Dozens of young athletes from Ski & Snowboard Club Vail honored her Saturday evening at Vail’s Ford Amphitheater, swarming the stage and carrying balloons — 82 of them white for her World Cup victories, eight red for her world championships medals, three gold for her Olympic medals. Vonn moved from the modest slalom hills of Minnesota to Vail when she was a girl, getting the big-mountain experience she needed to become America’s greatest female downhiller.

“I moved to Vail when I was 12 years old, along with my four siblings, and we enrolled at Ski Club Vail,” Vonn said. “It was honestly the best decision my family could have made. My journey of becoming a downhiller began (there). Without the help of Ski Club Vail, and all of those runs down Gold Peak, I don’t know if I would have won those World Cup races.”

After Vonn became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, taking home a bronze medal in super-G as well, Vail renamed its International run Lindsey’s. International was the venue for women’s World Cup races in Vail before it built new downhill race courses at Beaver Creek.

“Renaming International to Lindsey’s was honestly one of the most meaningful things that’s happened to me,” Vonn said. “I hope to ski down it with my kids someday.”

When Vonn retired in 2019, her 82 World Cup wins were the most by a woman and only four behind Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86. Mikaela Shiffrin, who grew up in Vail with Vonn as a role model, broke Stenmark’s record in 2023 and now stands at 97. Vonn saluted Shiffrin in her induction speech.

“Mikaela has won an insane number of World Cups, and she’s far from being done,” Vonn said. “It gives me great pride to know the next generation is reaching even higher than I was able to. I know she will inspire someone else, just like me. Congratulations to Mikaela on everything that you’ve done and will do in the future.”

Among the many locals she thanked was Dr. Tom Hackett, a prominent Vail orthopedic surgeon who helped her come back from numerous injuries.

“Even though I have my mother’s positivity, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses,” Vonn said. “I’m grateful for everything that’s happened to me, all of the highs and all of the lows. (The lows) all taught me something very special — grit.”

Others inducted included John “Johno” McBride, a former U.S. men’s downhill coach from Aspen who was instrumental in the careers of Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves; Bjorn Erik Borgen, who helped Vail land world alpine championships in 1989, 1999 and 2015; Sigurd Rockne, a native of Norway who was a founder of the Breckenridge ski area; Ross Anderson, a Native American who grew up in Durango to become a speed skiing racer.

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He’ll race his wheelchair down the Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe. He’ll swim the River Seine.

“We’ve got a slogan: ‘Burn the ships,'” he said. “We’re all in. There’s no going back.”

The origin of Sanborn’s quest began in the hospital bed of an intensive care unit during the darkest days of his life. There he was, a U.S. Army Airborne Ranger who had survived two tours of duty in Iraq, listening to a devastating truth. There he was, a member of the Golden Knights, the Army’s famed parachute demonstration team, being told he would never walk again.

“You can imagine the type of blow that is,” the 42-year-old Denver resident said. “But when I was still in the ICU, I immediately started researching hand-cycling and para triathlons on my iPad. That’s who I am.”

Some of his friends were taken aback.

“Some of them were like, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t try to bike anymore.'” Sanborn recalled. “I said, ‘No, I’m good.’

“I knew my military career was over. But as hard as that was to accept, I just knew that with my mentality, I had to pivot quickly. I had to have purpose and a direction. I knew if I stopped and laid down too long, I wouldn’t get back up. I needed to shift focus, move forward, and put this in the rearview mirror. That’s exactly what I did.”

That was 12 years ago. Now, Sanborn is one of more than 4,000 athletes from around the world who’ll compete in the 2024 Paralympics, which begins with Wednesday’s opening ceremony.

Sanborn is the lone American in a field of 10 in the wheelchair division of the triathlon. He qualified by finishing first in this spring’s Americas Triathlon Para Championships in Miami.

The Paralympics triathlon is a sprint-distance event that begins with a 750-meter swim in the Seine, followed by a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) hand-cycling race over cobblestone streets and concludes with a 5K wheelchair race (the Paralympics’ version of a run).

“It’s pretty grueling, to be sure,” Sanborn said. “It’s a down-and-back swim and going against the current in the Seine is a challenge. And the cycling portion goes over the cobblestones, so it’s a pretty technical race.”

The man to beat is the Netherlands’ Jetze Plat, who won gold at the last two Paralympic Games.

“The guy is a freak of nature,”  Sanborn said with a chuckle.

Sanborn is accompanied in Paris by his three-person team.

Joshua Maichin, a non-disabled triathlete whom Sanborn met at Denver’s Carla Madison Recreation Center in 2021, is Sanborn’s handler. Maichin helps transport the gear and is on the course to help Sanborn transition from one event to another.

“Think of Josh as being my pit crew,” Sanborn said.

