A look back at the highlights of Olympics 2004

HIGHS

Men's 5,000 metres final: "Two. Two." So spoke Hicham El Guerrouj on Saturday night after winning the race that confirmed his claims to greatness. Perhaps this was the race of the century and for that reason, it was great to see the involvement of Irishman Alastair Cragg.

But it was always bound to come down to two men, El Guerrouj of Morrocco and Kinenisa Bekele of Kenya. The champion of the 1,500 metres against the champion of the 10,000 metres. When they heard the bell at 12.21, the slender Moroccan struck. Going down the home straight, the pair sprinted side by side. Then El Guerrouj found some inner strength and stretched clear over the last metres.

USA men's basketball team: A humiliating experience for the much-maligned second-string of NBA poster boys. The USA dominance of Olympic basketball was unhealthy and the defeats they suffered to Peurto Rico and Argentina will go down in the annals of history. For the Americans the Olympics were a lesson in the fundamentals of the game and will surely lead to an inquiry headed "What Happened To Bobby Plump", the archetypal Indiana pure shooter of old. The jump shot is the lost art of American basketball. Still, it was hard not to feel sorry for a callow group of young men who were given a torrid reception. And the way they fought for the bronze medal suggested their Olympic experience was one of meaning.

Michael Phelps: No athlete evolved into the complete Olympian as quickly as the American swimmer. Bruised by being reduced to an outsider in the race of the century against Ian Thorpe, the Baltimore record-breaker grew in stature and personality over the following nights. He won eight medals, six gold, and sacrificed his spot on the 4x100 relay team for the marquee final so his team-mate Ian Crocker could swim for gold in the butterfly leg. He leaves Athens as only the second Olympian in history with eight medals and deserves to be recognised as the best water athlete to grace the modern Games.

Britain's 4x100 relay team: The neighbours have had a very spectacular Olympics but nobody predicted this gold. The race down the home straight between Mark Lewis Francis and Maurice Greene was riveting. The posturing of the American sprinters on the track has left audiences cold. The talk of world records before this race smacked of Greek hubris. Like their female compatriots the night before, they had all the speed but could not pass the baton.

Cian O'Connor: It has been depicted as the gold medal that saved the Irish Olympics but that is fair to neither O'Connor, Waterford Crystal nor the other Irish Olympians. O'Connor's flawless round in the show-jumping on Friday afternoon was a great moment in national equestrian history. It was a stand-alone achievement and does not alter the overall national picture, which was far from the disaster it was made out to be.

LOWS

Paula Radcliffe: Poor Paula. The English girl went to Athens to with every reason to feel certain her days of noble failure were behind her. The image of her sitting in dejection on a dusty roadside is perhaps the most powerful of the Games. After failing to finish the women's marathon - an event which she had redefined in modern times - she made her debut in the stadium on Friday night in the 10,000 metres final. With seven laps to go, she dropped out.

Ireland's double sculls: Nobody with any inkling of what sport is about could fail to be moved by the demeanour of Gearoid Towey and Sam Lynch last weekend. They lived like Spartans in the years coming up to these Games and set their body clocks to an Olympic final appearance that never even materialised.

Marion Jones: The Americans could not win without her nor, it seems, could they win with her. Jones was the darling in Sydney but since then life has gone sour. She made a brief appearance in Athens, featuring in the stadium on two nights. Friday offered the chance of two gold medals. But Jones performed poorly in the long jump final and then played a central role in the demise of the USA relay team when she failed to pass the baton to Lauryn Williams, who began her run too early. The joke was Williams was expecting the 2000 Marion to arrive.

Kostas Kenteris: The mention of his name became a terrific bore in the end. But the Greeks got to see a national track star do great things in unfathomable times in Fani Halika.

JOKE OF THE GAMES: On a low-key visit to Athens, the IOC officials show President George Bush around the city. Inspecting the Acropolis, the American leader takes in the crumbling wonder of the Parthenon. "We're gonna find out who did this," he assures his hosts. "And we're gonna get the bastards."