A summer of golden memories
The highlight of 2024's sporting calendar was, without doubt, the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, where big stars shone on the brightest stage and iconic moments became viral gold.
4: Biles bounces back
Simone Biles proved as popular a draw as the Eiffel Tower, the 1.42-meter bundle of gymnastics brilliance standing tall on her return to the Olympics after the trauma of Tokyo in 2021.
In Japan she was forced to withdraw from most of the Games with a debilitating mental block known as the "twisties".Three years on, watched by an enraptured full house at Bercy Arena including her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, Tom Cruise and Lady Gaga, Biles resumed the golden run she started at Rio 2016.
Biles pipped Rebeca Andrade of Brazil for the coveted all-around crown on her last move on the floor.
That was book-ended by titles with the US team and vault — where she executed her Yurchenko double pike, the Biles II, her sixth eponymous skill.
Stumbles on the final day, as tiredness — both mentally and physically — set in, left her with silver behind Andrade on the floor.
In a mark of her class as a person she bowed to the Brazilian on the podium.
