The retirement of an elite athlete is always traumatic. It is a difficult moment that many of them never want it to come, although retiring at the Olympic Games is not for everyone.

Simone Biles, with seven medals, four gold, did not know what was to become of her after taking a break, returned in 2023 to win four more golds at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp and has become the most decorated gymnast in history. She is already considered, unsurprisingly, the greatest gymnast of all time.

Lebron James, at 39, has won it all, and although he has not announced his retirement after Paris 2024, he has said he will not return to the Olympic Games.

For Nadal and Murray, these Games will be their Olympic finals, both have worked hard to overcome their injuries. Nadal will play where he has won so many times, at Roland Garros, and with two gold medals he now wants another alongside Carlos Alcaraz. The sprinter Shellu-Ann Fraser-Pryce is in a similar situation, competing in her fifth Games, and it is also very likely that she will say goodbye to the Olympic Games.

Other illustrious names that may leave the sport after the Games are Gianmarco Tamberi, the high jumper, and Spanish basketball player Rudy Fernández, who will play his sixth Olympic Games. Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjostrom will also say goodbye to the Olympic rings 16 years after making her debut in Beijing 2008. Handball player Mikkel Hansen gold with Denmark in 2016 and Teddy Riner, France’s best judoka have also decided that their Olympic paths end in Paris.