PARIS — Lighting the Olympic cauldron symbolically opened these Games — and, as much as possible, might have also taken a torch to some awful pandemic memories. The past two Games were staged in bubbles in and around Beijing and Tokyo as Covid was still a factor. And while some athletes have tested positive for Covid during the Paris Games, they have not upended competition. (NBC News is a division of NBCUniversal, which owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032.) French fans have been wildly cheering for their athletes and team throughout these Games — so much so, that even Americans have taken notice.

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Persons: we’ve, ”, Covid, Thomas Samson, “, Keylle Fabrino, “ It’s, Selma Attie, ” Mark Lazarus, Katie Ledecky, they’ve, Léon Marchand, ” Ledecky Organizations: PARIS, Paris Games, Getty, Brasil, NBC, Olympic Games, NBC Universal Media Group, Los Angeles, Paris La Défense, U.S Locations: Taiwanese, London, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, Brazil, France, NBCUniversal, Los Angeles, Inglewood