For the past two weeks, Team PWR LIFT has been glued to our TVs watching the Olympics. Some of us lucky ones were actually spectating in Paris IRL. But no matter where you were watching the Olympics from, if you’re anything like us, you probably couldn’t help but feel elated for and inspired by these world-class, top one percent athletes representing their countries on the biggest of stages.

There were so many incredible moments that’ll go down in history from these 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but here are 10 of our favorites.

1. U.S. Gymnastics Medals and Simone Biles, the GOAT

There’s nothing better than seeing the greatest gymnast of all time, Simone Biles, back out there leading the U.S. women to a gold medal in the team all-around, proving themselves as the top team in the world once again after a silver in the Tokyo Olympics. Simone not only won the team gold but also the individual all-around gold, vault gold, and a silver on the floor. But this year we’re not just talking about the U.S. women’s gymnastic dynasty, because the U.S. men’s team also medaled for the first time in 16 years, when the bronze medal came down to Stephen Nedoroscik’s pommel horse routine and he nailed it.

2. The Absolute Dominance of Katie Ledecky

Paris was Katie Ledecky’s fourth Olympics, her first being when she was just 15 years old in London, and she’s still winning gold medals. Her 1,500-meter freestyle victory in Paris with a time of 15:30.02 set a new Olympic record and made her the most decorated U.S. female Olympian in history and the most decorated woman in the history of swimming. Katie also won gold in the 800-meter freestyle, silver in the 4x200-meter relay, and bronze in the 400-meter freestyle—and she’s not done yet, as she’s already said she’ll be looking to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

3. French Swimming Phenom Léon Marchand Becomes a Hero in His Home Country

Taking home four medals in one Olympics is legendary, but how about taking home four gold medals, plus one bronze? Léon Marchand became a French icon this Olympics by not only winning four gold medals but also breaking the Olympic record in each and every one of his gold medal races. Talk about being a hometown hero.

4. U.S. Women’s Rugby Took Home First Medal Ever

As three-time Olympian Ilona Maher said best, “I think today we really made the jersey better so that other young girls can grow up wanting to play rugby.”

Coming out of the bronze medal game with a win after a neck and neck battle with Australia to secure the first medal ever for U.S. women’s rugby was truly inspiring. The last time Americans brought home hardware in rugby was in 1924 when the men’s team won gold.

5. Noah Lyles’ Thrilling Photo Finish Gold

Noah Lyles can officially call himself the world’s fastest man for the next four years, after winning the gold medal in the 100-meter dash by five-thousandths of a second to end the U.S. drought for the first time since Justin Gatlin won in 2004. Fellow American Fred Kerley also secured the bronze medal in the race. Had it not been for a case of Covid, Noah Lyles could have maybe pulled off the elusive 100-meter/200-meter gold medal double, but for now, we’ll be (im)patiently waiting for his next attempt in four years.

6. Sha’Carri’s Redemption

After missing the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, we were all pulling for Sha’Carri Richardson, who was poised to win gold in the 100-meter dash, but unfortunately a slow start out of the blocks and lack of time to properly warm up kept her from winning the title of world’s fastest woman. She still snagged the silver medal in the 100, but what was even more impressive was the way she came back to anchor the U.S. 4x100-meter relay to a decisive gold medal victory. She’s one of the toughest athletes out there, and she’s really just getting started.

7. U.S. Women’s Soccer Ends Olympic Drought

The last time the U.S. women’s soccer team won an Olympic gold medal was 2012 in London. In 2016 in Rio, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals, and three years ago in Tokyo they had to settle for the bronze medal. This year, new coach Emma Hayes led a young team with a bright future to their first gold medal in over a decade.

8. U.S. Basketball Comes Back to the States Dripping in Gold

Led by A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, the U.S. women’s basketball team won their eighth straight gold medal by one point in an intense, back-and-forth battle with France. The future is only getting brighter for this women’s team too, as throughout Olympic play we saw some incredible chemistry and showcasing of skills from many young players on the national roster.

On the men’s side, Steph Curry was putting up three-pointers left and right to lead the team to their fifth straight gold medal, also against France.

9. Shutting Down Athletics With Two U.S. Dubs in the 4x4

It was gold medals all around for the U.S. men’s and women’s 4x400-meter relay squads. The U.S. men were looking for redemption after a disappointing 4x100-meter relay showing due to messy handoffs, and they got it with the powerhouse team comprised of Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon (silver in the mixed 4x400-meter relay), and Rai Benjamin (gold in the 400-meter hurdles), posting an Olympic-record time of 2:54.43 to best Botswana and Great Britain, who took silver and bronze respectively.

The U.S. women were looking to back up their teammates’ 4x100-meter relay win, which they did, handily, with flawless race execution from sprinter vets Shamier Little (silver in the mixed 4x400-meter relay), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (gold in the 400-meter hurdles while breaking her own world record for the fifth time), Gabby Thomas (gold in the 200 meters and 4x100-meter relay), and Alexis Holmes (sixth in the 400 meters with a new personal best in the final), shattering the Olympic record as well as posting a new American record of 3:15.27 which hadn’t been broken for 36 years.

10. Sifan Hassan’s Medal Trifecta

No athlete has ever attempted to run all three of the longest distance events—the 5000 meters, 10000 meters, and marathon—in the Olympics in 40 years. Only one other athlete, the great Czech runner Emil Zátopek, has ever medaled in all three events—until now, because Sifan Hassan is THAT GIRL. She ended her Paris journey with a sprint finish win in the women’s marathon on Sunday, to cap off a historical Olympics for her, as she also took bronze in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

Training Advice From an Olympian

All of these incredible performances and more have certainly been inspiring us to take our own athletic endeavors to new heights. We know that none of the athletes who compete at the highest level just magically appeared on the world stage. It took years of dedication and hours on hours of training to get to these peak moments of their careers.

We heard from swimmer Connor Jaeger, two-time Olympian (2012 and 2016) and silver medalist in the 1,500-meter freestyle in Rio in 2016, a little bit about what habits he picked up from his Olympic training experience that he continues to use in his training (and life) today, in the hopes that we can learn a thing or two that we can take into our own training (and lives):

“I’ve tried to carry many lessons from my athletic career into my post-swimming life. One example, which is a bit more abstract, relates to how I began to think of myself as a 24-hour athlete towards the end of my competitive years. The concept of being a 24-hour athlete means that you’re not just an athlete while you're in the pool or weight room; you’re an athlete throughout the entire day.

The decisions I made were all considered in the context of 'How does this prepare me for my next practice or meet?' Whether evaluating the quality of my next meal, sleep, alcohol intake, or stress, the goal was to make each decision with the aim of improving performance.

In college, you could cram a semester’s worth of studying into a few weeks if needed. The same isn’t true for training, nor is it true for your career. You can’t cram a season’s worth of training or any part of your career into a week.

These things require maintaining good health, energy, and attitude over long periods of time. That’s why I continue to think of myself as a 24-hour athlete. To have the impact on my team that I want, I need to be ready to perform each day.”

Now if all of this Olympic talk doesn’t make us want to get outside, in the gym, or wherever else we get after it and PWR UP, we don’t know what will. See you at the next Olympics. 😉