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Now, Voyager

A frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman. A frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman. A frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.

• Irving Rapper
• Casey Robinson
• Olive Higgins Prouty
• Bette Davis
• Paul Henreid
• Claude Rains
• 196 User reviews
• 54 Critic reviews
• 70 Metascore
• 3 wins & 2 nominations total

Top cast 47

• Charlotte Vale

• Jeremiah (Jerry) Durrance

• Dr. Jaquith

• Mrs. Henry Vale

• Elliot Livingston

• 'Deb' McIntyre

• Mr. Thompson

• (as Katherine Alexander)

• Frank McIntyre

• Dora Pickford

• Dr. Dan Regan
• (uncredited)

• Party Guest

• Drugstore Soda Jerk
• Concert Audience Member

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The biggest box office hit of Bette Davis 's career.
• Goofs When Charlotte confronts Jerry in front of the fireplace about "The most conventional, pretentious, pious speech...", a crew member is visible in the mirror of the fireplace and quickly backs out of view.

[last lines]

Charlotte Vale : Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

• Connections Featured in Summer of '42 (1971)
• Soundtracks Night and Day (1932) (uncredited) Written by Cole Porter Played offscreen on piano at the pre-concert party

User reviews 196

• Sep 10, 2007
• How long is Now, Voyager? Powered by Alexa
• What is 'Now, Voyager' about?
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• What were those terrible things that Charlotte's mother found hidden in Charlotte's bookshelves?
• October 31, 1942 (United States)
• United States
• Na raskršću
• Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA
• Warner Bros.
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 57 minutes
• Black and White

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Now, Voyager

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Rent Now, Voyager on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Now, Voyager is a Hollywood swooner with Bette Davis and Paul Henreid in a melodrama to end all melomers.

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Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Irving Rapper

Bette Davis

Charlotte Vale

Claude Rains

Dr. Jaquith

Paul Henreid

Jerry Durrance

Gladys Cooper

Mrs. Henry Windle Vale

Bonita Granville

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Now, Voyager

Selected by the Costume Designers Branch. Introduction by Costume Designer & Historian, Professor Deborah Nadoolman Landis PhD Director, UCLA/David C. Copley Center for Costume Design

Selected by the Costume Designers Branch. 

Bette Davis gave one of her most iconic performances as Charlotte Vale, the unhappy daughter of an emotionally abusive mother (Gladys Cooper), who is able to come out of her shell with the help of two men—a sympathetic therapist (Claude Rains) and a handsome married man (Paul Henreid). Davis’s transformation was helped greatly by the costume designs of three-time Oscar winner Orry-Kelly ( An American in Paris , Some Like It Hot ). The film was nominated for Davis and Cooper’s performances, and won for Max Steiner’s romantic score.

DIRECTED BY: Irving Rapper. WRITTEN BY: Casey Robinson. WITH: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper. 1942. 119 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Print courtesy of the Packard Humanities Institute Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Academy museum film programming generously funded by the richard roth foundation..

Now, Voyager

• Blu-ray edition reviewed by Chris Galloway
• December 15 2019

See more details, packaging, or compare

Nervous spinster Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is stunted from growing up under the heel of her puritanical Boston Brahmin mother (Gladys Cooper), and remains convinced of her own unworthiness until a kindly psychiatrist (Claude Rains) gives her the confidence to venture out into the world on a South American cruise. Onboard, she finds her footing with the help of an unhappily married man (Paul Henreid). Their thwarted love affair may help Charlotte break free of her mother’s grip—but will she find fulfillment as well as independence? Made at the height of Davis’s reign as the queen of the women’s picture and bolstered by an Oscar-winning Max Steiner score, Now, Voyager is a melodrama for the ages, both a rapturous Hollywood romance and a poignant saga of self-discovery.

Picture 8/10

Extras 8/10

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Currently you are able to watch "Now, Voyager" streaming on Tubi TV for free with ads or buy it as download on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store. It is also possible to rent "Now, Voyager" on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store online

A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise.

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Now, Voyager (1942) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'now, voyager' online.

