The Paris Olympics are over and, as expected, the Games featured plenty of highs and lows, from a sprinter from St. Lucia (pop. 180,000) earning that country's first medal to Canadians caught snooping with a drone.

Here are some of the bests — and worsts — from the two-week event:

The Best

Team USA basketball continues gold-medal run: LeBron James and A'ja Wilson led their respective squads to Olympic glory yet again in Paris. The women won their eighth straight and the men their fifth consecutive gold medals . If you were born in the year 1996, you have seen the U.S. finish worse than first just once in your lifetime (2004).

Leon Marchand makes history in the pool for France: "Allez, Leon!" the crowd at Paris La Defense Arena chanted whenever the Frenchman Marchand entered the pool. The 22-year-old phenom won five medals, four of them gold , and became the first Olympian since 1976 to win two individual events in the same day — a feat not even the great Michael Phelps of the United States achieved.

U.S. Olympic figure skating team finally receives its gold medals: Two years and one drawn-out doping scandal later, the U.S. Olympic figure skating team finally received its gold medals from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Americans, along with the silver medalists from Japan, were honored at a ceremony in Paris marking the end of a long and painful saga.

Katie Ledecky becomes most decorated American female Olympian: Team USA's women's swimmers made history multiple times, but the captain Ledecky topped the group. By winning her fourth consecutive gold in the women's 800m freestyle, she became the most decorated American female Olympian. Ledecky, who finished her Paris Games with four medals, has 14 Olympic medals overall during her legendary career.

Julien Alfred wins St. Lucia's first Olympic gold medal: American Sha'Carri Richardson was favored to be crowned the world's fastest woman. Instead, it was a woman from the small island nation of St. Lucia who stole the spotlight, winning the 100m race and earning her country's first Olympic medal. "It feels amazing," Alfred said afterward , per ESPN. "Waking up this morning, I wrote it down: 'Julian Alfred, Olympic champion.' "

The Worst

Jordan Chiles stripped of her bronze medal: Just days after she had triumphantly returned to the U.S. with her floor routine bronze medal, a court ruled Chiles actually finished fifth in the apparatus, resulting in her medal being stripped unceremoniously due to the judges' error. Throughout the saga, she endured racial hate online and now has a stained Olympic reputation at no fault of her own.

Female boxers receive online abuse over gender misconceptions: Over the last two weeks, Algerian Imran Khelif was pounded with accusations of being a man competing in a women's event. Khelif was born female and cleared by Olympic officials to participate in Paris. Ultimately it was Khelif who did the pounding, winning gold in the 66kg category Friday. Lin Yu-ting , another female boxer who also faced similar hate, won gold in the featherweight class Saturday, flipping this from one of the worst moments to one of the best.

Olympic village wildly unpopular: The Games' organizers aimed for the Athletes Village to be a symbol of sustainability and green sport, but athletes and others did not appreciate the accommodations . Some delegations cited food shortages and lack of air conditioning as reasons for leaving the village for local hotels.

Canadian women's soccer staff caught snooping: Early in the Games, assistants from Canada's women's soccer team were caught spying on the opposition's practices using a drone. The perpetrators and Canada's head coach were dismissed from the Games and handed hefty punishments by FIFA. "We must, and will, get to the bottom of this," a Canadian sports minister said, per NPR .

U.S. men botch 4x100m relay again: After Noah Lyles' withdrawal, the U.S. relay team scrambled to fill his spot ahead of the final. Unfortunately, the bad luck didn't end there for the Americans. oly resulted in the disqualification of the U.S., extending its medal-less streak in the event to a fifth straight Olympics.