Top 10 quirky Paris Games moments: All the weird, classy, confusing and controversial
The Olympics have always been as much about the moments as the medals. Here are 10 of the quirkiest moments we will remember.
Olympics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Olympics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Dinosaur or doyen?
Dinosaur or doyen?
Let’s just call him the most unexpected cult hero of the Games.
Turk Yusuf Dikec took shooting back in time when he competed in an ordinary t-shirt with his basic garb complete with a nonchalant hand in the pocket stance which suggested he might have been shooting a water pistol at the kids in the backyard, not for the silver medal he eventually won.
While his competitors wore fancy visors, ear protectors and glasses which made them look like they were fearing someone might have been shooting back them, super cool Dikec just used basic glasses and the sort of ear plugs you might steal from the mum’s bedside table.
insane aura
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 31, 2024
51-yr old Yusuf Dikec of Turkey shows up to the Olympics for shooting without special lenses…
without ear protection…
hand in his pocket & both eyes open…
and casually takes home a silver medal pic.twitter.com/qRB3kwRZmz
The internet loved him and so did the athletes. A batch of them including, Australia’s gold medal winning pole vaulter Nina Kennedy, copied his casual hand in the pocket, gun pointing style, confirming he’s a doyen after all.
BEST. PROMOTION. EVER.
The theme of these Olympics as a feel good Games was embodied before it started by a local running shop, Distance, who organised one of the wackiest promotions ever.
Calling it the “Rob it to get it’’ day, they allowed patrons to steal their top level running shoes – but there was a catch.
To get away you had to outrun security and that was no easy task.
For the day they hired two time French Olympic sprinter Meba Mickael Zeze, a 9.99 star of the 100m, who was dressed in all black with an orange arm band.
It was a day of feverish action as 76 people snatched shoes and took off for dear life hoping to get a five fingered discount. Only two got away.
“It was a long day,’’ said Zeze who slept like a baby that night.
MARRY ME!
PARIS is renowned as the city of love and the Olympics has cemented its reputation.
Chinese double player Huang Yaqiong claimed the gold medal in mixed doubles then her day became even more memorable.
Men’s doubles player Liu Yuchen emerged from nowhere to present her with a bouquet of flowers then descended to one knee to propose before the La Chapelle Arena crowd.
Yuchen and the crowd were as stunned as each other.
“For me, the proposal is very surprising because I have been preparing for the game,” she told the Associated Press.
“Today I am an Olympic champion and I got proposed to, so that’s something I didn’t expect.”
LOSE YOUR HEAD
THERE were fans who lost their heads watching the opening ceremony and performers who lost theirs long ago.
Marie Antoinette, beheaded in 1793 as one of the first victims of the French Revolution, was saluted-mocked-remembered in a bizarre sequence when a castle full of headless Marie’s got their rocks off to heavy metal music.
Heavy metal band Gojira was joined by opera singer Marina Viotti for a rousing rendition of the revolutionary anthem “Ah! Ca Ira!’’ as red smoke which represented blooded spewed from the palace.
Marie would have rolled in her grave.
THE GOAT
YOU’ve got to love someone who baits the hook and tosses it into the social media cesspool, knowing the bites will be aplenty.
Most athletes are dutifully self-effacing when told they are the GOAT (greatest of all time) but gymnast Simone Biles embraces it.
After winning a breathtaking gold for all-round performance Biles put on a custom-made diamond necklace which had a goat hanging on for dear life.
“It’s a little ode... a lot of people love it. They always call me the GOAT, so I thought it would be really special if I got one made. The haters hate it, but I like that even more.”
OF ALL THE WAYS …
Pole vaulting is one of the cruellest of all crafts.
There are so many ways the delicate fabric of one man’s union with his pole can be disrupted.
French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati found another when he exited the Games after his attempt at clearing 5.70m was disrupted by his “manhood’ hitting the bar.
Ammirati was “gutted’’ at the experience but raised a smile two days later on social media and he became a global media sensation.
THE GREAT EXPLOSION
The most venomous, hostile and utterly outrageous scene at the Games was a boxing press conference held by officials from the International Boxing Association who have been banned by the Olympics.
It was an hour late, the microphones barely worked and when they tried to cut to Russia the line faltered before eventually a big boss came on line to shower abuse at the Olympics.
But that was just the start of it. Tempers exploded and the first question of the day was “what salaries are you being paid?’’ People were shouting over each others questions.
The Algerian team, whose star Imane Khelif is at the centre of an gender eligibility war, turned up to make a protest. Boxing thrives in chaotic press conferences but most of the drama is scripted.
Not this time. This was anarchy and another reason why boxing is facing the very real prospect of being kicked out of the Games.
YOU HAD ONE JOB
Given they never had a proper rehearsal, opening ceremony organisers did a freakish job to somehow weave together a million loose and disconnected threads.
They had a silver horse running up a river, a man running along rooves, fireworks in the rain …
It all worked and just as organisers were exhaling and letting out an audible “phew’’ the Olympic flag was raised upside down.
BOB THE CAP CATCHER
It just looked so odd.
In the middle of the super intense Olympic swim tournament a middle-aged man appeared in multi-coloured Speedos and jumps in the pool.
Bob The Cap Catcher, as he became known, received a raucous reception from the crowd when he dove to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a cap lost by an American swimmer.
Who is 'Bob the Cap Catcher'? Meet the Paris Olympics' swimming hero https://t.co/EH0ahyDjhIpic.twitter.com/XbOfff7kGJ
— For The Win (@ForTheWin) July 29, 2024
BLUE MOON
In typical French style, the opening ceremony had scenes which made audiences go “what the?’’
The most bizarre of all was a passage which some felt was a parody of The Last Supper which featured drag artists, multiple dancers and entertainer Philippe Katerine as the Greek god of wine.
Katerine looked to be wearing nothing more than glossy blue paint while lying on a table
“Would there have been wars if we’d stayed naked?’’ he said later “The answer is perhaps not because you can’t hide a gun or a dagger when you’re naked.”
Fair point but how many guns do you need at an opening ceremony.
More Coverage
Originally published as Top 10 quirky Paris Games moments: All the weird, classy, confusing and controversial
Surprise name in athlete of the year votes
Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles topped the votes for 2024 athlete of the year, but another contender turned heads in the annual count.
‘Immeasurably sad’: Olympian dead at 26
Tributes are flowing for an Olympic snowboarder after she died in a tragic accident, leaving the sporting world “immeasurably sad”.