Want to behold the glory that is ' Now, Voyager ' in the comfort of your own home? Finding a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or watch the Irving Rapper-directed movie via subscription can be tricky, so we here at Moviefone want to do the heavy lifting. We've listed a number of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription alternatives - along with the availability of 'Now, Voyager' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty of how you can watch 'Now, Voyager' right now, here are some details about the Warner Bros. Pictures drama flick. Released October 31st, 1942, 'Now, Voyager' stars Bette Davis , Paul Henreid , Claude Rains , Gladys Cooper The NR movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 57 min, and received a user score of 73 (out of 100) on TMDb, which put together reviews from 193 top users. You probably already know what the movie's about, but just in case... Here's the plot: "A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise." 'Now, Voyager' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Apple iTunes, YouTube, Vudu, Tubi TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, and Microsoft Store .

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Rotten Tomatoes® Score

It fits within the genre and it is a great show for Davis’s talents.

Davis gives a captivating career-high turn as Charlotte Vale...

It was directed by a certain Irving Rapper, who, quite possibly, may not be a fool. Unfortunately, this is how they degrade the tragic heroine of The Little Foxes, The Letter, Of Human Bondage.

This is a movie in which all the elements come together in perfect harmony to give an essentially hackneyed theme the imprint of greatness.

In this conflict between inner and outer beauty, loving oneself without the affirmation of others, altruism, self-truth vs societal expectation and discovering that happiness comes from within, Now, Voyager -- and its leading lady -- soars.

This film is exquisitely crafted and passionately acted.

Bette Davis, as the neurotic daughter, Claude Rains, the doctor, and Paul Henreid, combine to make a fine production.

It may be a standard tale of forbidden romance, but it dwells on an uncommon twosome; these past-their-prime souls aren't the typical fare for a melodramatic love yarn.

Tender, poignant and lusciously calibrated by Rapper, Now, Voyager is one of the few romantic melodramas which manages a timelessness due to its almost accidental universality.

...a part that's perfect for Davis, which makes it odd that Now, Voyager feels the need to do so much of the work for her.

Additional Info

• Genre : Drama
• Release Date : October 22, 1942
• Languages : English
• Captions : English
• Audio Format : Stereo

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Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony highlights: Snoop Dogg and Tom Cruise welcome Olympics to LA, Phoenix rises in the Air, and athletes rebel as Paris bids adieu

Sport Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony highlights: Snoop Dogg and Tom Cruise welcome Olympics to LA, Phoenix rises in the Air, and athletes rebel as Paris bids adieu

Well, friends, we did it.

After three weeks of exploded sleep schedules and intravenous caffeine delivery, the Paris Olympic Games have drawn to a close.

And what a Games it was. 

As Team Australia charged to an all-time record of 18 golds from 53 medals, we watched as all sorts of weird and wonderful characters emerged across the past three weeks, from "pommel horse guy" to Raygun to Turkiye's not-so-secret assassin.

As the sun set on the city of love on Monday, 270 artists and performers gathered within the Stade de France to bid "adieu!" to the rest of the world, handing the baton over to Los Angeles, which will host the Olympics in four years' time.

Here's all the best and most bonkers bits from the Closing Ceremony.

1.French hero Leon Marchand extinguishes the flame

The French swimmer, who won five medals in Paris, is the first athlete we see at this Closing Ceremony.

He's at the Jardin des Tuileries, where the giant gold balloon cauldron has sat for the past two weeks.

He stares wistfully up at the balloon, but instead of walking across the platform to presumably unshackle it and fly off into the sunset, he heads towards a tiny plinth nearby holding the actual Olympic flame, which just looks like a tiny handheld lantern from a Charles Dickens novel. 

Slowly, the light beneath the balloon fades, signalling the end of this glorious Games.

Marchand then walks back down the path and off into the distance while still holding the flame. A few hours later, he returns to our screens, emerging from beneath the Stade de France, carrying the little candle, wearing a very nice suit, looking awkward as hell.

He gets to the top of the stage and stands beside IOC president Thomas Bach before pulling a little ring to extinguish the flame.

Kinda anti-climactic after the golden balloon that soared into the sky to launch the start of the Games just 16 days ago.

But it's fine. It's not like I got up at a silly hour on a Monday morning to watch this.

