Remember that sunset over the Seine? The one that showed what the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony was supposed to look like? That was the sun that set over Paris as the games drew to an end.

On the evening of last Saturday, the penultimate day of the Paris Olympics, crowds spread out along the banks of the river, enjoying the seating and shading that had been newly installed. Sharp summer light made the murky Seine shimmer. Dance music blared out from the Hotel de Ville as the “Marathon Pour Tous” got underway; 40,000 people running the same route that was run that morning by the athletes. It’s the first time an Olympics has held such a mass participation event, one of many innovations that have driven these games and that will make it a turning point in Olympic history.