Sanborn’s coach is Ken Axford from PEAK Multisport in Colorado Springs. Sanborn’s girlfriend, Jayne Williams, an avid skydiver, completes a support team that Sanborn calls “indispensable.”

Sanborn, a native of Alton, N.H., joined the service at age 17 with the dream of being an Army Ranger. He fulfilled that dream and was chasing another when a wicked twist of fate blindsided him.

In September 2012, the Golden Knights participated in an airshow near Kirksville, Mo. Taking time out to train for his first Ironman, Sanborn cycled on a rural, two-lane highway with a teammate.

“We were in the breakdown lane, off the road, and the driver of a car wasn’t paying attention,” Sanborn said. “He hit us from behind at 60-plus mph. My teammate walked away. I was paralyzed from the waist down.”

The former Army Ranger takes pride in his will and ability to self-motivate, but he stresses that he would not be chasing gold in Paris without the support he’s received.

During his recovery at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly known as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), he was introduced to Keri Serota, one of the co-founders of Dare2Tri Paratriathlon Club. Seven months after he was hit, he was competing in a wheelchair race.

“It was double duty,” he said. “I started training for a paratriathlon while I was also rehabbing to learn how to be independent in a wheelchair. It wasn’t easy, but the two fit together; one helped the other.”

Eight months after the accident, he competed in his first World Triathlon, in San Diego.

“I guess a lot of people think that part of my story is kind of insane,” he said. “But I get a little bit hyper-focused sometimes. I wanted to keep feeling like I was moving forward in my life.”

Sanborn has competed in more than 50 international races. He won the 2024 Bolder Boulder professional men’s push-rim 10K wheelchair race in 27 minutes and 24 seconds. But the 2024 Paralympics are his Holy Grail, especially after failing to qualify for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

“This has been our redemption tour,” he said.

Sanborn hopes that people will watch and pay attention to the Paralympics with the mindset that he and other competitors are elite athletes.

“I hope this puts it on the radar that some people commit their entire lives to this,” he said. “What some people don’t understand is that it’s not a participation event. It’s an elite competition.”

Sanborn understands the idea that Paralympic athletes can motivate others. Still, he doesn’t want to oversell the concept and knows that many of his fellow athletes are resistant to the idea of being “an inspiration.”

“Listen, I don’t know what other people are going through,” he said. “But that person may be having the worst day of their life, and if seeing me in my wheelchair competing in Paris gives them a boost, and they say, ‘I’m going to keep trudging on and work a little harder,’ then I’m all in for that.”

This week, Sanborn is all about Paris and the challenge awaiting of him.

“There is no good way to be paralyzed, I’ll say that,” he said. “Whether it happened in combat or at home in an accident. It just sucks, no matter how you put it. But this can be anyone. This type of injury can happen in the blink of an eye when you are minding your own business. But it’s what you do next that matters. That’s what I’m about.”

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PARATRIATHLON

Kyle Coon

Colorado connection: Lives in Carbondale, trains in Colorado Springs.

What to know: Placed fifth in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and has five wins on the World Triathlon Para Series circuit. Along with his guide, triathlete Zack Goodman, Coon won the 2022 U.S. Paratriathlon national championship. Coon lost his vision at 7 due to a rare form of eye cancer. He’s an avid rock climber and downhill skier.

Competing: Sunday

Hailey Danz

Colorado connection: Member of the U.S. Paratriathlon Resident Team in Colorado Springs.

What to know: A two-time Paralympic silver medalist (Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Tokyo in 2020), Danz is a four-time world champion. She is a cancer survivor who had her leg amputated due to osteosarcoma at 14. Danz was introduced to triathlons through Dare2Tri, a nonprofit and Paratriathlon club based out of Chicago.

Competing: Sunday

Howie Sanborn

Colorado connection: Lives and trains in Denver

What to know: He’s a retired U.S. Army veteran who served for 15 years as an Airborne Ranger and a demonstrator on the U.S. Army Parachute Team, “The Golden Knights.” Began competing in triathlons as a non-disabled athlete while serving with the U.S. Army but was cycling with a friend in September 2012 when a distracted driver struck him from behind, breaking his back and paralyzing him from the waist down. Paris will be his first Paralympics.

Competing: Monday

Melissa Stockwell

Colorado connection: She attended the University of Colorado and now lives and trains in Colorado Springs, where she and her husband own and operate a prosthesis company.

What to know: Stockwell won a bronze medal in paratriathlon’s debut at the Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She’s a three-time Paratriathlon World Champion and also competed at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics in swimming. In 2004, Stockwell became the first female U.S. soldier to lose a limb in active combat in the Iraq War. She was honored with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for her service.

Competing: Sunday afternoon

TRACK AND FIELD

Beatriz Hatz

Colorado connection: A Lakewood resident, she graduated from D’Evelyn High School in 2019.