2. Raygun is the life of the pre-ceremony party

Despite the waves of criticism she's copped since her performance at the women's breaking event a few days ago, Australian B-Girl Raygun has become an instant icon among Team Australia.

As the athletes lined up nearby, preparing to walk into the Stade de France for the Opening Ceremony, Raygun was spotted dropping some moves in a dance circle that had opened up around her.

Anna Meares, Australia's Chief de Mission, came to Raygun's defence recently, saying she's a beloved member of the Olympic team and represents so much of what the Games is about.

I am still personally waiting for an explanation as to whether her unusual routine was genuine breakdancing or a piece of bizarre performance art. 

Perhaps we will never know.

3. Women's marathon gets the coolest medal ceremony

As the final event of the Paris Olympics, finishing late on Sunday, the women's marathon gets the best possible medal ceremony: right in the middle of the Stade de France. 

It's the first time this event has closed the Games, and a fitting one for the first Olympics that had gender parity.

Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan won the event in an Olympic record time , having also won medals in the 5,000 and 10,000m events ... in the space of a week . My body hurts just writing that. 

She was a refugee from Ethiopia who arrived in the Netherlands when she was a child, and leaps onto the podium wearing a hijab, which was a point of contention at this Olympics given French sport's strict rules around the wearing of head coverings. 

She receives a huge roar from the crowd, while her Dutch teammates have all pushed up to the stage chanting her name.

Considering the right-wing swing of Europe these past few years, it's genuinely amazing to see an athlete like Hassan celebrated in a moment like this. Her story really does capture the spirit of the Olympics and the power of sport.

Now, back to the weird stuff...

4. Closing Ceremony fashion parade

Unlike the Opening Ceremony, where athletes were forced into stuffy formal ensembles, their outfits for the Closing Ceremony are far more casual. 

There were a lot more bucket hats than last time, but far fewer traditional outfits. Portugal showed up wearing what looks like a kindergartener's matching multicoloured polo and cap. Liberia looked like a badass mixed hip-hop group in all-black cut-off sweats. 

Team GB wore what appeared to be their grandmother's couch fabric as a shirt in a touching tribute to British culture. Botswana rocked some epic black, blue and white retro windbreakers, while the USA donned some Formula 1-style racing jackets, which would have been cool if they didn't have the snobby Ralph Lauren logo on the front. 

Finally, as my colleague Dean Bilton on the ground in Paris described, Australia's team looked a little like staff from Taronga Zoo in forgettable linen shirts and truly horrifying cargo shorts, with some of them also wearing ... chef's hats? Perhaps as a tribute to that other famous French icon: Ratatouille?

Oh well. We've got Brisbane 2032 to look forward to. Hopefully Team Aus will discover style between now and then.

5. Who is the Golden Voyager?

The Paris Olympics has been book-ended by three mysterious figures. Sixteen days ago, it was the parkouring torch-carrier and glittering silver rider on the Seine, and on Monday it was a figure clad in gold.

The stadium falls dark with an ominous light show, with lightning-white bursts illuminating the broken continents below, while smoke billows out across the space. We're in some kind of distant reality, the world as we know it destroyed, while the figure, a voyager, slowly descends from the sky. It looks like how pins-and-needles feels.

Who are they? What do they want? Is it Tom Cruise? Is it Rebekah Vardy? Is it Raygun!?

They're joined by our favourite mysterious torch-bearer, who flips and cartwheels onto the stage carrying a giant golden rod that almost whacks the silver horserider in the face as they attach the Greek flag.

The pole is planted and the stadium bursts to life, a giant statue of the Winged Victory emerging from a nearby platform. Stadium-high shadows of athletes rotate around the stands like the Zodiac come to life.

Suddenly, several more alien-like figures emerge from the sky, while dozens more burst up from the floor. I am having PTSD flashbacks to the Battle of Moria from Lord of the Rings. The figures swarm like orcs around the stage before lifting five six-metre-high rings out of the ruins of the platforms, bringing them back to life.

The orcs then roll the rings towards each other, joining them back together in a very obvious metaphor for the unity that the Olympics is meant to represent. 

A bunch of orcs do some cool gymnastics as the rings are lifted up into the sky in their traditional sequence as the golden voyager emerges over the top of them and reaches to the sky, fireworks exploding around the roof of the stadium.

