2024 Olympians with aura

The flame of the Paris Olympics has long ceased to burn and yet, its memorable individual stories won’t die down for years to come. After a closing ceremony which saw Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise glide down into the Stade de France to whisk the Olympic flag over to Los Angeles (the Summer Games’ next port of call in 2028), it’s as good an excuse as any to remember the athletes who were the stars of their own stories this summer – those who have amassed ‘aura points’, to use social media’s latest coinage.

Aura was the name of the Greek goddess of the breeze, so it is perhaps fitting that a sporting tradition which originated in Greece has seen the Gen Z-beloved word take off. Denoting the coolness factor one emits, having aura is the perfect way to describe some of these sensational athletes who lit up Paris.

10) Gabriel Medina

Many impressive photos did the rounds on social media during these Games, each of them lauded as iconic Olympic snapshots. None more so than the one you’ve probably seen of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina appearing to levitate above the water mid-celebration, after hitting an almost-perfect score of 9.90, the highest ever for a single wave since surfing was introduced to the Olympics in Tokyo. Medina ultimately received a bronze medal in the men’s shortboard, but he won elsewhere with that viral photo, which will be seen again and again in Olympic retrospectives.

9) Sifan Hassan

After France banned its athletes from wearing hijabs at these Games, Ethiopian-born Dutch marathon winner Sifan Hassan took the decision to wear one at her medal presentation during the closing ceremony. With a packed Stade de France looking on, her headwear sent a powerful message of support to all Muslim women, especially in France, and was praised by many commentators. The moment capped an impressive Games for Hassan, who became the first person since 1952 to medal in each of the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres, and marathon events at the same Olympics.

8) Arshad Nadeem

Winning your country’s first Olympic gold in four decades is itself special, let alone its first ever individual gold. Even more so is achieving the feat against your international rival, whilst also smashing an Olympic record in the process. Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem achieved all of these at once in Paris, extending the prior record of 90.57 metres to 92.97 metres and beating Indian reigning champion Neeraj Chopra. Nadeem’s victory was celebrated into the night in the Punjabi capital of Lahore, while he was greeted with a hero’s welcome and a street parade upon his return. His success will be cherished in Pakistan for years to come.

7) Nada Hafez and Yaylagul Ramazanova

Pregnant athletes have competed at the Olympics before, but it’s certainly a rare occurrence. Egypt’s Nada Hafez revealed after her elimination that she had competed in the fencing competition whilst seven months pregnant. She revealed on Instagram that, “what appears to you as two players on the podium, they were actually three! It was me, my competitor, and my yet-to-come to our world, little baby!” Azerbaijaini archer Yaylagul Ramazanova also announced she had been six-and-a-half months pregnant during the Games, telling Xinhua News that “I felt my baby kick me before I shot this last arrow, and then I shot a 10.” Those babies will have some stories to tell when they’re older.

6) Stephen Nedoroscik

US gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik didn’t have much to do in the men’s team final. He was frequently seen sitting on the sidelines and even appearing to doze off at times while waiting over two hours to complete his sole routine. In fact, Nedoroscik was just gearing up for a powerhouse display on the pommel horse to secure a bronze for the team. A Rubiks-cube-obsessed geek when not plying his trade in the gym, Nedoroscik gained a cult following after helping the US men to finally return to the team podium. Clark Kent, they called him, and he really did become Superman when he stepped up for his big moment. An individual pommel horse bronze soon followed – and an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show post-Games.

Sporting aura is the belief in your own greatness, something that all of these fantastic athletes displayed

5) Katie Ledecky

Imagine finishing a swimming final a full ten seconds faster than the runner-up. You couldn’t see US swimmer Katie Ledecky’s competitors on the TV screen when she touched the wall in the 1,500 metres freestyle, on the path to becoming the fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history and the woman with the joint-most gold medals. Ledecky has successively broken her own world record multiple times in the category since 2013. It is an unbelievable accomplishment to dominate in this way across an entire career – she deserves her admirers.

4) Yusuf Dikeç and Kim Yeji

Shooting, one of those niche sports so often amplified by the Olympics, brought us two of the classiest athletes the Games have seen. Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç went viral for his minimalist, laid-back approach. Nothing more than a man and his gun (Dikeç did not use any of the high-tech gear usually seen in such events), he managed to grab a silver medal, leading many viewers to jokingly declare his day job to be a hitman. Meanwhile, South Korean markswoman Kim Yeji also became a cult favourite with fans. The gold medal winner resembled a cyberpunk video game boss, oozing cool with her hand in her pocket like she wasn’t competing for the biggest prize in sport. To cap it all off, she won it.

3) Armand Duplantis

It is no mean feat to break a world record, but what about then breaking your own for the eighth time? Swedish Pole vaulter Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis, after hyping up the crowd, did just that, retaining his gold from Tokyo with a leap of 6.25 metres. His rivals were even standing around hoping to see the new record set. Mondo celebrated with a Dikeç-style shooting stance, reflecting the class of his fellow viral sportsman and the ease with which he seemed to forge his own success. Bounding into the arms of his girlfriend in the ecstasy of victory, TikTok was quick to obsess over hers and Mondo’s romance – a hike in followers was inevitable. At the Olympics, it is sometimes the smaller sports that can come out of the shadows and provide the best stories.

2) Léon Marchand

In the swimming pool, it was a Frenchman who ruled the waves. Léon Marchand, billed as the new Michael Phelps, set two Olympic records on his way to a dominating haul of four gold medals. Listening to his home crowd shout whenever his head surfaced in the breaststroke, it looked all too easy for him and at no point did a comeback seem too late. Marchand posted a photo of himself atop the Eiffel Tower at the close of the Games and must have felt on top of the world hearing La Marseillaise play twice in one night after winning two golds in one swimming session. Needless to say, he is already carving out his own piece of Olympic history.

1) Simone Biles

Iconic US gymnast Simone Biles was the big talking point heading into Paris. Her gold medal haul in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago at 19 years old was followed by struggles with “the twisties” in Tokyo (a temporary struggle to perform air movements). Would she mount a defiant comeback to cement herself as arguably the greatest gymnast of all time? Of course she would. Golds in the team and individual artistic events, alongside the vault, came one after another. The diminutive American later revealed she was wearing a goat necklace, a symbol of her titanic reputation in gymnastics. “It’s an ode,” said Biles to reporters, “A lot of people call me the G.O.A.T, so I thought it would be really special if I got one made. And the haters hate it, so I love that even more.” No wonder she vaulted back onto the Olympics scene, because sporting aura is exactly that – belief in your own greatness. That’s what all these fantastic athletes displayed.