What to know: Hatz competes in the long jump and sprinting events. She finished fifth in the long jump and sixth in the 100- and 200-meter dashes in the 2020 Tokyo Games. Hatz was named the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field High School Female Athlete of the Year in 2018. She was born without a fibula in her right leg, leading to an amputation below the knee.

PARAFENCING

Jataya Taylor

Colorado connection: Taylor lives in Aurora and competes for the Denver Fencing Center near Ruby Hill Park.

What to know: She didn’t take up fencing until 2022 but won three golds and a silver medal at this year’s Wheelchair Fencing Americas Championships. Taylor enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2005 as a military police officer. Barely a year into her enlistment, while stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, she injured her knee in a training accident. She learned she had a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). Taylor’s knee continued to get worse, and in 2016 her right leg was amputated.

Competing: Tuesday

PARA SWIMMING

Elizabeth Marks

Colorado connection: Stationed with the U.S. Army as a medic at Fort Carson.

What to know: Began swimming as she recovered from reconstructive hip surgery after experiencing injuries while serving as a U.S. Army combat medic in Iraq. In 2014, Marks suffered a neurological impairment that required life-saving surgery. Two years later, she won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Paralympics, setting a world record for her classification in the 100-meter breaststroke. She also took home a bronze medal in a medley relay. ESPN recognized her with the Pat Tillman Award for Service that same year.

Less than a year after winning gold in Rio, ongoing complications from her war injuries required the amputation of Marks’ left leg below the knee. She entered the Paris Games with five gold medals, including two golds. She competes in all strokes, but the backstroke is her strongest event.

Competing: Thursday

Jack O’Neil

Colorado connection: He graduated from The Village High School in Colorado Springs and now swims for the University of Wyoming.

What to know: O’Neil competes in the freestyle and backstroke events and qualified for the Paris Games after coming in first in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team Trials in Minneapolis. He was born with birth defects in his spine, hips, and legs. O’Neil started swimming at age 7 and electively had his left leg amputated at 9. He was the first para-athlete in Colorado to qualify for the high school state championships against non-disabled peers.

Competing: Thursday

PARA SHOOTING

John Joss

Colorado connection: Has lived and trained in Colorado Springs since 2019.

What to know: Joss is competing in his third Paralympic games and he’s hunting for his first medal. He finished fifth in the 2016 Games and out of medal contention at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020. Joss, a Texas native, is a member of the U.S. Army’s Marksmanship Unit and lost a portion of his right leg from injuries sustained in Iraq in 2007. He currently is the national record holder in the mixed 50-meter free rifle prone competition.

WHEELCHAIR RUGBY

Josh O’Neill

Colorado connection: Live and trains in Colorado Springs

What to know: He won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships as part of the U.S. team and is competing in his first Paralympics. He comes from a long line of racecar drivers. A car accident on his 16th birthday resulted in a broken neck and halted his racing career. While in rehab, O’Neill watched the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Murderball” and fell in love with wheelchair rugby.

Competing: Tournament play begins Thursday vs. Canada

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The Big Honey might be the best when it comes to dishing out bling, too.

Despite our crack staff being in the writing biz, Team Grading The Week believes actions speak louder than all the words on this page.

And GTW is firmly in the camp of backing up your brags.

Is anybody — certainly not anybody in the basketball sphere — conquering both fronts better than the Joker is, right here and now?

The NBA’s three-time MVP didn’t just help carry the Serbian hoops squad to a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. According to the Blic newspaper in his native country, Jokic purchased Rolex watches for every one of his teammates on the national team.

Jokic’s Serbian gifts — A

The kicker? Those timepieces were reportedly worth $32,500 each. Which puts the Joker’s total purchase at an estimated $357,500 for 11 watches.

Jokic and Serbia won the men’s hoops bronze in Paris thanks to a 93-83 win over Germany in the tourney’s third-place game. The Nuggets star posted a very Jokic stat line, too — 19 points, 12 boards and 11 assists.

The Joker averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.7 assists for his homeland, which finished 4-2 at the tourney. He led all tournament players in points, boards and dimes — the first Olympian to ever top all three categories in one campaign.

Apparently, nobody gives like Jokic gives when it comes to the gift department, either. At least the fantastic gesture was one the Joker could afford: The Nuggets center, per Spotrac.com, is slated to take up $51.4 million in cap space in ’24-’25, and $55.2 million in ’25-’26.

If you’re like the GTW staff, you don’t just want Jokic as your franchise centerpiece now. You kind of want him as your secret Santa, too.

Big Russ’ debut — D

Russell Wilson’s Steelers stats after preseason Week 2: One appearance, five drives led, zero points, three sacks taken.

