Paris Olympics leaves a new blueprint: British team uses medals to exchange for beautiful moments

All the travel books will tell you not to go to Paris in August – it’s too crowded, too hot, and everything is closed.

Well, maybe the past two weeks have taught us to forget all the stereotypes about the French, like smiling waiters, reliable public transport and cooling rain.

As for their great tradition of summer strikes and riots, that is unfortunately getting closer.

Whispered quietly, but Paris saw the 2012 London Olympics and made this proposal, bringing Olympic Games Arrive in the heart of the world’s most Instagrammable city. Wherever you get off the metro, you’re only a short walk away from the action.

Their opening was a bit of a letdown. You have to respect their ambitions, but even a spectacular light show and Celine Dion couldn’t save a four-hour dance show in the pouring rain.

But after the storm came the sun, the sports and Snoop Dogg. They say that in Paris you are never far from the Eiffel Tower and Snoop is everywhere.

The performance at the closing ceremony was a little too conservative and a little too somber, and IOC officials privately made it clear that they were concerned about some Thomas Jolly’s opening night: A Bolder Element.

The athletes were honored, the volunteers were thanked, and President Macron even got a small cheer, though if Leon Marchand had wanted to run for office he would have won in a landslide and helped put out the torch in the Tuileries Gardens.

Paris, a city full of romance, seems to be the ideal place for people to fall in love with the Olympics again, just as London wrote the blueprint for success 12 years ago.

They have been dreading these two weeks here for seven years, but they are exactly what Macron needs to provide a temporary truce in the political divide that remains his most pressing issue.

Jacques Chirac’s popularity peaked after France won the World Cup, and Macron’s motorcade often rolled into the tournament from the Elysee Palace moments before another gold medal.

The two-week extravaganza (remember, the Paralympics haven’t taken place yet) reportedly cost £7.8bn, making it the “cheapest” Summer Olympics in 20 years. The biggest single expense is security, and you’re never far from a gun-toting gendarmerie.

There are always challenges ahead. The British team bucked the trend and won more medals after the Rio Olympics thanks to significant investment from the National Lottery, but it was not easy for the French team, who set a record for the best medals in 124 years.

This Olympics was a brilliant one for Britain, with only the United States and China winning more medals than Britain’s 65. However, Britain’s 14 gold medals put them seventh in the medal table, failing to achieve their two set goals – top five and first in Europe.

“The Olympics are not just about medals,” said triathlon gold medalist Alex Yee, who held a British flag with gymnast Bryony Page at the closing ceremony. “If we can get as many medals as we did in London, I think it will be a very successful Olympics.”

Medals or moments, which is more important? For those who fund our sport, their millions of public dollars need a return on investment measured in gold, silver and bronze medals.

But viewers at home will not be losing sleep over the fact that Britain won fewer gold medals than Australia, France and the Netherlands.

While some headlines may say these are the most disappointing returns in 20 years, the facts behind the data suggest otherwise.

Yes, all that glittered were bronze medals, and the 29 third places were the most since 1908, when the Games began in April and ended in October.

But overall, 40% of the British team were medal winners, more than at the Tokyo Olympics, and 18 different sports contributed podium places to Britain.

We may have been so obsessed with gold medals that we forgot that it’s been 28 years since Britain brought home just one, in Atlanta.

Remember, these Olympics weren’t just about gold medals, they were about Andy Murray and Dan Evans’ incredible comeback after saving five match points, and Amber Root’s dramatic penalty shootout for silver. Josh Cole vs. Cole Hawke’s Fight of the Century And there’s that Norwegian guy who talks faster than he runs.

And Cindy Ngamba — Still fighting for British citizenship – Won the first bronze medal in boxing for a refugee team.

Some people make headlines for other reasons, will Iman Khalif trade two weeks of bad words for the gold she wears? She proudly carried the Algerian flag into the opening ceremony?

Would Australian breakdancer B-Girl Raygun have preferred not to be an Olympian if she knew she would be ridiculed for achieving something that 99.9% of the world can only dream of?

Furthermore, Pierre de Courbetin, founder of the modern Olympics, hated medal tables, a media invention that was banned by the Olympic Charter – and ignored by everyone – until it was accepted a few years ago.

The Olympics is an ideal but far from perfect and its custodians must reflect on their decision to allow convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde to compete and acknowledge some responsibility for the appalling treatment of boxer Khalif.

But the show goes on, from the City of Lights to the City of Angels.

The handover ceremony made it clear that the Los Angeles Olympics would be grand, arrogant and outsized, with a chic and elegance that was completely different from previous Olympics, but would not be easy to emulate.

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