Memorable Paris Olympics wraps up after seeing several historical firsts

The curtain has come down on Paris 2024 capping off a memorable Olympic Games in the French capital which served as the perfect backdrop to a series of breathtaking performances and a host of firsts.

Sunday's closing ceremony marked the end of 17 days of intense competition as the world's best athletes battled it out, with over 1,000 medals being presented across the 32 sporting disciplines.

Alongside the established names from the bigger nations who powered their way to glory as expected, there were a number of stand-out moments from the underdogs who put in performances to savor and upset the odds.

Among them, Saint Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred secured her country's first ever Olympic gold medal by winning the women's 100m final on Aug 3.

The 23-year-old crossed the finish line in 10.72 seconds, ahead of the much-fancied American Sha'Carri Richardson, who claimed silver in 10.87.

Though a first for the small island country, the result continued the Caribbean region's dominance of this event, with Jamaica having previously won four consecutive women's 100m Olympic titles.

Before the race, China Global Television Network (CGTN) caught up with Alfred, and it was clear she was highly focused as she geared up to cause a stunning upset.

"It's best to go out there and do what I have been doing all season, which is trying to work out my execution, trying to focus on just my lane and just myself and not worry about anybody else," said Alfred.

Meanwhile, there was a historic first Olympic medal for the small Caribbean island nation of Dominica, when 30-year-old Thea LaFond launched herself to gold in the women's triple jump.

LaFond said she was relishing the opportunity just to participate at the Olympics, never mind being crowned champion.

"This is massive for us. You know, 70,000 people on an island, and little old me ended up coming out here on arguably the greatest stage for athletics, for sports in the world, and we came out with a gold. It's really, really surreal," she said.

China's Olympic delegation, which again enjoyed a successful games and medal haul, saw historic firsts of its own in Paris, including claiming its first ever gold in artistic swimming after dominating the team acrobatic routine on Aug 7.

The team's 24-year-old captain Feng Yu, who was also a flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, said she hopes their performance at the Olympics can attract more interest and encourage wider participation in artistic swimming.

"I am very excited, especially when I came here and really felt people in Paris were congratulating us. And we were very happy from the bottom of our hearts. We hope to get more people into artistic swimming and love it," said Feng.

Elsewhere, there were also celebrations for 30-year-old fencer Vivian Kong Man-Wai, who became the first female fencer to win gold for China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) after earning a hard-won victory in the individual epee event.

Kong explained how she gave herself a motivating pep-talk which stirred her fightback in the final against France's home favorite Auriane Mallo-Breton.

"When I was behind by so many points that I almost forgot about the score, I said, 'I can't, this is embarrassing. I have to fence with everything I've got, like this is not my style, okay!' And I just took it one touch at a time, and all of a sudden it was even," said Kong.

Another of the great Olympic stories was of American cyclist Kristen Faulkner who won the women's road race after unexpectedly having the chance to compete in Paris, becoming the first U.S. rider to win the event since 1984.

The 31-year-old Faulkner was a leisure cyclist seven years ago and only turned pro in 2020. More remarkably, she was only chosen for the U.S. team a month ago after a team-mate gave up her place.

After her late arrival, Faulkner now goes home with two golds, after she was also part of the victorious U.S. women's team pursuit group.

"There's this quote I like. It says, haters gonna hate, winners gonna win. And you just got to believe in yourself and keep pushing. And I think it's having that self-confidence and belief in yourself that gets you to the finish line," she said.

Memorable Paris Olympics wraps up after seeing several historical firsts

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tony Zhu, a Chinese salesman who blends comedy with LED promotional signs, has amassed a global online following by transforming ordinary ads into humorous skits.

In the short clips, Zhu promotes signage products with uncanny accents and impersonations, playfully affecting the speech of the American rural south and even the working-class Londoners of old.

Users from all over the world have professed their affection for this young man in the comment sections of his videos, winning him a fandom he never expected.

"It feels very awesome. I could say, yes, I never imagined that I could be like this, even just one year ago," said the young salesman.

Growing up, Zhu's parents worked at a skate shoe factory in Guangdong Province's Dongguan and encouraged him to study hard. In school, his favorite subject was English, which eventually led him take a job in marketing at the signage company in Guangzhou.

Initially, he made conventional product videos like many others. After a year of seeing the videos gain little traction, he decided to draw inspiration from the Western comedians he admired.

Some of these videos garnered millions of views, bringing in new customers.

"It's not as people thought it could be, like five times or 10 times of growth. No. We made a growth from 5 to 10 percent in total. And to me, that's actually pretty good," he said.

Each day, Zhu and his team create about two videos for social media. To maintain the momentum, a lot of brainstorming is required.

While Zhu views himself as just a salesman doing his job, his fans seem to project onto him something far greater. Some internet comments have even said that Zhu could fix U.S.-China trade relations.

His own aspirations may not reach those heights, but the young salesman does hope to foster more exchanges between businesses on both sides.

"I went to America and I found a lot of ideas that we could learn from. And we also have a lot of American sign company customers coming to China, and they look at what we do and they also find something they can learn. I find it a very amazing thing. Rather than treating each other like an enemy, I think it'd be much better if we chose to learn from each other during competition, during cooperation. It would eventually benefit both sides, I think," he said.

Chinese signage salesman wins global fandom through humor