to Los Angeles.

The art performance begins, and a "golden traveler" arrives in a new world, mysterious and uninhabited, waiting to be discovered.

The 12-minute show in Los Angeles instantly transformed the closing ceremony into a beach music festival. No wonder netizens commented: The sense of relaxation at the Paris Olympics was stretched to the last minute.

Indeed, the controversy surrounding the Paris Olympics began from the moment of the opening ceremony, or even earlier...

The French held the most subversive opening ceremony - the first time an Olympic opening ceremony was held outside a stadium. The six-kilometer-long Seine River waterway, with countless Paris landmarks along the waterfront, and athletes from various countries appeared one after another on boats.

After the Tokyo Olympics, table tennis player Ma Long, gymnastics player Zou Kai, and diving players Wu Minxia and Chen Ruolin tied for the most gold medals in Chinese Olympic history at the time. They all had 5 gold medals.

On the evening of August 9, 2024, Beijing time, this record was rewritten by Ma Long. With the Chinese men's table tennis team winning five consecutive team championships at the Paris Olympics, Ma Long became the "Six Gold King" and thus became the Chinese player with the most Olympic gold medals.

We are not trying to emphasize Ma Long's uniqueness by focusing on gold medals. However, the six gold medals are the best gift for Ma Long's decades of love for table tennis. Gold medals represent a high level, and the four Olympic Games show his long career gained through self-discipline and love.

In addition, although Chinese female swimmer Zhang Yufei did not win a gold medal in this Olympics, she won 1 silver and 5 bronze medals, the most medals among athletes from all participating countries.

Big data shows that several key matches of the Chinese table tennis team have high ratings in the country, such as the peak showdown between Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha in the final.

In addition to the ratings, I believe that many viewers, like me, watched the most "breathtaking" match in the men's table tennis quarter-finals, when Fan Zhendong fought against Zhang Benzhihe. At that time, Wang Chuqin had been eliminated in the first round by Sweden's "Little Mo", and the pressure of the men's table tennis singles fell on Fan Zhendong in the other half.

Zhang Benzhihe came on strong and beat Fan Zhendong 11:2 at the start, and soon took the lead 2:0. Fan Zhendong then faced a desperate situation of 2:3 behind, but successfully reversed the situation, advanced to the top 4, and finally won the gold medal.

After the Chinese women's team won the last gold medal in table tennis, Liu Guoliang accepted an interview with the media. He said: "I think it is not easy. Each of the five gold medals was won with a thrilling feeling. In the first mixed doubles, we faced challenges in every match from the top 8 to the top 4.In the men's singles, the match between Fan Zhendong and Zhang Benzhihe, including the final championship, was a key turning point for the team. This match boosted the team's confidence, because the men's singles is the most challenging. "

In the early morning of August 7th, Beijing time, 41-year-old Cuban wrestling legend Mihain Lopez defeated his Chilean opponent 6-0 in the 130kg Greco-Roman final to win the gold medal, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to win five gold medals in the same event.

From Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo to Paris, five Olympic Games, five times participating in the same event, winning five gold medals, it took 16 years, Mihain Lopez has achieved unprecedented achievements.

What’s even more legendary is that Lopez has not participated in any international championships since winning the Tokyo Olympics.

Mihain Lopez Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

After completing her final Olympic competition, Lopez knelt on the wrestling ring and kissed the ground affectionately, then took off her shoes and left the arena wearing only her socks.

He bid farewell to his legendary career in this way.

If we were to nominate the most impressive Chinese athlete at the Paris Olympics, Pan Zhanle would definitely be the first one that comes to mind.

In the men's 100m freestyle final at the Paris Olympics, Chinese athlete Pan Zhanle broke the world record with a time of 46.40 seconds and won the gold medal.

After this battle, Pan Zhanle was seen by the whole world. People all knew that there was a young "flying fish" in China.

During the live broadcast of Pan Zhanle's gold medal, a female commentator who was "screaming at the top of her lungs" also attracted the attention of the audience. She was screaming throughout the entire process, explaining Pan Zhanle's game:

"Pan Zhanle, hold on! Pan Zhanle, come on! Come on!"

When Pan Zhanle was swimming towards the finish line, the female commentator cheered him on, shouting "Ah" three times in a row, and then saying "Pan Zhanle is so awesome", at one point she was so excited that her voice broke.