Bo Nix’s Broncos stats after preseason Week 2: Two appearances, seven drives led, 30 points, zero sacks taken.

It’s early, and we’ll know in a month whether Sean Payton won the Broncos-Steelers game, head-to-head. But the coach is off to a flying start in terms of winning the argument. And in justifying one hellaciously expensive football divorce.

Valor’s Friday — A

Love ’em or hate ’em, this past Friday was a pretty good day to be an Eagle.

Earlier in the day, Valor alum and PGA star Wyndham Clark pulled himself back into the BMW Championship title picture by shooting a 68 during his second round at Castle Pines — including five birdies. Later that evening, his alma mater’s football team opened its season with a 31-14 victory over Pine Creek. The latter had beaten Valor in last September’s meeting, 31-17.

The athlete’s lawyer Nabil Boudi filed a legal complaint with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office that combats online hate speech on Friday.

Boudi said that the boxer was targeted by a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” as she won gold in the women’s welterweight division, becoming a hero in her native Algeria and bringing global attention to women’s boxing.

The prosecutor’s office said it had received the complaint and its Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crime had opened an investigation on charges of “cyber harassment based on gender, public insults based on gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insults on the basis of origin.”

Khelif was unwillingly thrust into a worldwide clash over gender identity and regulation in sports after her first fight in Paris, when Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out just seconds into the match, citing pain from opening punches.

False claims that Khelif was transgender or a man erupted online, and the International Olympic Committee defended her and denounced those peddling misinformation. Khelif said that the spread of misconceptions about her “harms human dignity.”

Among those who posted misinformation about the athlete were Donald Trump, Elon Musk and J. K. Rowling.

Khelif’s legal complaint was filed against social media platforms, including “X,” instead of a specific perpetrator, a common formulation under French law that leaves it up to investigators to determine which person or organization that may have been at fault.

The Paris prosecutor’s office didn’t name specific suspects.

The development came two days after Khelif returned to Algeria, where she’s expected to meet with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and be welcomed by family in her hometown of Ain Mesbah.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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The city will become the third in the world to host the games three times as it adds to the storied years of 1932 and 1984. Here’s a look forward and back in time at the Olympics in LA.

LA’s Olympic trilogy

Los Angeles got the 2028 games as a consolation prize when Paris was picked for 2024.

Back in 1932, LA hosted its first Olympics. The city was the only bidder for the games at a time marred by the Great Depression and the absence of several nations. Yet memorable sport moments came from athletes including American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won golds in the new women’s events of javelin and hurdles.

Financial and cultural success gave 1984 a reputation as the “good” Olympics” which made seemingly every major world city want their own.

Emphasizing both the modern and the classical with a hand from Hollywood, the games opened with decathlon champion Rafer Johnson lighting the torch, a guy in a jetpack descending into the Memorial Coliseum and theme music by “Star Wars” maestro John Williams.

With Eastern Bloc countries boycotting, the U.S. dominated. Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton are among the athletes who became household names. A young Michael Jordan led the men’s basketball team to gold.

The games renewed, for a while, the global reputation of a city that had been perceived to be in decline.

“We want our games to be a modern games, youthful, full of the optimism that Southern California brings to the world and the globe,” Janet Evans, four-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and chief athlete officer for the LA 2028 organizing committee, told The Associated Press in Paris.

Passing the torch

Bass, who arrives back in LA Monday, spent these games in Paris along with organizers and city officials, learning what it takes to host the world’s largest sporting event.

Joining her were LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman, an entertainment executive, and LA councilmember Traci Park, chair of the city Olympic committee.

“As we’ve seen here in Paris, the Olympics are an opportunity to make transformative change,” Bass said at a press conference ahead of the closing ceremony.

Venues old and new, plus a swimming stadium

Amid a stadium-and-arena boom, LA will polish existing structures rather than erect new ones.

“It’s a no-build games,” Evans said.

After Paris’ innovative opening ceremony on the Seine River, LA plans to open with a traditional, stadium-based approach at SoFi Stadium in neighboring Inglewood that also incorporates the century-old Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles itself.

Home to two NFL teams, SoFi has hosted a Super Bowl and several Taylor Swift concerts since opening in 2020. It will become what organizers say is the largest Olympic swimming venue ever. Its opening ceremony role means swimming will come after track and field for the first time since 1972.

Intuit Dome, the soon-to-open Inglewood home of the NBA’s Clippers, would be the games’ newest major venue and is the planned home for Olympic basketball. The Lakers’ downtown Crypto.com Arena will host gymnastics.

The toxicity of swimming in the Seine became a serious issue in Paris. That could put renewed focus on the Long Beach area waterfront when it hosts marathon swimming and triathlon races. Its cleanliness history is mixed but its ocean waters got consistently high marks in a 2023 analysis by nonprofit Heal the Bay.