We never learn who is beneath the golden costume. Maybe it was Ratatouille after all.

6. The athletes rebel

During the final montage of all the events and medals of Paris, hundreds of athletes who were gathered around the perimeter then leapt up onto the platforms that have been vacated by the Golden Voyager and their orc minions.

In the transition between the artistic and musical sections of the ceremony, there is a brief pause as the stadium announcer tells the athletes to "please remove themselves from the stage."

They don't. They ignore her. They want to soak in the moment. There's a band getting ready to play on one of the nearby platforms and they want a front-row seat.

She asks again: "please remove yourselves from the stage."

Nah. We've just done some of the most extreme feats of human athleticism, lady. Give us a break.

I respect it. Because what comes next is totally worth hanging around for.

7. Phoenix, Air, and Ezra Koenig deliver the bangers

We move from the moody, wistful performance art piece to just a straight-up concert, with famous French band Phoenix kicking off proceedings.

The first few iconic chords of "Lisztomania" begin to twang out into the night, and while they probably didn't expect to be performing literally a metre away from a bunch of athletes holding their iPhones in front of their faces, this Olympics has been full of all sorts of unexpected moments.

They're soon joined by Belgian singer Angele who, alongside DJ Kavinsky, perform a cool low-fi synthwave song before Phoenix is back on the mic, presumably filling space while the volunteers try and herd the athletes off the stage.

Shortly afterwards, Cambodian rapper VannDa emerges and lays down some bars, transitioning into an electric guitar solo by a person in a black hood (Tom Cruise?).

Phoenix then continue playing, this time accompanied by the famous musical duo Air, who are looking pretty unenthused about the whole thing, but maybe that's just because they're just French.

From one famous male singer to another, Ezra Koenig — lead singer of Vampire Weekend — is then out next to perform a duet of Tonight with Phoenix, which then bounces straight into Falling. 

It's all ... a very different vibe to the Opening Ceremony, which was a three-hour operatic epic along the Seine River. This is basically just watching a cool set from the back of the Enmore Theatre.

I mean, I'm not really complaining, but did they blow their whole budget on the opening before they figured out what to do for the closing? Who's to say.

8. LA says: heeeeeeey!

After the traditional speeches, the Olympic baton is then officially handed over to Los Angeles, the hosts for 2028.

The American national anthem is performed by five-time Grammy winner H.E.R., who looks super glam in an all-white get-up, with an electric guitar strung across her front and incredible waves of golden hair rolling down her shoulders.

After an orchestral opening, the song then ends like a glam-rock anthem. It's incredibly ... American. I'm shocked the LA organisers haven't just released a bunch of eagles into the stadium.

But they kind of do: finally, after hours of waiting, Tom Cruise is spotted at the lip of the roof, and abseils down on a wire to the floor. 

It is not quite as cool as when he did it in Mission Impossible, mostly because he is a lot older now, looks a bit frightened, and kinda trips as he lands. 

He's mobbed by athletes as soon as he gets there, though, and takes heaps of selfies on his walk to the stage to collect the Olympic flag, before leaping down onto a motorbike and taking off into the tunnel beneath the stadium.

A video montage then starts, with Cruise diving out of a plane and propelling towards the earth before landing and sprinting off into the hills of LA. 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers soundtrack the montage featuring iconic athletes Kate Courtney (mountain biking), Michael Johnson (track), and Jagger Eaton (skateboarding) who ride, run, and skate the Olympic flag through LA's iconic backdrops.

The editors have clearly cleaned up the orange haze of the city's omnipresent pollution and removed their infinite freeways in post-production to make it a bit more appealing for international visitors.

Eaton arrives on Venice Beach, and the Chillis are actually there , on a stage, introducing the Games to LA's most iconic strip. 

Flea is gyrating in yellow shorts and a hat. I would risk getting emphysema from the city's terrible smog to watch this.

Billie Eillish follows afterwards, standing atop a lifeguard tower singing her new song "Birds of a Feather", but she's easily eclipsed by the real star of the Olympics: Snoop Dogg.

