Undoubtedly, regarding sports when it comes to an Olympic year the best has to be unquestionably the event under the five rings, and Paris 2024 edition was a great success.

From the spectacular stages full of history, the outstanding individual and collective performances and the closest fight for the medal table in decades, the Parisian games left no one untroubled.

The spectacular duel in the medal table between the United States and China, won by the northern nation just by having more silver medals, was the perfect of an increasingly competitive scenario, in which no one can rest assure of its position on the chart.

Undoubtedly, among the great protagonists was the most successful gymnast of all times, the North American Simone Biles, who decided to retire in the middle of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to safeguard her mental health and returned in style.

Three gold medals and one more bronze left her as the only gymnast with seven gold medals in the Olympic Games.

The King among men was the French swimmer Leon Marchand, who made the local fans delirious throughout the event with a surprising performance despite his quality.

Our Mijaín López, the only winner of five gold medals in a row in the same event, obviously deserves a separate paragraph.

The Paralympics also had many impressive moments, but since Cuba had a remarkable performance here, we will leave that for another time.

Botswana's Letsile Tebogo was selected as the best athlete in the world, but we cannot fail to mention pole vaulter Armand Duplantis with his cascade of records.

The farewell of the Spaniard Rafael Nadal marked the tennis season, along with the rise of the young Italian Jannik Sinner to the top of the world rankings, after winning his first two Grand Slams: the Australian and US Opens.

In addition, Italy's leadership in white sport was confirmed by winning the Davis Cup championship twice, led by the 23-year-old redhead.

Much more was expected from the Iberian Carlos Alcaraz, who was set up as Rafa's natural heir, but despite winning at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, his campaign was very irregular and ended below expectations in 2024.

In football, the most important thing was Argentina's triumphs in the Copa América and Spain's in the Euro Cup, the latter with a brilliant performance. At club level, Real Madrid set the pace with its triumph in the Champions League, in addition to other trophies, and individually there was a distribution of honors, since the axis of La Roja, Rodri Hernández, won the Ballon D’Or , and the Brazilian Vinicius Jr. has just won The Best awarded by FIFA.

In international baseball, the most notable was the triumph of Chinese Taipei in the Premier 12 and in professional baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers and their spectacular roster, after beating the New York Yankees in just five games in the Major League World Series. Aaron Judge, Dominican Juan Soto and Japanese Shohei Ohtani had outstanding performances.

Formula One confirmed Dutchman Max Verstappen as the best of all, after completing his fourth consecutive world drivers' championship, while in MotoGP the Spaniard Jorge Martín triumphed for the first time. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar was the undisputed figure of cycling, winning the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the World Road Championships in the same year. This "triple crown" had only been achieved twice before: by Eddy Merckx in 1974 and Stephen Roche in 1987.

In the swimming pools, in addition to Marchand, the spotlight was on the Americans Kate Douglass, Regan Smith and Gretchen Walsh, who shone throughout the 12 months with several world records.

The world of sport was also marked by increasingly frequent complaints from athletes about the overload of the calendar to keep the business going. Football is the most affected and the most media-friendly, but complaints spread to tennis and motor sports, which also expanded their competitions.

Of course, there are some facts left to mention, especially in team sports, but here is what had the most impact in general.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff