The Olympic Games Look A Lot More Joyful This Year—And We’re All for It

It’s been a while since the Olympics have been, well, this fun.

Whatever is in the air (we won’t talk about what’s in the water—specifically in the Seine), we’d like to bottle it up. Snoop Dogg in full equestrian garb, dancing with a horse? Yes, please. Ilona Maher looking for love in the Olympic Village (ahem, “the Villa”)? We’d tune into an ongoing series. And now we even know the muffin man: He’s a Norwegian swimmer named Henrik Christiansen who can’t get enough chocolate treats in the cafeteria.

Wearing glasses is now iconic, thanks to Stephen Nedoroscik, a.k.a. the pommel horse guy or gymnastics Clark Kent, who became an unlikely hero not just for solving a rubik’s cube in less than a minute, but also swooping in to help Team USA take the bronze medal in the men’s team competition. Our utmost gratitude will always go to Bob the Cap Catcher, who bravely dove to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a rogue swim cap, wearing the most colorful speedo on deck.

The Paris Games have not just showcased the best athletic talent on the planet, they’ve also put us on notice: Joy is back.

It’s no secret that we’ve been through dark days (okay, dark years!) of late. Of course we’ll continue to grapple with the countless injustices and cruelties of the world, but it’s become clear that we can also forge on with levity amid all this serious business. The 2024 Olympics have shown us how.

Case in point: At the end of her competition at the 2024 Olympics, Simone Biles, now the most decorated gymnast in history, called her experience this year “pure joy.” Juxtapose it with her early exit from competition at the Tokyo Games to tend to her mental health, which came as USA Gymnastics was reeling from reckoning of allegations of abuse and long-standing mistreatment of its athletes. One thing I couldn’t help but notice: The apparent tension and fear that I’d seen previously on the faces of the girls and women competing for Team USA were nowhere to be found in Paris, replaced by what appeared to be an authentic enjoyment of their sport and appreciation of the Games. That could be seen when Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera were celebrating big wins, sure—and they got those in Paris, definitely—but also when they were simply cheering on their teammates, warming up, or chilling after a match.