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All and all, the Summer Olympics were a big hit.

In these parts TV viewers enjoyed watching the American stars shine bright.  Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, Steph Curry and Noah Lyles led the charges as the U.S. side prevailed in many high-profile events.

But the U.S. nearly lost the gold medal games to France on both sides. Curry saved the men with his late shooting spree while Kahleah Copper saved the women with clutch shooting at the end.

Team USA men’s basketball coach Steve Kerr leaned heavily on a “Legends of the NBA” player rotation at the expense of younger players. So Jayson Tatum spent much of the Olympic tournament watching LeBron James and/or Kevin Durant play.

That raised the question of whether Tatum would sign up for the next go-around in Los Angeles, when presumably LeBron would want to team up with Bronny for father-son marketing gold.

“It was a tough personal experience on the court, but I'm not going to make any decision off emotions," Tatum told reporters. “If you asked me right now if I was going to play in 2028 -- it is four years from now and I [would have] to take time and think about that. So I'm not going to make any decision based off how this experience was or how I felt individually.”

We expect Tatum will be motivated to the Boston Celtics to more NBA titles at the expense of the aging stars who played ahead of him in Paris.

“A lot of people text me and reached out and said 'Make sure this fuels you,' which I appreciate. There's a lot of people that care about me," Tatum said. "I think the tough part is yes, you can use things to fuel you, but I'm still human.”

The women needed to knock down late free throws to outlast the persistent French. Also, the desperate shot at the game's end was just a two-point for France, not a trey.

“Great players show up whenever their name is called,” Copper said. “I think the story of my career is just me staying ready, the preparation meeting, the opportunity and then just taking off from there. I think I just, I'm that player whenever my name is called, I'm going to go out there and give it all I had.”

Thank goodness she did, became had the U.S. lost coach Cheryl Reeve would have spent the rest of her life defending the absence of young WNBA stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark from the team.

Controversies are inevitable at the Olympics. And sure enough, the IOC took time out from counting its money to strip gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal under questionable circumstances. The U.S. is appealing that ruling.

“We firmly believe that Jordan rightfully earned the bronze medal, and there were critical errors in both the initial scoring by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the subsequent CAS appeal process that need to be addressed,” the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif found herself in the middle of the ongoing culture wars, with observers accusing her of being a man. This came after opponent Angela Carini quit her bout against Khelif after absorbing a couple of hard punches, something that comes with the sport.

Here’s what folks were writing about the Olympics:

Barry Svrluga, Washington Post: “The Olympic cauldron here was unlike any other, a hot-air balloon that rose nightly above Jardin des Tuileries. That garden, the largest in this gorgeous city, is bordered by the Louvre on one side, the Seine on another and the Rue de Rivoli to the north, and it is a short walk to the Champs-Élysées. What a picture. What a place. The Olympics needed a reset. Paris provided it. In competition, sure, but the competition always has a way of burying whatever controversy du jour precedes it, regardless of where the Games are held or how the Chablis-sipping bureaucrats from the International Olympic Committee profit from it all. Leon Marchand and Stephen Curry. Simone Biles and Summer McIntosh. Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecky. Stars, all. But the showstopping star here was the city of Paris, a stage without peer. It would be one thing to have a beach volleyball court that sits in the shadow of an iconic monument, another to stage fencing in a breathtaking palace, yet another to put the equestrian competition in the gardens of a 17th-century chateau. Paris did them all — and more.”

Rob Mahoney, The Ringer: “There’s a difference between being a part of history and making it. The latter takes some magic, a legend, a moment. It takes, as it turns out, someone like Steph Curry. Gold medals are given out every few years, but the ones we remember are the medals with a story to tell: like that of a legendary team on the brink, rescued by a string of increasingly preposterous jumpers from the greatest shooter to ever live. Team USA won gold at the Paris Olympics—as was expected from the moment the Americans put together one of the most decorated rosters ever assembled. LeBron James, who first played for the national team two decades ago, organized a team of former MVPs and All-NBA standouts. Kevin Durant became the first man to win four Olympic golds in basketball—and along the way, surpassed Lisa Leslie as USA Basketball’s all-time leading scorer. The U.S.’s 98-87 victory over France on Saturday marked Curry’s first medal in his first Olympic games, and at 36 years old, it’s likely to be his last. Yet in his one Olympic run, he provided Team USA with one of its most indelible images: a dramatic, wrongfooted shot from deep to seal the game and the gold, hoisted over the top of two closing French defenders.”

Dan Wolken, USA Today: “You couldn’t ask for too much more from Simone Biles and crew. The Americans won the team final, Biles took gold in the women’s all-around and vault while adding silver in the floor exercise, while Suni Lee and Jade Carey added bronze medals in individual events. Jordan Chiles won bronze in the floor exercise but was told Sunday by the IOC she has to return the medal after Romania filed an appeal. Biles, 27, now has a mind-blowing 11 Olympic medals, seven of which are gold.”

Dana O’Neil, The Athletic: “The lasting image I will take is Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowing to Rebeca Andrade after the Brazilian won a floor exercise gold medal. An iconic moment and message, but what the three Olympians did was summarized every day outside of every venue where ordinary people showed the same Olympic spirit. People bearing the flags and colors of their countries mingled on the sidewalks, and inside the cafes, wishing each other well and congratulating them on their victories. The world can feel pretty insular, but the Olympics reminded me that the people who make up the world are pretty great. That’s the message I’ll take home, and the best thing I saw every single day in Paris.”

Cole Harvey, : “Years from now, I'll never forget the photo-finish ‘lean.’  It was the move Noah Lyles needed for one major win. Speaking of Lyles, he had the wildest Olympics of any American medalist. To go from being on top of the world with gold on a Sunday, to receiving an alarming diagnosis that Tuesday, to pouring every ounce of his COVID illness into a bronze on Thursday, to having to drop out of a relay that Friday, Lyles' Olympics was, in a word, frenetic. But even with the drama during his time in Paris, the show he and seven of the world's next-fastest men put on during the first Sunday of track at Stade de France was one I'll always remember.”

Lauren Theisen,��The Defector: “The 2024 Olympic edition of the USWNT was not the most impressive or dominant version we've ever seen. The exhausted squad that squeezed into the gold-medal game against sentimental favorites Brazil represented the inevitable awkwardness of an organization adjusting to new management, chasing legends of the past, and fending off more and more worthy challengers on the international scene. But with their third straight 1-0 win in a knockout game, made possible by Alyssa Naeher's clutch saves and one manufactured moment of difference, the U.S. women renewed their claim to best in the world. And for all that's changed about this team since their 2015 and 2019 World Cup victories, or their last Olympic triumph in 2012, ‘best’ still means the same as it always did, and gold is just as shiny.”

Candace Buckner, Washington Post: “‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was climbing to its conclusion, and Brittney Griner couldn’t stop the tears. Since her right hand was over her heart and in her left she held a Paris Olympics poster in a cardboard box, Griner had no way to wipe her reddened, wet eyes. She swallowed hard, as though to calm and reset herself. And try as she might, blinking them away didn’t work, either. An instrumental version of the national anthem played following the U.S. women’s basketball team’s gold medal win Sunday, and Griner cried. Her tears framed her round cheeks and streamed down her face. She was the only one on the podium so moved. Then again, she might have been the only woman on the podium who had to play through PTSD at these Olympics. And she probably was the only person in the arena who had served time in a Russian penal colony. The anthem stirred up memories. Those flashes from the past could have been from two years ago, when she was forced to strip naked for the lewd entertainment of Russian soldiers, or maybe all the way back to a middle school bathroom, when the girl viewed as different was treated as though she did not belong. But the anthem played, and Griner listened and cried because the notes now mean so much. It was her song.”

Matt Futterman, The Athletic: “I’ve seen Novak Djokovic win just about everything over the years, including his record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last year. But no one had seen him win an Olympic gold medal, because somehow he hadn’t. He was desperate to win that medal. He said he wanted it more than he wanted to win any tournament this year, including Wimbledon. When he did, playing the most remarkable two sets and nearly three hours of tennis I have ever seen, because Carlos Alcaraz, his opponent, was also playing some of the most remarkable tennis that anyone can play, he fell to the clay and shook with tears. Really, he was shaking uncontrollably. You could see his thumb quivering on the clay. He’s 37. He’s won everything. Seeing him shake like that, and then climb into the crowd and wail like a small child when his daughter Tara grabbed him around the neck … that got me, and it will stay with me for a long time.”

MEGAPHONE

“I’ve been consistent over these last few months, and last few years, in saying that I would love to compete in LA. And that hasn’t changed.”

Swimmer Katie Ladecky, on the potential of adding to her pile of 14 Olympic medals at the next Olympics.