Kolkata: Sergio Camello taking off his shirt in celebration and Fermin Lopez terming the summer “unbeatable”, Scottie Scheffler’s tears of joy and those from Novak Djokovic told a story. As did Steph Curry doing Steph Curry things. The Olympics matter, those five rings — Viktor Axelsen’s words — do.

Understandable that Axelsen would say that. Badminton is the Dane’s sport of choice and for the two-time defending champion, the Olympics is the grandest stage of them all. As it is for Noah Lyles, Neeraj Chopra, Simone Biles, Teddy Riner, Katie Ledecky and pretty much for most of the 10,500 athletes who had fetched up in Paris. The exceptions, you would think, would be men’s football, golf, tennis and the latest of the USA’s basketball dream teams. In other words, Curry, Scheffler, Djokovic and Camello.

Men’s international football picks the best through continental championships – following their 5-3 win against France, Spain’s Alex Baena and Lopez became the first since France’s Albert Rust in 1984 to have won the European championship and the Olympic gold in the same year – and the World Cup. The top players earn hundreds of thousands of dollars every week at clubs who often do not release them for the Olympics because it has essentially been an under-23 tournament since 1992.

And yet, at Parc des Princes on Friday, the crowd roared, “Alez Le Blues” as France mounted a stirring comeback to force the final into extra-time. For Thierry Henry, the quest for gold had become a dream he didn’t want to wake up from. This, from a man who has won everything as a player and is immortalised in stone at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

“It is the first time in my life that I have lost a final and won a medal…That is what is great about the Olympics. It has been an extraordinary human adventure,” said Henry, France’s 46-year-old coach.

Back in Olympics in 2016 after a 112-year wait, the men’s golf gold went to Scheffler who then got $37,500 as reward from the US Olympic and Paralympics Committee for four days of work. His earnings in 2024 going to Paris? $28,148,692. But you could tell how much the Olympics meant to the 28-year-old world No.1. In this, he wasn’t walking alone.

“I still think that the Ryder Cup is the best tournament that we have in our game — pure competition — and I think this has the potential be right up there with it,” said Rory McIlroy, who has won $10,353,190 on the PGA Tour this term, while explaining why most of the top players had opted to take part.

Ireland’s McIlroy finished tied fifth with Spain’s Jon Rahm whose late collapse cost the gold. “Two of the most meaningful weeks in my career is two events where we make no money,” said Rahm who joined the Saudi Arabia investment fund backed LIV Golf for an estimated $400-600 million.

Rahm said it was an honour to represent Spain and that he felt he had let the country down.

Which was what Carlos Alcaraz said as well after losing a slugfest of a men’s tennis final to Djokovic at Roland Garros. Yet there was praise. From a man who knows what it means to win two Olympic golds – Rafael Nadal. The 22-time Grand Slam winner thanked Alcaraz for winning a medal for Spain on social media.

Playing for the flag rather than for himself got to him, said Alcaraz, a four-time winner of Grand Slam events. That’s 20 less than Djokovic and 16 years Alcaraz’s senior, the Serb knew he was in last chance saloon. Djokovic had said that being flag-bearer at the London Olympics was the best feeling he had had as a sportsperson. Winning his first Olympic gold may have changed that.

“Now at the age of 37 and facing a 21-year-old who is probably the best player in the world right now, winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back, I can say that this is probably the biggest sporting success I have ever had,” said Djokovic after his first title of 2024.

It put him in the elite bracket of Steffi Graff, Andre Agassi, Nadal and Serena Williams as players who have won all four Slams and the Olympics. Sara Errani did that in the doubles while giving Italy a gold with Jasmine Paolini. “This has been the dream for my whole life. I wanted it more than a Slam,” said Errani.

Tennis returned to Olympics in 1988 when Graf won the women’s singles to complete a golden Slam but participating in Paris meant returning to clay in the middle of the hard court season. Yet, Coco Gauff, Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz were there.

Nadal was in Paris for a possible last dance. That alone said what Olympics meant to this matador of a tennis player whose career earnings are $134,946,100 but who skipped the grasscourt season to get ready for Paris. On a surface he is most familiar with and at a venue that has his statue, he lost early in the singles and doubles, where he formed a crack but untried team with Alcaraz.

“This has been a different week, it’s not what we’re used to. There’s the Olympic Village, all the athletes. You can watch other sports, you can root for Spain in different disciplines,” said Alcaraz. “Tennis is usually very lonely, you’re usually by yourself but this week I played with Rafa, my idol.”

Point guard Curry, a two-time MVP in NBA and MVP in the 2022 finals, is an idol to many as well. On Friday, he again showed why. With USA struggling against Serbia in the men’s basketball semi-final, and a sense of a déjà vu from Athens Games where they didn’t make the final permeating the hall, Curry scored 36 points to keep alive the hunt for a fifth successive Olympic gold.

It is a hunt that got LeBron James to skip his son’s summer league debut at Los Angeles Lakers and train at Las Vegas. One that got James to work the phone with Curry and get his buy-in. The basketball legends, like the golfers and tennis stars, are used to making millions from their sport. In Paris they are playing for free. For those five rings.