All eyes and all plaudits have fallen on the majestic exploits of Simone Biles, the magical shaper of worlds in the gymnastics sphere, and little wonder.
The tiny genius has carried all before her on a redemptive crusade that crawled off the floor after the 'twisties' caused her so much heartache in Tokyo. She has risen here to the challenge of reasserting her authority as the greatest of her time, probably of any era.
Relatively less has been expressed about another American superstar of these Games: the tadpole of the pool, Katie Ledecky.
Aged 27, from Washinton DC, she is the greatest female swimmer in history, a pre-eminence she underlined on Saturday night at La Defense Arena by winning her fourth consecutive 800-metre gold medal.
For reliability and longevity, nobody can beat Ledecky, who now has nine Olympic gold medals to her name, and 14 of any hue.
American swimming superstar Katie Ledecky won her ninth Olympic gold on Saturday night
Ledecky triumphed in the 800m freestyle to clinch the 14th Olympic medal of her career
'The four times record is the one that means the most to me,' she said. 'August 3 is the day I won in 2012, and I didn't want August 3 to be a day I didn't like in the future. I put a lot of pressure on myself. So, I'm happy I got the job done.'
Ledecky is the most decorated female American Olympian from any sport. She is now two medals beyond her swimming compatriots, Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin, and Australia's Emma McKeon, in the pantheon.
Ledecky's first serious ripple came at London 2012 as a 15-year-old 'phenom', with gold in the 800m freestyle. A marker was laid.
Consistency has been her hallmark ever since, not least over brutally long distances that suit her resilient level of endurance and ability to push through the pain barrier.
She has taken golds in either the 800m or 1500m freestyle events ever since. And on Wednesday, rubbing in her brilliance, she smashed her own Olympic record over 1500m, taking it from 15 min 37.34 sec to 15 min 30.02 sec – a massive seven-second reduction in a pool renowned for its slowness.
The water is too shallow to produce supersonic times.
The humble hero is now the most decorated American woman Olympian of any calling
In swimming's lore only Michael Phelps, the 28-time Olympic medallist, stands above her. The second greatest swimmer of any category, she is singled out for her consistency. It's a comparison that stands up to scrutiny across all sports.
Biles, as we were saying, has known her dips and yips, withdrawing from team gymnastics preliminaries and most other events three years ago. As has the superb American skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who failed to qualify in either the slalom or giant slalom in Beijing's Winter Olympics two years ago.
Part of Ledecky's magic may lie in the enjoyment she still gets from her sport. Swimming can be a soul-destroying chore, as well as a life-enhancing one. You are staring at a black line underneath you – or, for backstrokers, on the ceiling – day in, day out.
Many who dazzle as youngsters withdraw from competition before they reach a grand age. This heroine has never seemed to hesitate in her commitment. After winning bronze in the 400m freestyle, Ledecky was teary-eyed as she said: 'I love this sport so much that I get emotional about it.'
Phelps walked out at 31, the age Ledecky will be in Los Angeles in 2028. There is no reason to think she will not go on until then and, just possibly, as the force she is now. After taking this latest gold, she neither ruled herself in out. 'I'd love to but it's not easy,' she said.
Her secret? 'Katie doesn't have especially large feet or hands which you really need to push a huge mass of water,' said Rowdy Gaines, a three-time Olympic champion, now an analyst with NBC. 'She's shorter than some great swimmers (at 5ft 11in) and has a sub-par kick.
Part of Ledecky's magic may lie in the enjoyment she still gets out of her brutal sport
'But once she anchors her hand in front of her, she can propel her body better than anybody else. She can go from zero to 60 really fast.'
Allied to that technical ability is her total devotion to training. Nothing, it is said, is left in reserve as she prepares for her moments of glory. There is also the versatility that has made her such a serial winner, from 200m to 1500m. Her cadence is faster over the shorter formats, but it is essentially the same effective technique.
Gaines explained: 'When she breathes, her head does not move much; it stays totally connected to her shoulders.'
A Stanford graduate, majoring in psychology, she is of Irish descent on her mother's side and prays Hail Marys ahead of her swims. Four medals in Paris is her reward.
As for the Britain's mixed 4x100m relay team, minus the Covid-hit Adam Peaty, the less said the better after a seventh-place finish on Saturday night, nine seconds adrift of America's world-record setters.