He arrives onto Venice Beach on a golden low-rider, accompanied by a scantily-clad dancer.

He immediately swaggers into Drop It Like It's Hot before joining rapper Dr. Dre on the stage for a PC version of Smoke Weed Everyday, which I'm pleasantly surprised they were allowed to perform, and which I dearly hope is incorporated into their own Opening Ceremony four years from now.

9. They did it their way

The final performance of the Closing Ceremony is possibly the best of the bunch, though French singer Yseult always had a lot to do to eclipse the Opening Ceremony's glorious anthem by Celine Dion.

She goes close, though. She's dressed in a smart all-black outfit and delivers a slow, sultry performance of Frank Sinatra's hit My Way, which, I learned just now, was actually an English translation of an original French song, and therefore a fitting choice to tie the Olympics of 2024 and 2028 together.

The crowd inside the Stade de France, who have all been wearing light-up wristbands throughout the night, now whip out their phones and wave their lights back and forth as she belts out a ripper version of the song, ending with an epic final note that's accompanied by fireworks exploding around the rim of the stadium.

With that, the Paris Olympics has drawn to a close. And they certainly did it their way.

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Tom cruise abseils into the stadium as paris hands the olympic games to los angeles.

• Olympic Games

11 details you may have missed during the Paris 2024 closing ceremony

• The 2024 Paris Olympics ended on Sunday with an exciting closing ceremony.
• There were plenty of jaw-dropping performances throughout the event.
• The ceremony ended with US performers in California because LA is set to host the next Summer Games.

After three weeks — and nearly $10 billion worth — of exciting competitions, the 2024 Paris Games ended with the closing ceremony on Sunday.

To celebrate the 10,500 athletes who participated in the Games, there were light shows, musical performances, and acrobatic spectacles.

Here are some of the important moments viewers may have missed during Sunday's ceremony.

Around 80,000 people attended the closing ceremony.

The closing ceremony was held at the Stade de France, France's largest stadium , with a maximum capacity of about 80,000 people.

An estimated 71,000 fans were present at the event, so alongside the artists and athletes who attended, the stadium was near capacity.

The ceremony opened with the unofficial anthem of Paris.

French musician Zaho de Sagazan gave the first musical performance of the event.

She sang "Under the Sky of Paris," a song the ceremony hosts described as Paris' unofficial anthem. Legendary singer Édith Piaf popularized the song in 1954 after it debuted in the movie of the same name in 1951.

There was a section for “athlete karaoke.”

Olympic athletes bonded across teams as they sang to songs playing in the stadium before the live bands performed.

The athletes and the crowd were particularly spirited as they sang the fitting Queen song "We Are the Champions."

The history of the Olympics was honored through artistic performances.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly, who also did the opening ceremony , highlighted the history of the Olympics throughout the ceremony's artistic performances.

A light show near the beginning, depicting chariots and athletes, was said to honor Pierre de Coubertin, the "father of the modern Olympic Games."

De Coubertin helped organize the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and served as the IOC president from 1896 to 1925.

One performance followed the story of the Olympics being rediscovered.

A sequence starring a golden-clad figure told the story of the Olympics returning to a dystopian future without the Games.

The announcers called the figure the Golden Voyager. After they descended from the ceiling and uncovered the Olympic rings, performers around it lept through the hoops.

The masked figure and silver knight made an appearance.

Throughout the opening ceremony, a mysterious masked figure and a silver knight ran around Paris with the Olympic torch .

During the closing ceremony, they both reappeared in a sequence where they helped the Golden Voyager discover the Olympic rings.

The rings were then lifted into the air and lit while fireworks went off behind them.

Alain Roche played piano while suspended in the air.

Swiss pianist Roche played "Hymn to Apollo," accompanying French opera singer Benjamin Bernheim.

Roche and his piano were suspended in the air, and the pianist even played the instrument vertically . Over the years, the musician has become known for this unique performance style.

The hosts noted that Roche was wearing a long jacket made from VHS tape reels, all from recycled materials in Paris.

Athletes swarmed the stage as Phoenix performed.

When French band Phoenix performed, athletes ran to the small stage — and some even started climbing onto the platform.