The Long Beach shore was home to the pre-recorded performances during Sunday’s ceremony of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, though it was easy to mistake for LA’s Venice Beach, where the journey of the flag begun by Cruise was shown ending moments earlier.

Trains, buses and traffic

A city that’s notoriously hard to traverse may seem like an odd fit for the Olympics, but it can work.

Bass said she plans to emulate the tactics of Tom Bradley, the mayor in 1984, whose traffic mitigations had some saying it was better than at non-Olympic times. They include asking local businesses to stagger workforce hours to reduce the number of cars on the road and allow work from home during the 17-day games.

Landing the Olympics under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2017 gave the city an unusually long lead time for planning.

While it’s no Paris Metro, LA has built a subway since its last Olympics, with lines running past major venues.

In 2018, the city planned an ambitious slate of 28 bus and rail projects to transform public transit. Some were scrapped but others moved forward, including the extension of a subway line to connect downtown Los Angeles with UCLA, the planned home of the Olympic Village.

Another high-profile project is the Inglewood People Mover, an automated, three-stop rail line past major Olympic venues. It initially received a commitment of $1 billion in federal funding, but opposition from Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters led to a $200 million reduction, the Los Angeles Times reported. It’s unclear whether the line will be completed by 2028.

Metro recently received $900 million in funding through an infrastructure spending package and grants from the Biden administration, of which $139 million will go directly toward improving transportation by 2028 and the goal of a “car-free” Olympics.

“The biggest challenge is not waiting to 2028, but really taking the opportunity between now and 2028 to help Angelenos and visitors alike reimagine the transportation network as something that will be their first choice,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said.

Crime, safety and perception

While crime rates were considerably higher in 1984 than today, the countdown to 2028 comes as the issue has gotten increased attention and cast a social-media-amplified shadow.

The Olympics are designated as a national special security event, which makes the U.S. Secret Service the lead agency tasked with developing a security plan, supported by significant federal resources.

LA city and county law enforcement sent officers to Paris to observe, learn and assist as they prepare for their own 2028 games.

There are many more encampments on city streets than there were in 1984, and it’s unlikely LA will have solved its homeless crisis in the next four years. As the Paris games ended, California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to withhold funding from cities unable to clear encampments.

Ahead of the Games in Paris, organizers relocated thousands of unhoused people, a practice also used for the 2016 Rio de Janiero games and criticized by activists as “social cleansing.”

Tourists and finances

LA is the “next logical destination” for the Olympics, said Adam Burke, president and CEO of the LA Tourism and Convention Board. “LA has emerged as really one of the world’s sports capitals.”

First though, the city will host a FIFA World Cup event and U.S. Women’s Open in 2026 and another Super Bowl in 2027.

The city’s hotel industry has continued to see growth, adding 9,000 new hotel rooms in the past four years with more to come over the next four.

LA28 organizers are banking on ticket sales, sponsorships, payments from the International Olympic Committee and other revenue streams to cover the games’ $6.9 billion budget. The committee has brought in just over $1 billion toward a goal of $2.5 billion in domestic corporate sponsorships.

Associated Press Writer Noreen Nassir contributed from Paris.

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SAINT-DENIS, France — Setting out to prove that topping Paris isn’t mission impossible, Los Angeles rolled out a skydiving Tom Cruise, Grammy winner Billie Eilish and other stars on Sunday as it took over Olympic hosting duties for 2028 from the French capital, which closed out its 2024 Games just as they started — with joy and panache.

The closing ceremony capped two and a half extraordinary weeks of Olympic sports and emotion with a boisterous, star-studded show in France’s national stadium, mixing unbridled celebration with a somber call for peace from IOC President Thomas Bach.

Following in Paris’ footsteps promises to be a challenge: It made spectacular use of its cityscape for its first Games in 100 years, with the Eiffel Tower and other iconic monuments becoming Olympic stars in their own right as they served as backdrops and venues for medal-winning feats.

But the City of Angeles showed that it, too, has aces up its sleeves, like the City of Light.

Cruise — in his Ethan Hunt persona — wowed by descending from the top of the stadium to electric guitar “Mission Impossible” riffs. Once his feet were back on the ground — and after shaking hands with enthralled athletes — he took the Olympic flag from star gymnast Simone Biles, fixed it to the back of a motorcycle and roared out of the arena.

The appetite-whetting message was clear: Los Angeles 2028 promises to be an eye-opener, too.

Still, this was largely Paris’ night — its opportunity for one final party. And what a party it was.

“These were sensational Olympic Games from start to finish,” Bach said.

Having announced his intention to leave office next year, Bach also struck a more somber note as he appealed for ”a culture of peace” in a war-torn world.

