The endless cycle of news stories, social media posts and video clips from an event as overwhelming as a Summer Olympics means you can overlook the things that matter most.

A brief interview with Team USA’s Kevin Durant following his team’s come-from-behind semi-final victory over Nikola Jokic’s Serbia on Thursday night was a reminder that the Olympics — expensive, dysfunctional and often unfair — holds relevance like never before.

“How can you not celebrate a win like that?” Durant told USA Basketball as he ate his dinner, with a glass of red wine in front of him, hours after the 95-91 victory.

“Look at our families. That’s what it’s about. Coming together on the other side of world like that. It’s special tonight, man. You gotta celebrate. We want to win the gold, but you need to celebrate the small moments, too. Everyone here will remember this night for the rest of their lives. We showed in that fourth quarter how special we are.”

Those who argue the Olympics have run their race, that they’re no longer relevant, and too much of a financial impost on the host country need only look at the emotional celebrations of superstar athletes who make hundreds of millions of dollars in their day jobs.

There’s Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, who contested the men’s tennis final at Roland Garros.

They both cried after the final, with Serbia’s Djokovic winning 7-6, 7-6 – just a month after Spain’s Alcaraz had beaten him in straight sets at Wimbledon.

Then there’s Scottie Scheffler, the American golfer who earlier this year won his second US Masters to go with his US PGA Championship, US Open and British Open titles. He’s also won the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

Most would argue he didn’t have much left to win before winning gold at Le Golf National with wife Meredith, three-month-old son Bennett and parents Scott and Diane in the stands.

But he openly wept on the podium when the Star-Spangled Banner was played.

“It was just very emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national anthem,” he explained.

Read Andrew Webster’s full column from Paris here.