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The destiny of any good thing is that it must, eventually, come to an end.
And these Games of the 33rd Olympiad have been a seriously impressive collection of mighty good things.
An Olympics that officially started under leaden skies that could have served to terminally dampen spirits never let itself be dragged down.
As the motley assortment of boats carved their way along the maligned Seine with their increasingly bedraggled cargo on board during the Opening Ceremony, it would have been easy for the rain to set the tone.
Spoiler alert: it didn't.
Part of that, of course, was down to the phenomenal atmosphere around the Games.
"We thought ourselves a nation of diehard moaners," Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, said during the Closing Ceremony.
"Instead we found ourselves a nation of wild supporters."
Mostly though, it was down to the extraordinary performances of those these Games are for, the athletes, whose exploits were celebrated with a montage of highlights to kick off the Closing Ceremony at a packed Stade de France.
Before the Opening Ceremony had even started, France had enjoyed its first moment of the Games, the irrepressible Antoine Dupont leading his team to a surge of impossible wins at the Stade de France by his own force of will as much as his brilliance.
That is what set the tone for a Games rich in sporting moments that will never be forgotten.
A Games that will be remembered by performances that tore the lid off what we had hoped for in our wildest dreams and what the hosts in particular dare not imagine.
Léon Marchand kept the party going, this extraordinary 22-year-old dishing out performance after staggering performance in front of a 15,000-capacity crowd at La Défense that roared and cheered and sung with impossible verve and passion to match the drama of his own making.
Nothing could better the atmosphere for his victory in the 400m medley, a riotous explosion of national pride focused on one man.
That is until his staggering final-lap comeback in the 200m butterfly did just that, tearing the doors off La Défense and hurtling them down the street only a couple of days later. That was just the first of two gold medals he won that night.
Estanguet explained: "We wanted to be inspired. We got Léon Marchand."
Australia's own Ariarne Titmus defended her 400m freestyle title, seeing off a legend of the sport on one side and someone who will no doubt prove to become one on the other.
She was one of five Aussies to defend their titles in Paris, including Kaylee McKeown, the only Australian swimmer ever to win the double-double.
There were other phenomenal moments in the pool.
Katie Ledecky won her 800m title — hers simply by right of ownership. She has held the Olympic title in this event for 12 years, and Summer McIntosh, the 17-year-old who has the swimming world in the palm of her hand to do with what ever she pleases.
Tokyo was too early to be her coming out party. Now she's homecoming queen after claiming three individual golds and a silver.
It wasn't just in the pool.
France loves judo, and it loves heavyweight star Teddy Riner even more.
Everyone, everywhere stopped what they were doing while France battled Japan in the mixed team final, crowding around laptops and TV screens as Riner was drawn to fight in the deciding bout and exploding in joy when he won.
His two gold medals at this Games simply confirmed his legacy.
There were others. Bespectacled table tennis player Félix Lebrun helped France to a team bronze, while people may not know the name Yusuf Dikeç, but you'd recognise the memes of him shooting his way to silver in the most casual and relaxed way imaginable.
Then there was the trio of French medallists in the BMX racing, a scenario that drew scenes of utter delirium that continued when Saya Sakakibara completed her emotional golden fairytale.
Criticisms of the Games are inevitable and understandable.
The cost of living crisis doesn't pause during a Games any more than conflicts do during the so-called Olympic truce, and ticket prices were excessive for most.
But the Games are not just about stadiums and arenas — and Paris made a greater use of its stunning setting than most to ensure the road-based events had a naturally spectacular arena to enjoy.
None was more incredible, or insane, than the cobbled streets of Montmartre during the men's and women's road race, with an estimated 500,000 people cramming the roadside.
The Seine was a hot topic throughout, but no athlete could deny the impact that bringing swimming — and triathlon — into the heart of a city would have for its visibility.
Although it didn't hurt that home hope Cassandre Beaugrand won the women's race and both the men's and mixed team relay races boiled down to two epic sprint finishes.
