The final athlete to finish Sunday’s marathon, arriving an hour and a half after the winner, was met with a standing ovation, embodying the Olympic spirit on the last day of the Paris Games.
Bhutan’s Kinzang Lhamo finished the hilly and hot course in three hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, encouraged over the last kilometres by spectators cycling and running alongside her.
As she hit the home straight, fans in the stands in front of the Invalides monument got to their feet to cheer her on as she crossed the finish line, the 80th woman to complete the course.
Lhamo, 26, was participating in her first international competition, and was the Himalayan nation’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony.
An ultra-marathon specialist, Lhamo came second in 2022 in the Snowman Race, an extreme event covering 203 kilometres through the Himalayan mountains. She took up running after joining Bhutan’s army.
The Olympics was initially conceived as a competition open to all sporting amateurs, though the reality has long since moved on with most participants now professional athletes.