Paris Olympics: links and summary

Highlights of the competition

• Reborn Simone Biles leads way as USA reassert team gymnastics domination
  The Guardian
• The US men's basketball team topples France to win its fifth straight Olympic gold
  NPR
• Belgium drops out of mixed triathlon and Switzerland shuffles line-up after athletes fall ill following race in River Seine
  CNN
• Ledecky breaks her own Olympic record and wins gold in 1,500-meter freestyle
  PBS

Memes and memorable things

• Olympics fans are obsessed with Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec
  indy100
• South Korean shooter Kim Yeji dubbed the coolest athlete at the Olympics
  indy100
• Olympic silver medalist and Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa is sponsored by parmesan cheese and takes many of her photos while posing with large wheels of cheese [Tweet, Link]
   

Controversies

• JK Rowling and Elon Musk named in cyberbullying lawsuit filed by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif after Olympic win
  Variety
• Blinded by ideology: Inside boxing row that undermined IOC and tarnished Olympics
  The Telegraph

• A Twitter user notes that Rachael Gunn is an academic who's previously written about the gender politics of breakdancing and theorizes that the whole thing may have been a deliberate stunt. [Twitter]
• Breakdancing won't be included in the 2028 Olympics
  Yahoo

The most common defense [The Guardian, Hindustan Times] is that the man in blue was meant to be Dionysus/Bacchus and the tableau a nod to The Feast of the Gods painting by Jan van Bijlert, but that painting itself is said to be a reference to The Last Supper.

The producers have already admitted it was meant to be The Last Supper:

• Paris Olympics producers say 'The Last Supper' inspired that opening ceremony scene: 'many have done it before'
  The Wrap
• The woman in the center of the table thought she was portraying Jesus in The Last Supper [1, 2]
• Yes, the Olympic opening ceremony parodied 'The Last Supper'
  City Journal