This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading TMW today. Hope you had a fantastic weekend and have an even better week ahead of you.
Can you believe the Olympics are already over? Feels like the Games just started yesterday.
Here’s your final medal count for the Olympics:
— United States: 126 (40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze)
— China: 91 (40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze)
— Great Britain: 65 (14 gold, 22 silver, 28 bronze)
— France: 64 (16 gold, 26 silver, 22 bronze)
— Australia: 53 (18 gold, 18 silver, 16 bronze)
— Japan: 45 (20 gold, 12 silver, 13 bronze)
I don’t know what it is, but in each passing year I get more and more nostalgic for the Summer Olympics. They’ve always meant something to me as a sports fan, obviously. But as more time goes by the event becomes more emotional for me. My investment into athletes — many of whom I just learned about for the first time two weeks ago — grows deeper.
It doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the magic of the Olympics, right? It brings hundreds of cultures and millions of people from across the globe together and creates heroes and legacies that will last forever.
Simply put, it’s the best. Let’s review some of the moments we saw in these games.
The Good!
The magic of the moments is what these Olympic games are about. We got plenty of them throughout these last two weeks in Paris.
- The U.S. men’s incredible gymnastics bronze medal win felt like the first big “moment” of the Olympics. Remember my guy Steve!?
- Simone Biles cemented herself as the GOAT with her 11th Olympic medal, making her the most decorated gymnast ever
- The United States also dominated in the pool again. Katie Ledecky did her thing. She’ll always be untouchable. There were other moments, though, like when Bobby Finke won gold in the men’s 1500 freestyle. That was electric.
- We also can’t forget about the electric women’s Rugby team’s bronze medal win. That was an ending right out of the storybook.
- Sha’Carri Richardson got her first Olympic gold with the women’s 4×100 team and created this moment for herself.
- The women’s 4×400 team also did their thing thanks to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who was so good on the second leg of the race that the U.S. side could’ve jogged the rest of the way and still won. She also set a world record in the 400m hurdles race.
- Let’s not forget Noah Lyles’ gold-winning moment in the men’s 100m sprint. This is one of the closest races we’ve ever seen.
- Julien Alfred’s big moment for Saint Lucia was awesome, too. Track was so fun this year.
- And let’s not forget that we saw breakdancing! I still can’t believe this is a thing. Shoutout to Raygun tho.
I know I’m missing some moments, but this list is getting pretty long. You can see all 40 of the United States’ gold medals here. Relive the moments.
The bad!
Unfortunately, these Olympics weren’t without scandals and mishaps. It happens every cycle. There’s always something that takes a bit of the shine off of the clean fun we’re all having.
- Jordan Chiles having her bronze medal taken away by the IOC after winning it in the floor routine doesn’t sit right with me. It’s not her fault the judges didn’t accurately assign her difficulty score beforehand.
- Imane Khelif being bulled after her opponent and the internet insinuating that she wasn’t a woman was absolutely infuriating. Shoutout to her for winning gold.
- Noah Lyles catching COVID and collapsing after the men’s 200m race was definitely a scary sight. That virus is no joke, folks.
- Canada’s women’s soccer team using spy drones to watch their opponents’ practices was the very first scandal of the Games. Definitely not a good look.
The Hilarious
The Olympics wouldn’t be the Olympics without the memes, right? These Games were pretty funny.
- At the top of the list is Raygun, the Australian breakdancer who is inspiring us all to get up and find something in the 2028 Games we can do. Love you, Raygun.
- This Hamish Kerr meme will live forever. I’m going to use this so much in my group chat. I can’t wait.
- Same with the Simone Biles shocked face, honestly.
- I will also never forget the Assassin’s Creed person the Olympics used for the opening and closing ceremonies. Appreciate you, Ezio.
- The fact that Snoop Dogg was just everywhere is never not going to be funny to me. Because, like, what?
Thank you, Paris. This was great.
Quick hits: Bet on the Chiefs … The Fantasy Football greenlight … and more
— Prince Grimes says bettors are splurging on the Chiefs and says you should probably go with the flow on this one.
— Charles Curtis is giving you eight players that you should draft this year in your Fantasy Football league
— Jarren Duran apologized for using a homophobic slur toward the crowd, Mary Clarke writes. Big Yikes with a capital Y.
— Here’s Mitchell Northam with five things to know about the 2026 Winter Games and the 2028 Summer Games now that Paris is over.
— Kahleah Copper’s nickname for herself is so cold. Robert Zeglinski has more.
— Nikola Jokic was so happy winning his bronze medal with Serbia. What a moment.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading! Peace.
-Sykes ✌️