Last night, the Olympics came to an end at the Stade de France.¹ The athletes paraded around the running track one last time. The Olympic flame was quenched.

Paris 2024 closes after almost three weeks of extraordinary feats and dramatic monuments, as well as some controversy.²

This edition has been a hit. Sportswriter Bruce Arthur has suggested it might be "the best Olympics ever". But when the hype dies down, what lessons can its athletes teach us?

1. Sportsmanship is alive and well. Many believe that sport can teach fair play, courage and hard work. French philosopher Albert CamusA French philosopher and author, born in 1913. famously claimed he owed his moralityA system of values based what one believes to be right and just. to football.

Athletes at Paris 2024 showed this in abundance. Japanese gymnast Daiki Hashimoto shushed his cheering fans so that his rival could concentrate. After South Sudan's Lucia Moris collapsed, her Laotian opponent Silina Pha Aphay ran back to help her. As French swimmer Florent Manaudou said: "It's full of joy, of good mood, from day one."

2. Humans have no limits. Athletes pushed against the possible. French swimming star Leon Marchand set an Olympic record in four categories. Guatemala's trap shooter Adriana Ruano broke the women's high score and became her country's first gold medallist. And Sweden's Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault record for the ninth time.³

Some scientists think that athletes are reaching the limits of human capability, that we will soon stop smashing records. But these Olympics saw people challenging limits against all odds.

3. Migration is good for nations. The Olympics celebrate the talents of athletes from everywhere. They also shine a spotlight on how immigration can push a country's sporting prowess to new heights.

In London 2012, for instance, over a third of Britain's medal winners were born abroad or had a foreign parent or grandparent. The 5,000m-winner Mo Farah was born in Somalia and moved to the UK aged eight. Paris 2024 was equally diverse.

4. Winning is all about maths. This year, the nerds took over. Marchand is a computer science student. American champion 200m runner Gabby Thomas studied neurobiologyThe biology of the nervous system. at HarvardA top US university, founded in 1636. . And these are just two of many academically inclined athletes at this year's Olympics.

Top athletes can use science and maths to assess risk, calculate angles and experiment. As US fencer Elizabeth Tartakovsky says: "You have to use your brain and think very hard and think independently."

5. Age is just a number. A new generation of young stars has emerged. China's 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao is one of the youngest Olympians of all time.⁴ Australian skateboarding champion Arisa Trew is only 14. She won Gold after becoming the first woman to land a 720.⁵ 

But the work of older athletes is perhaps even more extraordinary. Team GB skateboarder Andy Macdonald is 51. Chilean table tennis ace Zhiying Zeng is 58. And Spanish horse rider Juan Antonio Jimenez competed aged 65.

Was Paris the best ever?

Yes: Smashed records, stars young and old, touching moments and a French joie de vivre after Tokyo's Covid-era coldness: Paris 2024 might usher in a new era for the Olympics, one that is friendly and full of nerds.

No: Shameful controversies, a rain-soaked opening ceremony, brutal injuries, signs that athletes are reaching their limits: Paris 2024 had its triumphs, but otherwise it was Olympic business as usual.

Or... All Olympics have their light and shade. Paris 2024 is no exception. But ultimately the Olympics are just a brief sideshow to normal, day-to-day life. Whatever we feel today will be forgotten by the time the next one comes along.

FOR YOUR SUMMER READING CHALLENGE CLUE GO TO STEP SIX IN THE SIX STEPS TO DISCOVERY BELOW.