We have reached the current “day” on Olympic Wednesday with the arrival of the 2024 Olympics in France. The hyperbole usually turns us off these days when it comes to these events, although we did enjoy a little but of these Summer Games. Over 10,700 participants from 204 nations came to Paris to compete in 329 medal events across 48 different “athletic” disciplines as the Olympics continue to expand in all ways today.

The United States topped the medal table with 126 total pieces of hardware; China was second with 91 total podium finishes, while battle for third place was hotly contested. Great Britain edged out host nation France by one medal in the end, 65 to 64, providing the local sports fans with a lot to cheer for overall. Oddly, though, there was just one podium sweep: the French men in cycling’s BMX event. Vive la France!

Most Outstanding Male Athlete: Léon Marchand, France

Perhaps it’s appropriate that French swimmer Léon Marchand wins this honor, as the host nation’s best athlete. He won five overall medals, including four individual golds: the 200m breaststroke, the 200m butterfly, the 200m individual medley, and the 400m IM. That’s a pretty incredible feat, since breast and fly are such different strokes. He also helped the French men take bronze in the 4x100m medley relay event.

Most Outstanding Female Athlete: Summer McIntosh, Canada

Four different female swimmers won five medals, the second-most among women athletes in Paris. One Chinese swimmer won six medals, but five of them were bronzes without a gold. So, we have to parse the aforementioned quartet for the most individual golds, really, and that’s like splitting hairs. In truth, there are a lot of women here to choose from, including those who won four medals, for example. This is crazy.

Individual golds have to be “the thing” to decide this, as some competitors cleaned up mostly with relay/team golds. What we have arrived at is Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh, who won three individual golds and an additional individual silver; that really was the best performance of these Games. Her golds came in the 200m fly, the 200m IM, and the 400m IM; she took second in the 400m freestyle.

Most Outstanding Male Team: Uzbekistan Boxing

With the reduction of boxing weight classes to just seven, the men from Uzbekistan took five gold medals overall, easily dominating the competition in Paris. Hasanboy Dusmatov won the flyweight class; Abdumalik Khalokov took featherweight gold; Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev was the the welterweight champ; Lazizbek Mullojonov earned heavyweight gold; Bakhodir Jalolov topped super heavyweights.

Most Outstanding Female Team: Chinese Diving

We can’t avoid this, it seems, as the Chinese women in diving take this category for the fifth consecutive Summer Olympiad. They won six medals, the maximum possible, including all four golds: Chen Yiwen on springboard; Quan Hongchan on platform; Yiwen and Chang Yani on team springboard; and Hongchan and Chen Yuxi on team platform. Yani took bronze on springboard, while Yuxi won silver on platform.