Oval offices: Everything at an Olympics is a moment for someone; a lifetime of work typically coming down to a few seconds. But in Paris, a few stood out more than others. Start with Sifan Hassan (far right), trading elbows in the stretch of the marathon to win her third distance medal — this one gold. Or Cole Hocker (right), looking like Forrest Gump in coming from nowhere to beat the two favorites in the men’s 1,500-meter run. The highlight, of course, was Noah Lyles’ .005-second victory (above) in the 100-meter dash. He ran the fastest time of his life and didn’t take the lead until the absolute last instant, a finish that even had commentators guessing wrong about who actually prevailed.

“Nuit nuit”: Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors’ superstar sharpshooter, made his Olympic debut one to remember and saved his best for last. He hit four 3-pointers in the final minutes, each shot more dramatic than the last, to seal the U.S. win over host France for gold. Curry’s signature celebration is the “night night,” where he puts his hands together at the side of his face, as if it’s time to go to sleep. In Paris, he brought shirts that made it perfectly clear to the French what that meant — yes, the message written on the shirts was “nuit nuit.”

An Olympic walk-off: OK, technically, the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team won the Olympic bronze medal with a kick (a conversion, they call it). But the real moment was Alex Sedrick (above), running the length of the field and into history. Sedrick got the ball with about 8 seconds left, ran through three Australia defenders and took it all the way down the field for a try that tied the game at 12-12 with no time left. Her kick won bronze for the Americans, a result that made star Ilona Maher — the undisputed face of the sport in the U.S. — an even bigger name and breathed new life into the sport in a country where it still has tons of room to grow.

Scheffler’s year: World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler 9above) had a year of moments — most of them great (nine wins worldwide), one of them bizarre (the arrest at the PGA Championship). But the signature moment of 2024 for Scheffler might have been weeping as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played in honor of his Olympic golf gold medal in Paris. He rallied from six shots back with a final-round 62 to win the gold.