The 16-day glued-to-your-television-fest that is the Rio Olympic Games come to a close on Aug. 21. With various world and Olympic records that have fallen, the coming out party for U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, and swimmer Michael Phelps’ continued domination and subsequent retirement, there were a lot of moments for photographers to snap top-notch shots of throughout the Games. RealClearLife has curated a gallery of those iconic Olympic images we thought captured its spirit best.
Underwater view shows USA’s Michael Phelps taking part in the Men’s 100m Butterfly Semifinal during the swimming event . (François-Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Images)
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Simone Biles of the United States competes on the balance beam during the Women’s Individual All Around Final on Day 6. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
USA’s Lilly King (L) celebrates with USA’s Katie Meili after she broke the Olympic record to win the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final. (Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)
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Armenia’s Artur Hovhannisyan (R) lands a punch on Spain’s Samuel Carmona Heredia during the Men’s Light Fly (46-49kg) match. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)
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Team China competes in the Teams Technical Routine Final during the synchronised swimming event. (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)
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Competitors are seen during the Gold medal match between Russia and Ukraine during the Women’s Team Sabre. (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
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Venezuela’s Yaniuska Isabel Espinosa reacts while competing during the Women’s weightlifting +75kg event. (AFP/Getty Images)
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US gymnast Gabrielle Douglas competes in the women’s uneven bars event final of the Artistic Gymnastics. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)
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Britain’s Laura Trott competes in the Women’s Omnium Points race track cycling event. (Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images)
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China’s Cao Yuan competes in the Men’s 3m Springboard final during the diving event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Stadium. (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)
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Russia’s Dariya Klishina competes in the Women’s Long Jump Final during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 17, 2016. (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)
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Riders compete in the BMX cycling men’s quarterfinals event at the X-Park BMX venue in Deodoro. (Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images)
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Thailand’s Phannapa Harnsujin (L) competes against Iran’s Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin during their womens taekwondo repechage bout in the -57kg category. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)
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Jamaica’s Usain Bolt does his “Lightening Bolt”pose after he won the Men’s 200m Final. (Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)
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Poland’s Piotr Lisek competes in the Men’s Pole Vault Final during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 15, 2016. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
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A picture taken with an underwater camera shows Israel’s Ievgenia Tetelbaum and Israel’s Anastasia Glushkov Leventhal competing in the Duets Technical Routine preliminaries during the synchronised swimming event. (Francois-Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Images)
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