Later, people learned that the female commentator who served as the guest of honor for this game was former world swimming champion Zhao Jing.

Zhao Jing said that because she was also a professional athlete, she felt particularly touched by the athletes and was more excited than when she won the championship herself. She also joked, "Pan Zhanle's life video will always appear with my voice in the future."

On August 10, Beijing time, in the women's 66kg boxing final at the Paris Olympics, Chinese athlete Yang Liu lost to Algerian player Iman Khelif and won the silver medal.

Ever since Khalif made his debut at this Olympics, his "gender controversy" has been the focus of attention.

In 2023, the International Boxing Association announced that tests on Khalif proved that she had XY chromosomes with male genetic characteristics, so she was banned. Khalif appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, but later withdrew the appeal.

Regarding Khalif's gender controversy, the International Olympic Committee stated that Khalif was born a female, registered as a female, and has always lived as a female, and believes that Khalif is qualified to participate in the Olympics.

In the women's 66kg boxing round of 16 at the Paris Olympics, Italian athlete Angela Carini collapsed and gave up the match after only 46 seconds against Khalif. After the match, Carini complained that the opponent's heavy punches were not something a woman could deliver, and she said that when she had fought against men before, the punches she received "didn't hurt this much."

However, at the award ceremony after the final, the four contestants happily hugged each other, and Yang Liu had a bright smile on her face. In the mixed interview area after the game, she also left a sentence: "I think every opponent deserves respect."

Khalif won the gold medal amid controversy, but the magnanimity of the Chinese athletes was equally unforgettable.

At this Olympics, many Chinese athletes born after 2000 left a deep impression on us.

Among them, the 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao became the youngest competitor in the Paris Olympics. She just graduated from elementary school this year.

On the evening of August 6th, Beijing time, Zheng Haohao participated in the Paris Olympic Games women's park skateboarding preliminaries, and achieved the highest score of 63.19 points, and finally ranked 18th in the preliminaries.

The oldest competitor is 54 years older than Zheng Haohao. Spanish equestrian athlete Jimenez was born on May 11, 1959 and is 65 years old this year.

In addition, among the players over 60 years old, there is Aunt Ni Xialian, who is very familiar to Chinese people. At the age of 61, she is on the Olympic stage for the sixth time and is also the oldest table tennis athlete in this Olympics.

Although she is no longer young, Aunt Ni's performance both inside and outside the stadium shows that she is still happy inside.

In the world of badminton and table tennis, players participating in doubles may have been paired with their partners since childhood and have a very high degree of tacit understanding.

In addition, on August 11, Beijing time, in the synchronized swimming duet competition at the Paris Olympics, Chinese athletes Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi won the championship. This is the first time that the Chinese team has won an Olympic gold medal in this event.

The two champion athletes are actually twin sisters, and their tacit understanding is even more amazing.

However, there were some very unexpected temporary partners at the Paris Olympics, such as Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Xinyu from the Chinese tennis mixed doubles event. They were a pair of "temporary people".

Zhang Zhizhen's mixed doubles partner was Zheng Qinwen. However, Zheng Qinwen ran out of energy after the third round of women's singles. She later said in an interview that she felt that even if she played, she might not be able to win the match with Zhang Zhizhen. So Zheng Qinwen had no choice but to withdraw from the competition.

After receiving Zheng Qinwen's message, Zhang Zhizhen expressed his understanding, because he is also a singles player. Since the men's singles were eliminated early, after knowing that Zheng Qinwen wanted to withdraw, Zhang Zhizhen has already started looking for a flight ticket back to China.

But Zhang Zhizhen suddenly thought that under the Olympic rules, partners can be changed temporarily, so he decided to "ask for help". He found Wang Xinyu's coach, who was looking for a return ticket like Zhang at the time. "Our coach called and asked me where you are, do you have a racket? Maybe you will play mixed doubles."

Wang Xinyu said in an interview that she didn't even have clay court shoes, and she just wore a pair of hard court shoes to play against Zhang Zhizhen.

On July 30, the Chinese pair Wang Xinyu (left) and Zhang Zhizhen celebrated during the competition. Source: Xinhua News Agency

In the end, Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Xinyu made history by entering the mixed doubles final and won a precious silver medal for Chinese tennis.

The infectious power of the highest level of sports events will remain in people's lives forever. Well, I have to start adapting to the normal work rhythm...