This year’s Summer Olympics was one for the ages, but not for the reasons you may think. 

The 2024 Summer Olympics were held from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France, but it would be safe to assume that the Summer Games will never be held there again.

Many people consider this year’s Summer Olympics to be one of the most successful in history. The viewership was up 82% from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with a combined average of 30.6 million people tuning in across all NBCU networks, making it the most-streamed Olympics of all time, according to Liam Reilly of CNN. 

Unfortunately, however, Paris’s crucial mistakes overshadowed these record-high numbers.

Most notably, the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony was highly controversial and ruffled the feathers of many worldwide. 

The Opening Ceremony was watched by a staggering 28.6 million TV viewers, making it the most-watched Opening Ceremony since the 2012 Olympics in London, according to Julia Stoll of Statista. Viewership numbers were up by more than 10 million compared to the Tokyo Opening Ceremony; sadly, many of these viewers were very upset by what they saw.

The ceremony was designed to give the world a photograph of France in 2024. Artistic Director Thomas Jolly did just that through the use of drag queens and a highly controversial scene that many called a mockery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” 

Even former United States President Donald Trump weighed in on the matter. “I’m very open-minded, but I thought what they did was a disgrace.” Former President Trump is not the only one to have negative comments on the ceremony. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker both gave negative statements regarding what happened. 

On the other hand, many members of the LGBTQ+ community have spoken positively about Paris’s leadership taking on the task of spreading inclusivity around the world. 

Ultimately, this year’s Olympic Ceremony, which was intended to spread inclusivity towards the LGBTQ+ community, backfired tremendously, disturbing many of the viewers and even causing death threats to be made to the performers. What was supposed to spread inclusivity caused a major divide before the first Olympic competition even started.

The “Last Supper” scene was not the only mistake made during the Opening Ceremony. During the country introductions, South Korea was introduced as the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, otherwise known as North Korea. Olympic organizers have deeply apologized for swapping the names of these war-torn countries.

Similarly, before South Soudan’s opening men’s basketball game vs. Puerto Rico, the Olympic organizers played the Sudanese national anthem instead of South Sudan’s national anthem. Boos came from the crowd, and the audio was corrected shortly after that. 

This incident is quite prevalent because South Sudan finally gained independence from Sudan just 13 years ago after a long-lasting conflict between the two countries. 

South Sudan forward Majok Deng commented on the error. “They [the organizers] have to be better because you know this is the biggest stage and you know that South Sudan is playing…It’s disrespectful.”

While this was a phenomenal year for the sports side of the Olympics, some changes will certainly be made for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. 

Breakdancing made its much-anticipated first appearance in the Olympic games, and it sounds like it will also be its last appearance. The event seemed to be going well until Australian breakdancer Rachel Gunn, also known as Raygun, stepped on stage. 

Raygun made national headlines after her viral breakdancing performance, for which she has received much criticism. Many around the world are accusing Raygun of manipulating her way onto the Olympic team at the expense of the other Australian breakdancers. 

She is being mocked by many worldwide, who’ve tried to imitate her interesting dance moves. For instance, Australian UFC fighter Casey O’Neil attempted some of her moves after her victory over Luana Santos at UFC 305. O’Neil even made some jokes at the post-fight press conference. “I think I did better than [Raygun] in the Olympics…I might have to take an MMA hiatus and go get a gold medal.”

Saint Paul’s senior Blake Williams was disappointed with Raygun’s performance as well. “She was, from my perspective, doing dances that seemed relatively easy and not complicated for the Olympics. It seemed to almost downgrade the worth of the Olympic medal if performances like that were potentially award-winning acts.”

More news that made national headlines was surrounding the cleanliness of the Seine River before and during the swimming competitions. 

In 2016, when Paris received the bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, Mayor Anne Hidalgo decided to use the Seine River for the swimming portion of the triathlon and the swimming marathon.

However, swimming has been prohibited in the Seine since 1923 due to the toxicity of the water. Therefore, to host the swimming events, the city underwent a $1.5 billion cleanup of the river to ensure its cleanliness. 

Unfortunately, Paris residents have not taken this renovation kindly, and many were planning on leaving the city during July and August because daily life had become such a hassle, according to Jessica Roy of Rolling Stone. As a result, some locals decided to start pooping in the river in response to the attempt to clean it. 

A website encouraged the residents to start pooping in the river, and their motto stated, “Because after putting us in the sh*t, it’s their turn to bathe in our sh*t.”

Even with the river being re-polluted, the triathlon events were held, and to no surprise, some athletes fell ill. Adrien Briffod, a Swiss triathlete, developed a “gastrointestinal infection,” but we are not 100 percent sure whether this was related to the water quality or not.

Additionally, Belgian triathlete Claire Michel could not compete in the mixed triathlon just days after she contracted a sickness from her race a few days prior. Belgium withdrew from the mixed triathlon relay due to her unavailability. 

While the issues previously mentioned have been heavily controversial worldwide, none compare to the dispute over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif winning gold. 

Khelif and another female boxer, Lin Yu-ting, were disqualified from competing with women at a global boxing event last year. However, they were permitted to compete in this year’s Paris Olympics. 

Many boxing fans were disturbed after Khelif defeated Italy’s Angela Carini in their opening bout. There have been many questions over the course of Khelif’s career surrounding her gender and if she should be allowed to compete against women. 

Throughout the games, false rumors spread that Khelif is a transgender woman; however, she suffers from differences in sexual development, otherwise known as DSDs. 

According to the National Health Service, DSD is a rare condition involving genes, hormones, and reproductive organs that can cause one’s sexual development to be different than other people’s. Tests done by the International Boxing Association (IBA) showed Khelif may suffer from this disease, as she has XY chromosomes. 

Although she possesses XY chromosomes, the IBA permitted Khelif to fight in the Paris Olympics, much to many viewers’ dismay. 

Khelif’s opening bout versus Italian boxer Angela Carini was a very short match, but the conversations about it have been much longer. The fight lasted 46 seconds, and then Carini quit after taking some heavy punches early on. In her press conference, Carini claimed she had never been hit with a more powerful punch. “My face and nose were hurting. I couldn’t breathe anymore. I thought about my family. I looked at my brother in the stands and went to my corner to retire…I’ve never been hit with such a powerful punch.” 

Through all of the questions surrounding Khelif’s gender and whether or not she should have been allowed to participate, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) continued to stand by their decision to let her fight, and she ended up leaving Paris with a gold medal. 

Saint Paul’s senior Vincent Cruise agreed with the IOC’s decision to let Khelif fight. “I think she should be able to fight in the Olympics because she is not a trans-woman, and she has six losses in her career, so clearly she is beatable.”

Although the athletes showcased their abilities during the 2024 Paris Olympics, their prowess may be sadly overshadowed by the controversies and mishaps of the host country.