The Olympics are over and I’m asking the same questions as I always do after covering a major sporting event: What just happened? How much did this cost me? Is it really over? Here’s an obligatory end-of-Olympics-look-back-at-stuff piece ...
Unlike many, I enjoyed the opening ceremony, mostly because I watched it on TV and not in a plastic poncho while getting drenched with rain sitting in Seine-side seats that cost €2700. I’m also not overly offended by the sight of a few drag queens sitting at a long table or dancing on it. Building temporary venues throughout the city and beyond, making Paris the backdrop, was a stunning success, even if it was punishing getting to them on public transport.
The Grand Palais, which hosted fencing and taekwondo, was the prettiest. Australia usually punches above its weight in sporting matters, but even the most optimistic supporter couldn’t have envisioned our best performance in history. We were in third spot with 18 gold medals .
.. right until the last day when Japan nudged ahead of us.
Still, we finished ahead of host nation France and Great Britain. I’ll never forget the appalling scenes in the media mixed zone after Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won her second bout as the gender eligibility controversy involving herself and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting took hold. Reporters were yelling at Khelif ; her people were yelling back at them.
Terrible stuff. I have doubts about whether Khelif and Lin should’ve been allowed to fight, but t.