By Michel Dalí, special correspondent
Gabrielle Williams shot at the final whistle, scored the basket of her life, and ended up with a double. She stepped on the bar and could not be a triple. Final score: United States 67-66, for the gold, against France.
What the men’s basketball team did not do, just barely in the women’s. Stephen Curry was the culprit with four triples in two minutes. Kaehlah Cooper scored two free throws seconds before the end and put the French against the wall.
The thin line between gold and silver, which is as hard as the difference between bronze and fourth place. In this case, the third place for Australia, in a difficult dispute against Belgium with a success of 85-81 in women’s basketball at the Aren Bercy.
Paris 2024 repeated the extraordinary moments of sport. What accumulates in four long years of preparation is decided in an instant.
Simone Biles landed in the City of Lights with the stigma of a controversial decision: to move away from artistic gymnastics due to pressure and mental condition problems. She won three golds, in team all-around, individual all-around and vault; with silver on floor.
The trauma, probably manufactured by the media, did not exist. Followed by the jet-set, among others, Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman and Steven Spielberg, the 27-year-old girl was “very happy and satisfied” with a performance that, due to Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, gold on floor, was not perfect.
The inconsolable cry of Japanese judoka Uta Abe when she lost the sceptre, the bewilderment of Hungarian Kristof Milak when he was beaten by the king of the Olympic Games, Frenchman Léon Marchand, in the 200-metre butterfly.
The more stressful show than usual by the Dream Team, with a memorable performance by Curry, and the push of veteran LeBron James; the surprise of Spain, world champion, when it was left without medals in women’s football; the double by France in men’s volleyball; the performance of Dutch track cyclist Harrie Lavraysen and Belgian Remco Evenepol, champion of the road and time trial.
In a few hours, what was probably the greatest spectacle of the event under the five rings in the French capital will end, where on the night of July 26 the world saw for the first time what is undoubtedly the most original cauldron in history suspended. What few people knew at the time was the organisers’ intention to show it to the public in the centre of the Tuileries Garden, from the Louvre Museum, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, to the Place de la Concorde.
The balloon, which begins the climb that can reach 60 metres, welcomed more than 10,000 people each night, having a picnic and with family or friends, waiting for the big moment, which the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, wants to keep as another symbol of Paris.
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