And speaking of visibility, the Stade de France's purple track popped both visually and in terms of the action it provided.
The closest and most exciting of men's 100m finals in history, with just 0.005 seconds splitting gold from silver and the entire field finishing within 0.12 seconds of one another.
Armand Duplantis did what Armand Duplantis does with incredible regularity, and the near inevitability of his 6.25m world record vault did little to quell the excitement of actually seeing him achieve it.
Then there were the races that stunned, like Jess Hull's 1,500m silver, with third place taken by Britain's Georgia Bell, who only returned to running during COVID and is now an Olympic medallist.
Perhaps none stunned more though than the women's marathon, with Sifan Hassan out-sprinting Tigst Assefa to cap a superb Games in which she also medalled in the 5,000m and 10,000m on the track, the first athlete to do that since the great Emile Zatopek in 1952.
Her medal was the first presented to a woman at the closing ceremony in Olympic history and felt groundbreaking too, as athletes crowded around the podium at the Stade de France to honour these brilliant women.
Another woman, Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba also made history, winning the Refugee Olympic Team's first ever medal with a bronze in the boxing.
Some refreshingly new events popped, like the chaotic kayak cross — and not just because it helped complete a Fox-family sweep for the slalom medals — while others that everyone hoped to have bopped, most certainly did not.
But the old favourites were here too. Lebron James and his star-studded cast of the NBA's best and brightest got the job done again against a brave French team, while Simone Biles is also well and truly back.
But for all those international stars, Australia's Games was one of a near unmitigated success.
Bookended by medals to cyclists: gold for Grace Brown in the individual time trial on the road, bronze and silver to Matthew's Richardson and Glaetzer on the track, Australia's haul of 53 medals is second only to the number won in Sydney.
From the Fox's to Mollie O'Callaghan, Arisa Trew to Ariarne Titmus, to closing ceremony flag-bearers Matt Wearn and McKeown, Australians typically excelled on the biggest of stages in a way they never have before.
Perhaps Australia's chef de mission Anna Meares was best placed to sum things up in her closing press conference.
"I said to our teams as they were welcomed into our village, the pages of the chapter that is Paris 2024 were blank," she said.
"The mark that this team will leave on those pages will show they are the most successful Australian Olympic team ever."
Australia never enjoyed so much success.
The total of gold medals won in Paris, 18, is the most ever won by an Australian team at any Games in history, leaving them fourth on the medal table.
But despite all the fluttering Australian flags, piped renditions of Advance Australia Fair, and medals draped around necks, it was the other moments that summed up how special this group is.
The Australian men's water polo team, who stunned the team that had won the last two Olympic titles and then went on to win this one too, giving them and everyone else the belief that something special was happening, which was realised by the women who threw off the disappointment of losing out on gold to relish their silvers.
Perhaps it was Rachael 'Raygun' Gunn, whose viral performance will not define her contribution to breaking half as much as her PhD into cultural politics in the sport.
Or Maddison Keeney, heartbroken by a late mistake in the 3m synchro to show unbelievable mental fortitude to win silver in the individual.
Maybe it was Charlie Senior backflipping with his opponent after winning silver, or Caitlin Parker helping complete the best performance in the ring for Australia's boxers since 1960, despite the threat their sport faces from ignorant and hypocritical administrators, or maybe even Harry Garside's emotional response to his performance that underwhelmed him so badly.
"It does not come with a full stop at the end of gold medal," Meares said.
"It includes silver medals, bronze medals, making a final, performing a personal best and showing great acts of sportsmanship and sportswomanship."
Australia, as ever, by and large, has exemplified these traits as well here as anywhere, in a Games typified by fair play and the nebulous Olympic spirit.
But in truth, the final word should go to Paris, using the same words they did to conclude this glorious Games in this awe-inspiring Closing Ceremony.
Voilà, nous l'avons fait comme ça.
That's how we did it.
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