The Dean's List: Top Five Favorite Moments and Stories from the Paris Olympics

The Paris Olympics captivated so many around the world. From tight finishes to standout performances, Sandeep Mazumder, PhD, the William E. Crenshaw Endowed Dean of the Hankamer School of Business, shares his favorite moments and stories from the Paris Games. 

5. Simone Biles

The Team USA Women’s Gymnastics team was so fun to watch, and Simon Biles is an amazing athlete. It is a privilege to see her perform each and every time. 

4. Katie Ledecky

We have been blessed in recent Olympics to see dominant swimmers such as Michael Phelps. Even though he is retired now, we still have an extremely dominant swimmer who is in a class by herself—and that is Katie Ledecky. 

3. USA Women’s Rugby Sevens

I grew up playing rugby in secondary school in England, and it was fun for me to watch rugby at the Olympics this year. The USA women really shocked a lot of people on their way to the bronze medal, and I enjoyed watching highlights of players such as Ilona Maher bulldoze their way through the opposition. 

2. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

An incredibly fast woman who has dominated her events for years, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone continued in this fashion in Paris. I was most impressed by her leg of the women’s 4x400 meter relay where she left the competition in the dust during her lap to set the U.S. up for the Gold medal. 

1. Men’s 100 Meter Finals

The 100 meter final has long been my favorite event in the Olympic Games—both the men’s and women’s editions—and this year’s men’s final was absolutely scintillating. As the athletes crossed the finish line, I was sure Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson had won, but was excited to see USA’s own Noah Lyles actually crossed the line first. This really reminded me of a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up sketch where he jokes about the whisper-thin margins between athletes winning gold and placing last at the Games. This race also showed how outrageously fast Usain Bolt was, given his world record time is significantly faster than what the athletes ran in Paris.