Day 16 Paris 2024 Olympics: the Games end

11 August 2024: Women from start to end - the women’s marathon started the last day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the women’s basketball ended it.

It was estimated to be 34C today in Paris as 91 women started the women’s Olympic marathon. Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands took gold with an Olympic record time of 2:22:55. She also won a bronze medal in the 5,000m race and a bronze in the 10,000m race; being the first woman in Olympic history to take medals in all three events.

Ethiopian Tigst Assefa took silver, three seconds behind, with 2:22:58, while Kenyan Hellen Obiri took bronze with a personal best of 2:23:10.

Australian Jessica Stenson finished 13^th with 2:26:45. Eleven runners did not finish the tough course under the heat.

Bhutan’s Kinzang Lhamo found fame in her marathon effort to finish 90 minutes after the leader to resounding cheers from the supportive crowd. Her time was 3:52:59 – a personal best.

Australia has already won bronze in the women’s basketball, as the Opals defeated Belgium 85-81. France and USA fought to the end, with USA taking the gold medal by one point: 67-66.

There is a two week break before the Paralympic Games takes place over 10 days in Paris from Wednesday 28 August to Sunday 8 September. My volunteer involvement steps up significantly for the Paralympics with full time work in Press Operations at the Grand Palais.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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Martina Nicolls is an Australian author and international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, and foreign aid audits and evaluations. She lives in Paris.

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