Bonjour! Paris 2024 was the best Olympics ever. I'm going to miss this wonderful city. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
In today's edition:
Tallying up all the medals, Diana Taurasi makes history, the venues that
should host LA 2028, and more.
Let's sports…
THE FINAL MEDAL TALLY
For the first time in Summer Olympics history, there was a tie atop the gold medal leaderboard as the U.S. and China both won 40 events in Paris.
Medal breakdown: Team USA's 126 total medals far outpaced China's 91, and were their most since winning a staggering 174 in 1984.
USA: More than half of
Team USA's 40 golds came in athletics (14) and swimming (8). They also
won three each in artistic gymnastics and cycling, two each in
basketball, fencing and wrestling, and one each in soccer, golf, rowing,
shooting, surfing and weightlifting.
Notes:
Gold medal top 10: USA
(40), China (40), Japan (20), Australia (18), France (16), Netherlands
(15), Great Britain (14), South Korea (13), Italy (12), Germany (12).
Winningest athletes:
Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei led all athletes with six medals, while five
other swimmers tied for second with five medals each: France's Léon
Marchand, USA's Torri
Huske
and Regan Smith, and Australia's Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O'Callaghan.
Top fourth-place finishers: Italy led all nations in just missing out on the podium, with 26 fourth-place finishes. Team USA was second, with 22, coming that close to extending their already massive lead in the total medal count.
Fear the tree: Stanford finished with 39 medals, which puts the Cardinal behind only seven countries.
Full list of winners: 91 National Olympic Committees, plus the Refugee Olympic Team, won a medal across 329 medal events in 32 sports.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
👋 Au revoir, Paris 2024: The
Summer Games came to an end on Sunday with a star-studded
Closing Ceremony befitting the most thrilling Olympics in recent memory.
1,432 days until LA 2028!
That was close! The U.S.
women's basketball team won its eighth consecutive gold medal by the
narrowest of margins, erasing a 10-point second-half deficit to win
67-66. Of the USA's 61 straight victories, this was just the third by
single digits.
Hassan's historic treble: Dutch
runner Sifan Hassan achieved the unthinkable in Paris, winning gold in the marathon after having already
claimed bronze in both the 5,000m and 10,000m. She's the first woman to
medal in those three events in the same Olympics.
Day 16 recap: More from Sunday
Athlete spotlight: Diana Taurasi won her sixth gold medal on Sunday, making her the most decorated team sport athlete in Olympics history.
A legendary career: The best
way to sum up the six-time Olympian's greatness and longevity? Of the 61
consecutive Olympic basketball games won by Team USA, Taurasi has been
part of 44.
On top of her six golds, the WNBA's all-time scoring leader has won three NCAA titles, three WNBA titles, three FIBA World Cups and six EuroLeague titles — all this century.
"She's one of the greatest competitors that women's basketball has ever seen," Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve told Yahoo Sports.
Must-see video: Taurasi family in tears after final Olympics
Plus: Check out Team USA's Instagram for all kinds of highlights from the Closing Ceremony.
DAILY TRIVIA
LA 2028 will mark the third time that Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics.
Question: Can you name
the other two years it hosted?
Answer at the bottom.
THE VENUES THAT SHOULD HOST THE L.A. OLYMPICS
Paris showcased itself with incredible venues throughout the city during the 2024 Olympics. Now comes L.A.'s turn.
From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel:
Beach volleyball by the Eiffel Tower. Equestrian at the Palace of Versailles. Triathlon swimming in the Parisian sewer system.
Paris 2024 has incorporated some iconic venues into the Olympics.
That's caused some to claim that Los Angeles should be nervous to host the 2028 Summer Olympics because the city supposedly lacks comparatively venerable structures and such a profound history.
Apparently they don't teach school kids here about the rich tale of how the Kardashians settled on a favorite table at Nobu.
Anyway, the French like to be French and brag about everything this side of the smell of their subway system, but on behalf of the United States of America in general, and L.A. in particular, we say … bring it.
Yeah, sure, they held skateboarding and BMX in the same park as Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded and the marathon started in front of Paris' ornate city hall that was built in 1357, and we acknowledge the aforementioned Versailles does have a decent gardener.
But L.A. takes a back seat to no one! After all, what is Mona Lisa but the original influencer, famous for being famous.
Read the story: From Randy's Donuts to the gridlocked 405, these are the venues that should host LA 2028.
Trivia answer: 1932 and 1984