Announcements in French and English asked the athletes to leave the stage, but the band embraced their presence. Lead singer Thomas Mars even crowd-surfed into a group of Olympians.

The Olympic flag was lowered and handed off to the mayor of LA.

LA Mayor Karen Bass received the Olympic flag after it was lowered in Paris while HER sang the US national anthem .

The tribute was meant to signify the passing of the touch, per se, as the 2028 Games are set to take place in LA.

Tom Cruise jumped from the top of the stadium to retrieve the Olympic flag.

Cruise was spotted at several events throughout the Games, including the gold-medal women's soccer game on Saturday, and he stuck around for the closing ceremony.

After Bass took the flag, the actor jumped on a zipline from the stadium roof to the ground to retrieve it — an act reminiscent of his famous "Mission Impossible" movies .

Cruise then rode a motorbike out of the stadium before pre-filmed footage of the flag making its way to LA played on the screen.

During this scene, the Olympic rings were even shown on the famous Hollywood sign.

The ceremony ended in LA.

US musicians took to the stage in LA for the final performances of the evening.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg , and Dr. Dre all entertained crowds in front of a large LA 28 sign. To honor the transition between the cities, the "A" was made up of the French and US flags.

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The Sports Report Olympics edition: U.S. and China tie for gold medals

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Hello, I’m John Cherwa and it’s time to say goodbye. After two plus weeks, I hope we’ve informed you, entertained you and maybe even brought a chuckle. But in the end we were just a supplement to the coverage supplied by our outstanding reporters and photographer in Paris. So, with that, we leave you with a classic ballad, listen here .

Well, we predicted the gold medal race would end in a tie, just not the way it happened. Final score: United States 40 golds, 126 overall; China 40, 91. The world recognizes golds as the standard, the U.S. looks at total medals, because it’s easier for it to win. Since we just decided, with no authority, power of even gravitas, if the golds were tied the tiebreaker would be total medals. We officially declare the U.S. the winner.

The real hero for the U.S. was Jennifer Valente, who won the women’s omnium in track cycling. Even though she was defending Olympic champion, she was fourth in the world rankings. But it was no contest as she gave the U.S. an unexpected gold and allowed the U.S. to tie China.

Go beyond the scoreboard

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The real shocker of the day had the expected outcome of the U.S women’s basketball team winning its eighth straight gold medal in a nail-biting 67-66 win over France. If France’s Gabby Williams were not inside the three-point line with her last shot, the game would have gone to overtime. Our Thuc Nhi Nguyen was there and this is her report .

The other legit shots for U.S. Olympic gold on Sunday were the defending champion women’s volleyball team, who lost to Italy in straight sets and wrestler Kennedy Blades, who lost to Yuka Kagami in the 76 kg (176 pounds) gold-medal match, 3-1.

The U.S. also picked up a bronze in men’s water polo.

Five things that defined the Games

As a general rule, every Games has five things which define it. We’ve identified some earlier, now the final list, in no particular order.

— Simone Biles . She dominated television coverage of the first week of the Games. As the star of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, she led them to a team gold, all-around win and gold in the vault . She got the silver in the floor, which was a disappointment. She handled all interviews with grace and poise and a big smile.

—Performance of host country France. You can normally expect a home team bounce from the previous Games but nothing like what France pulled off . (We’re doing total numbers here.) Let’s go back to London in 2012 where Britain (we don’t use Great here except when referring to their accents) increased 27%. Brazil, not a traditionally strong Olympic country, increased its medal count in 2016 by 12%. Japan jumped up 41% in the 2020/2021 Games. As for France, 93% going from 33 to 64. Leon Marchand, a swimmer, led the country with four golds and a bronze.

— The gender controversy . This is perhaps the saddest part of the Games where Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu Ting of Taiwan were the subject of scrutiny because of an abnormally high level of testosterone. Both were born women and identified as such. But, some let their ideology cloud the facts, claiming the boxers were transgender, which they are not. The IOC did the right thing but their Olympics wasn’t as much fun as it should have been.

—A wrong call for the ages. Can you remember a bigger blown call on a bigger event than Leigh Diffey miscalling the winner of the men’s 100? You might have to go back to 1947 when Clem McCarthy miscalled the winner of the Preakness. But unlike Diffey, McCarthy, once he discovered the mistake, corrected himself and apologized to the listeners. What is it they say, the coverup is worse than the crime?