“We know that the Olympic Games cannot create peace, but the Olympic Games can create a culture of peace that inspires the world,” he said. “Let us live this culture of peace every single day.”

Then came another change of gear, courtesy of Cruise.

In a prerecorded segment after being lowered on a rope live from the roof’s giddy heights, Cruise drove his bike past the Eiffel Tower, onto a plane and then skydived over the Hollywood Hills. Three circles were added to the O’s of the famed Hollywood sign to create five interlaced Olympic rings.

The thousands of athletes who danced and sang the night away cheered it — and the artistic show that celebrated Olympic themes, complete with firework flourishes.

Their enthusiasm bubbled over when crowds of them rushed the stage at one point. Stadium announcements in French and English urged them to double back. Some stayed, creating an impromptu mosh pit around Grammy-winning French pop-rock band Phoenix as they played, before security and volunteers cleared the stage.

Multiple time zones away, Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, rapper Snoop Dogg — wearing pants with the Olympic rings after being a popular mainstay at the Paris Games — along with his longtime collaborator Dr. Dre kept the party going with performances on Los Angeles’ Venice Beach.

Each is a California native, including H.E.R., who sang the U.S. national anthem live at the Stade de France, crammed with more than 70,000 people.

At the start of the show, the stadium crowd roared as French swimmer Léon Marchand, dressed in a suit and tie instead of the swim trunks he wore to win four golds, was shown on the giant screens collecting the Olympic flame from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.

To spectators’ loud chants of “Léon, Léon,” Marchand then reappeared at the end of the show, blowing out the flame. Paris Games were over.

But they’ll be back.

“I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Los Angeles,” Bach declared.

As a delicate pink sunset gave way to night, athletes first marched into the stadium waving the flags of their 205 countries and territories — a display of global unity in a world gripped by global tensions and conflicts, including those in Ukraine and Gaza. The stadium screens carried the words, “Together, united for peace.”

With the 329 medal events finished, the expected 9,000 athletes — many wearing their shiny medals — and team staffers filled the arena, dancing and cheering to thumping beats.

Unlike in Tokyo in 2021, where the Games were pushed back a year by the COVID-19 pandemic and largely stripped of fans, athletes and the more than 70,000 spectators at the Paris arena celebrated with abandon, singing together as Queen’s anthem “We Are the Champions” blared. Multiple French athletes crowd-surfed. U.S. team members jumped up and down in their Ralph Lauren jackets.

The national stadium, France’s largest, was one of the targets of Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers who killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. The joy and celebrations that swept Paris during the Games as Marchand and other French athletes racked up 64 medals — 16 of them gold — marked a major watershed in the city’s recovery from that night of terror.

The closing ceremony saw the awarding of the last medals — each embedded with a chunk of the Eiffel Tower. Fittingly for the first Olympics that aimed for gender parity, they all went to women — the gold, silver and bronze medalists from the women’s marathon earlier Sunday.

The women’s marathon took the spot of the men’s race that traditionally closed out previous Games. The switch was part of efforts in Paris to make the Olympic spotlight shine more brightly on the sporting feats of women. Paris was also where women first made their Olympic debut, at the Games of 1900.

The U.S. team again topped the medal table, with 126 in all and 40 of them gold. Three were courtesy of gymnast Simone Biles, who made a resounding return to the top of the Olympic podium after prioritizing her mental health instead of competition in Tokyo in 2021.

Unlike Paris’ rain-drenched but exuberant opening ceremony that played out along the Seine River in the heart of city, the closing ceremony’s artistic portion took a more sober approach, with space-age and Olympic themes.

A golden-shrouded figure dropped spider-like from the skies into a darkened world of smoke and swirling stars. Olympic symbols were celebrated, including the flag of Greece, birthplace of the ancient Games, and the five interlaced Olympic rings, lit up in white in the arena where tens of thousands of lights glittered like fireflies.

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AP reporters Noreen Nasir, Stephen Whyno, Tom Nouvian, Thomas Adamson and Megan Janetsky contributed from Paris.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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PARIS (AP) — Stephen Curry was thinking about this two years ago, after winning his fourth NBA title with the Golden State Warriors. The only thing left for him to win was Olympic gold.

And in the ultimate moment, he made sure that medal would be his.

The U.S. is atop the international men’s basketball world once again, after Curry scored 24 points and led the way to a 98-87 win over France in the final at the Paris Games on Saturday night. It was the fifth consecutive gold medal for the U.S. — and the 17th in 20 all-time appearances for the Americans at the games.

Curry made four 3-pointers in the final 2:43, including the one that just sealed the win with 1:19 remaining. It put the U.S. up 93-84 and he skipped down the court letting out a yell, shaking his jersey so everyone could see the “USA” across the front.

If that wasn’t enough, one more followed with about 30 seconds left — with the “go to sleep” move where he puts his hands on the side of his face.

