The Olympics are over: Here was the best, worst and funniest of the last week

The 2024 Olympics have come to a close and the back half of the event was just as surprising as the first. According to anyone with half a brain, Paris kind of fumbled the bag on the whole event. There was quite a bit of controversy from the performances (like drag show Jesus) to athlete sex status to medal revocation to event inclusion. 

But there was still plenty of fun to be had especially since Team USA was the overall victor (USA! USA! USA!). Here are the best, worst and most surprising of the back half of the Olympics: 

Best: Team USA’s running program 

“Athletics” is what the track and field competition is called at the Olympics and in that event Team USA won 34 total medals, 14 of which were gold medals. While not all of the medals came from running (Team USA took home gold in shot put, long jump, discuss and more) a lot of those golds came from being super fast. Team USA brought home gold for the women’s 100m relay, 400m relay, 100m hurdles, 200m race, and 400m hurdles. And in men’s they got gold in the 100m race, 110m hurdles, 1500m race, 400m relay, 400m race, and 400m hurdles. Team USA absolutely dominated in speed. 

Not to mention the absolute jewel that is Syndey McClaughlin and her witness for Christ. 

Worst: The medal controversy between USA’s Jordan Chiles and Romania’s Ana Barbosu

The gymnastic floor event was a catastrophe between team USA and team Romania and the fault is wholly on the judges. Romania’s Ana Barbosu initially secured the bronze medal but after a review request from Jordan Chiles’s  coach, her points were raised and she was awarded the bronze medal. Barbosu was pulled from the podium and Chiles replaced her which caused outrage for Romania and many fans. A few days later after Romania petitioned the decision, the judges reversed their decision saying that the inquiry from Chiles’s coach actually fell outside the time allowance for inquiry and Ana Barbosu became the bronze medalist and Chiles’s medal was revoked. Now, Team USA is appealing that decision saying the inquiry was within the required timeline and that Chiles is the true winner. It’s a massive mess and the fault is completely with the judges. 

This war of appeals was not the only issue between the judges and Team Romania. Another one of their athletes, Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, was given a penalty for stepping out of bounds which was enough to bump her off bronze medal contention. The problem? Maneco-Voinea absolutely did not step out of bounds. And when Romania sought to change the scoring they were rejected by the judges (whereas when Team USA made the same inquiry for Chiles, they were not sent away). 

At this point, as is standard with controversies like these, both Chiles and Barbosu should be awarded the bronze and the judges should apologize for their extremely messy disaster of an event. 

Funniest: Australia’s unlikely breaking athlete 

Australia sent Rachel Gunn (“Raygun”) as their female athlete for the new breaking competition and she did not disappoint. While she scored 0 points (in three rounds), Gunn certainly won the internet with her ~interesting~ style of break dancing. Gunn is a PhD in cultural studies specializing in break dancing and specifically gender in break dancing. Unfortunately it seems her research didn’t lend itself to execution. But she did seem to have a lot of fun!

Best: A beautiful whale joined the surfing event 

The surfing in Tahiti has been probably the best part of the entire Olympics. From Colin Jost’s comedic and laid back hosting to the exciting massive waves and a big Team USA win from Caroline Marks. But icing on the cake was this beautiful whale friend who came by and wanted in on all the fun. 

Worst: The chromosomal controversy of Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting 

Everything about the controversy of the two athletes competing in female boxing with XY chromosomes (allegedly) was awful. First and foremost, allowing male-sex athletes to compete in female categories completely defeats the purpose of having female categories. The reason female sport categories were created was because of the biological advantage that males have over females in athleticism. To claim that having an XY chromosome makeup is simply a normal biological advantage of a female is to claim that female designated sports should not exist. It is a travesty to allow the athletes to compete. 

The discourse on this issue was brutally bad. On one side of the extreme, you had Imane Khelif in particular called a man or implied as transgender. Imane cannot help that she was born with a chromosomal disorder but still has female sex parts. Calling her a man doesn’t really do anything helpful even if her chromosomal makeup (but not her body parts) is male. But on the other side, the left so rabidly defended her they went way over the top and even censored discussion on whether or not Imane competing was fair to the female group. 

It can both be true that Imane is a woman and should not be eligible for competitive boxing due to her chromosomal disorder giving her a male advantage. 

Imane, helping herself not at all, is now childishly trying to sue people for hurting her feelings online. A supporter of Palesinte and someone who chooses to pretend she does not have an unfair advantage in her sport, it’s not really surprising that she isn’t a sympathetic character. 

Funniest: Tom Cruise jumping off the top of the stadium 

Because the Olympics will be in America next time (in LA in 2028), America had a big part in the closing ceremony. So of course we sent our best and had Tom Cruise jump off the top of the stadium “Mission Impossible” style. It was extremely weird. But also very American.

Best: Italian Rhythmic Gymnast did her routine to Christian music

Not all of the Olympians were buying into Paris’s chosen ‘hedonism’ theme. Italian Rhythmic Gymnast, Sofia Raffaeli, performed her hoop routine to the beautiful music of Christian artist, Lauren Daigle. Her routine to “Rescue” in the finals put up a huge score and ultimately Raffaeli took home the bronze medal. It was a beautiful moment of artistry and grace which is so often overlooked in an event primarily focused on strength. The video above is of her warm up because a video of the actual event was hard to come by. But here is a video someone took in their home of the event as they saw it broadcast.