—The city of Paris. No doubt, Paris played every card it had in its deck. From an overly creative opening ceremony with an overly long finish, to a closing that full of energy, Paris had it all. If it missed one of its landmarks as a venue site, I can’t tell you which one. Well, maybe table tennis in front of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. But there would have been no room for spectators. Job well done. You know L.A. has its creative wheels in overdrive right now.

Olympic Electoral college

At the completion of swimming. We looked at the gold medal standings based on the same principle as the electoral college. Winner take all in each sport based on the number of gold medals awarded. If there was a tie, the winner was the one with total medals in the sport. If it was still tied, both countries were awarded maximum points, which only happened in a handful of two medal team sports.

Clearly the key was winning the biggest sport of track and field (48) and swimming (35). There were a bunch of medium-tier sports, such as judo (18), wrestling (18), shooting (15) gymnastics (14) and rowing (14).

The U.S. was the winner with 103 gold medal points, winning track, swimming and gymnastics. Japan, on the strength of judo, wrestling and fencing was second with 54 points. The Netherlands finished third on the back of rowing and track cycling and China, who tied the U.S. with 40 total gold medals was fourth, one off the Netherlands with 39. It got the bulk of its points from weightlifting (10), diving (8), badminton, tennis and table tennis (all 5 points).

So, what does this tell us about the Olympics? Not much. But it does say something about the electoral college.

Here are the top countries:

United States 103

Netherlands 50

South Korea 13

Uzbekistan 13

Harvard vs. USC vs UCLA

Earlier we poked fun at USC and UCLA getting their butt kicked by Harvard when it came to medals. Well, the final total is in (well, we think the final as it seems Harvard and USC update their website on Sunday and UCLA doesn’t. But spot check says three unaccounted for bronze but that’s it.)

Anyway, final total:

Harvard 8 golds, USC 7, UCLA 5.

We would say Harvard is the USC/UCLA of the East or USC/UCLA are the Harvard of the West, but one would be wrong and the other insulting (and we’re not going to tell you which.)

Final random thoughts

Just some things from the final day.

—Would the U.S. women have won more easily with Caitlin Clark ? Probably not.

—My favorite version of “La Marseillaise” still remains this one from Casablanca .

—Jimmy Fallon showed what a pro he was after he tried a joke with Katie Ledecky, which she didn’t hear, but then didn’t repeat it and moved on.

—Stadium karaoke was a flop until “We are the champions.”

—The Golden Voyager segment was over my head. Kind of like the third song at a concert, you can go to the bathroom during the start and probably not miss anything.

—The upside down piano guy wearing what looked like black garbage bags was pretty incredible.

—Just guessing there is more than one Olympic flag?

Must-read links

Let’s catch up on some stories you might have missed but shouldn’t have:

• 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games: Complete coverage
• Plaschke: Bring it on! Los Angeles begins countdown to 2028 Olympics
• Long Beach — no, not Venice — stars in Olympics closing ceremony with Snoop, Dr. Dre, Billie Eilish
• Brittney Griner grateful to bring home Olympic gold for country that fought for her
• LA28 touts ‘authentically Los Angeles’ Olympics as it takes handoff from Paris
• U.S. women’s basketball edges upset-minded France for 8th straight Olympic gold
• Final finisher of women’s marathon shows what it means to be an Olympian
• Here’s how to purchase tickets for 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games
• Women experienced the best of the Olympics — and the worst — in Paris
• How the 2028 Olympics should showcase L.A.: 9 wild ideas from our wish list

Until next time...

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here .

John Cherwa is a special contributor to the Los Angeles Times. He started at The Times in 1980 and left in 1995 to be sports editor of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Co. sports coordinator in 2002. He rejoined The Times in 2009 and left his post as deputy sports editor late in 2017. Currently, his major coverage area is horse racing, where he can be found at big races at Santa Anita, the Triple Crown series and Breeders’ Cup. He also can be found at the Olympics, having just finished the Tokyo and Beijing double, marking his 11th Olympics. Cherwa also contributes general interest stories from Florida.

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