Good night. Game over. Gold won. Again.

“For me to get a gold medal is insane, and I thank God for the opportunity to experience it,” Curry said.

Kevin Durant — the first four-time men’s gold medalist in Olympic basketball history — scored 15 for the Americans, as did Devin Booker. And LeBron James, wearing metallic gold shoes that needed no explanation, scored 14 for the U.S. as he won his fourth Olympic medal and third gold.

For the second consecutive Olympics, the French had to watch the Americans hold out U.S. flags in celebration after the title game. The French lost to the U.S. 87-82 in Tokyo three years ago, and this one was down to the final minutes.

That is, until Curry took over.

“I think we might be the only team in the world whose fans are ashamed of them if they get a silver medal,” said U.S. coach Steve Kerr, the Golden State coach whose run with the U.S. ends now with a 21-3 record and Olympic gold — 11-0 this summer. “That’s the pressure that we face. But our players, and you saw Steph, they love the pressure. They appreciate this atmosphere and they were fantastic.”

Victor Wembanyama, in his first Olympic final, was brilliant for France, scoring 26 points — the second-most ever against the U.S. in a gold-medal game, one point behind the 27 that Drazen Dalipagic scored for Yugoslavia in 1976.

Wembanyama covered his face in a towel afterward as the Americans celebrated. Guerschon Yabusele scored 20 for the hosts.

“For sure, it’s a disappointment because we expected we could do it,” France coach Vincent Collet said. “But we have to recognize at the end that they are better. We are very close … When they make fantastic shots, that’s the difference.”

The U.S. lead was 14 early in the third, looking poised to pull away. But the offense quickly went cold and when Evan Fournier connected on a 3-pointer with 3:05 left in the quarter the lead was down to 65-59 — a 12-4 run by the hosts.

And with a chance to go up double-digits headed to the fourth, a big U.S. blunder gave France another jolt of momentum. Anthony Edwards and Durant got their signals crossed on a pass that led to a turnover, Nando De Colo scored to beat the buzzer and the U.S. lead was only 72-66 going into the final 10 minutes.

It got as close as three. No closer, thanks to Curry. It was four 3-pointers in a span of 2:12, and they immediately went into Olympic lore.

“A big shot to put us up six. That kind of settled everything,” Curry said. “And then the rhythm, the avalanche came, and thankfully the other three went in. That was an unbelievable moment. I’ve been blessed to play basketball at a high level for a very long time. This ranks very high in terms of excitement and the sense of relief, getting to the finish line.”

It was the eighth time in Olympic history — and Sunday’s women’s final between the U.S. and France will mark the ninth — that the home team got to play for basketball gold.

Home teams are now 5-3 in those games, 2-1 on the men’s side. The U.S. men and women both won in 1984 and 1996; the women of the Soviet Union won in 1980, while Australia’s women lost to the U.S. in 2000 and Japan’s women also lost to the U.S. at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

For James, it was one more thing for the neverending list that is his legacy. For Durant, it was history with four golds. For Booker, Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum and Bam Adebayo, it was a second gold. For Jrue Holiday, it was a second gold to match his wife — soccer great Lauren Cheney Holiday — for the family lead. For Derrick White, Tyrese Haliburton, Joel Embiid and Anthony Edwards, it was the first Olympic title.

And for Curry, it was a long time coming. The Olympics never fit into his schedule until now. The Americans couldn’t have been more thrilled that he was there for this one.

“It’s everything I wanted them to be,” Curry said. “And more.”

He likened it to a Game 7 on the road, which it basically was. He’s had enormous success in those moments: a 50-point outburst to lead Golden State past Sacramento in 2023, and a 27-point, nine-rebound, 10-assist game to win a do-or-die in Houston in 2018.

And now, this.

“It’s right up there with all of the greatest games of his career,” Kerr said. “The shot-making was just incredible. But under the circumstances, on the road, in Paris, against France for a gold medal, this is storybook stuff. But that’s what Steph does. He likes to be in storybooks.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Swanson knew Smith was offside. But Swanson wasn’t.

“I was like, `Don’t touch it! Leave it, leave it leave it!’” Swanson said. “And then it was on me to put it away.”

With that 57th-minute goal, the U.S. women’s soccer team won its fifth Olympic gold medal by beating Brazil 1-0 in the tournament final Saturday at the Paris Games.

The Americans, who hadn’t won gold since the 2012 London Olympics, closed out an undefeated run to the title in their first international campaign under new coach Emma Hayes.

And they have Colorado to thank for it.

The golden feet of Coloradans Swanson, Sophia Smith and captain Lindsey Horan did much of the damage. After her game-winner on Saturday, Swanson finished the tournament with four goals and two assists, while Smith had three goals and one assist and Horan a pair of assists.

Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher preserved the win with a one-handed save on Adriana’s header in stoppage time at Parc des Princes. At the final whistle, the U.S. players celebrated as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” played in the stadium.

“We’ve grown so much,” said Swanson, who was making her 100th national team appearance. “And that’s really cool to me seeing that. We’ve grown on and off the field. And you keep probably hearing it — we’re playing with joy. We’re having so much fun and I’m just so happy.”

The result is more heartbreak for Brazil and its iconic star, Marta. The six-time world player of the year has never won a Women’s World Cup or an Olympics. This is expected to be her last major international tournament.

It was the third victory for the United States over Brazil in an Olympic final. The Americans also beat the Brazilians in 2004 at Athens and four years later in Beijing.

The United States also won gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics — the first time women’s soccer was played at the Olympics — and in 2012 at London.

Brazil has never finished better than runner-up at the Olympics.

“I’m very emotional. It’s been a dream of mine to be in this position,” said Hayes, a London native. “I have to thank my dad because he’s the one who pushed me to this point to be able to come and coach an unbelievable group of players that have received me so well and taken on board everything I have asked. They are tremendous people and players and role models. Yeah, I love them.”

Three years ago in Tokyo, the U.S. had to settle for the bronze medal. The Americans were knocked out in the quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Tom Cruise, former U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe and her fiance, former WNBA player Sue Bird, were among those in the crowd.

Marta was playing in her sixth Olympics. Her first was in 2004 — when she was just 18 — which ended with a silver. But she started on the bench after a two-game suspension for a hard foul on Spain’s Olga Carmona in the team’s final group match.

Hayes was hired as coach of the U.S. team in November but she didn’t join the squad until May so she could finish out the season with Chelsea — guiding the Women’s Super League squad to its fifth straight title.

Hayes was tasked with turning around a U.S. team that crashed out of last summer’s Women’s World Cup earlier than ever before. Despite her short time with the Americans, she quickly fostered chemistry within the young squad, particularly between forwards Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Swanson.

The trio scored 10 of the 12 U.S. goals in France. Naeher and the U.S. defense allowed just two goals.

“I think we’re on this steady climb,” Crystal Dunn said. “We know winning a gold medal is obviously amazing and we’re all going to celebrate and soak this in. But there’s life after this Olympics. I think we are going to embrace where we are but I think it’s important that we realize there’s so much more that we can do, and having Emma obviously now for the long haul is going to be incredible.”

Brazil had the best chances early. Ludmila was alone in front of the goal in the second minute but her shot went straight into Naeher’s arms. Ludmila appeared to score in the upper far corner in the 16th minute but was offside.

Naeher kept the game scoreless at the break by punching away Gabi Portilho’s shot in first-half stoppage time.

Brazilian midfielder Vitoria Yaya was carried from the field with an injury early in the second half.

The U.S. continued to threaten after Swanson’s goal. Smith nearly scored on a break in the 66th but her attempt went wide.

Horan smashed a free kick into the wall in the 82nd after Tarciane fouled Smith just outside the box.

Hayes made one change to her lineup for the final, starting Korbin Albert in place of Rose Lavelle. It was the second youngest U.S. lineup to start a gold medal match, with an average age of 26.7. The average age of the team that started the 1996 final was 25.8.

Brazil had finished third in its group in France, earning one of two third-place spots in the knockout round.

The U.S. advanced to the final with a 1-0 extra-time victory over Germany in Lyon, where Smith scored the lone goal. Brazil earned its spot with a wild 4-2 victory over Women’s World Cup champion Spain.

Germany went on to win the tournament’s bronze medal with a 1-0 victory over Spain in Lyon on Friday.

Asked if the U.S. team was confident it would ultimately wear gold medals in France, defender Naomi Girma was succinct.

“I mean, we always believed,” she said.

The Denver Post contributed to this report.

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Jokic finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to help Serbia claim its first medal since winning silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Serbia bounced back after nearly upsetting the four-time defending gold medalist U.S. in the semifinals.

Vasilije Micic added 19 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 16. Jokic joined Sasha Belov of the former Soviet Union, the United States’ LeBron James (twice) and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic as the only players with Olympic triple-doubles.

The game was a rematch of last year’s FIBA World Cup final, which was won by Germany. Serbia led throughout in this one, building as much as a 19-point lead in the third quarter .

Franz Wagner had 19 points to lead Germany. Mortiz Wagner added 16.

The World Cup win was part a 12-game win streak in major international competition for the Germans, who won their first four games in Paris to reach the semifinals. But they lost their final two, also falling to host France on Thursday.

Germany made a push late in the fourth quarter, whittling Serbia’s lead to 82-74 on a layup by Wagner. Serbia responded with an 11-4 run to push it back above double digits.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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