Paris 2024: One last Olympic dance for some legends
Simone Biles and LeBron James are at the top of the list of illustrious stars who will bring their Olympic journey to a close this summer. Others, like Nadal and Murray, are coming back from injury to make it one last time. And some are looking to make an unforgettable impression.
Saying goodbye to an athlete is a personal challenge. It’s a difficult moment. No one is exempt from it. Everything that begins must end. For many, it’s the worst day of their career because the lights go out. But not all endings are the same. And it is not the same to say goodbye in one way or the other. For an athlete, saying goodbye at the Olympic Games is one of the highest aspirations.
Simone Biles, with seven Olympic medals, four of them gold, LeBron James, with two gold medals and four NBA rings, or Andy Murray, the only tennis player in history to win two Olympic titles, have all chosen Paris 2024 to say their goodbyes. The best possible stage. Retiring at the top is a privilege that is hard to match.
For all of them, it will be their last Olympic Games. The same goes for others: Rafa Nadal, a double Olympic champion, and the Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who will be competing in her fifth Olympic Games.
Other illustrious names such as Gianmarco Tamberi, the Italian high jumper who wants to defend his Olympic title and then rest. He shared the gold medal in Tokyo with Mutaz Barshim, who also said that Paris would be his last Games. And then there is the Spanish basketball player Rudy Fernández, for whom this will be his sixth attempt at an Olympic Games.
The Olympic rings will also bid farewell to swimmer Sarah Sjostrom, 16 years after she made her debut at her first Games. That was in Beijing when she was 14 years old, the same age that Tom Daley was when he competed in these Games in Beijing in 2008.
He will bid farewell by defending his gold medal in synchronised diving. Other notable names are Mikkel Hansen and Teddy Riner. Hansen, one of the best handball players in history, won gold with Denmark at Rio 2016. Riner is France’s best judoka with seven medals, three of them gold, and 11 world championships.
They all know because they have chosen and can choose when to stop. However many others haven’t. For some, Paris 2024 is an Olympic event. But they don’t know if there will be more. The life of an athlete takes many turns.
Simone Biles didn’t know what the future held for her when she took a break after Tokyo 2020. With four Olympic gold medals, she had done everything, or almost everything, an athlete could do. She returned to compete in 2023. Two months later, at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, the American added four more golds to her tally, making her the most decorated gymnast in history with 23 world titles.
The eyes of the world won’t take their eyes off her, as she is considered the greatest gymnast of all time. It’s clear that she’s competing for herself because she can’t win any more. She already has.
LeBron James is 39 and has won it all. He hasn’t announced his retirement after Paris 2024, but he has said he won’t return to the Games. For Murray and Nadal, the French Games will be their Olympic finals. Both have been working hard to overcome lingering injuries.
They didn’t want to miss it. Nadal will be playing in the same place where he is a legend. He has won 14 French Opens and there is a statue of him. Nadal has two gold medals, one in singles and one in doubles, and now he wants another with Carlos Alcaraz.
In the first group are those who are saying goodbye, and then there’s another group who want to use Paris 2024 to stay forever. To immortalise themselves. Among those who want to touch Olympic glory are world swimming champion Leon Marchand and Clarisse Agbegnenou. Seize the opportunity.
One Olympic Games is never guaranteed to be the last. That’s why Duplantis and his pole vault flights, who are seeking a new record with a jump of over 6.24 metres, or the young Rayssa Leal on her debut in skateboarding, could make history.
Agbegnenou would become a legend in French and world judo with a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, making her one of the most decorated judokas in Olympic history.
Two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge doesn’t know if this will be his last Games. He is already one of the greatest marathon runners of all time, but in Paris in 2024 he will have the chance to do something unique: three consecutive Olympic marathon titles.
The Kenyan is currently tied with Ethiopian legend Abebe Bikila and Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski for the most Olympic marathon victories. One more in Paris and Kipchoge will be crowned the greatest of all time.
If Nadal and Murray are able to say their goodbyes, this could be the last chance for Novak Djokovic. They may be Olympic champions, but the Serb is one gold medal short of a record. He is already a tennis legend with 24 Grand Slam victories, but he has yet to play in an Olympic final.
The People’s Republic of China has never lost the women’s singles table tennis event at the Olympic Games. For the Asian giant, Paris 2024 will be no exception. They will be there again with Sun Yingsha, the world number one, who will be looking to keep the streak alive in Paris.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Chen Meng and 2021 World champion Wang Manyu will complete the invincible team. For China, Paris cannot be the final dance; they want to keep the music playing.