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The Olympic glory is not quite over, with a small contingent of New Zealand's most successful team due back in the country on Wednesday.
One person who has been watching their highs and lows is former running coach and athletics legend Arch Jelley.
He has coached a number of Kiwi greats to Olympic and Commonwealth Games success - among them 1500m runner Neville Scott, Sir John Walker and Hamish Carson, who went to the Rio Games in 2016, when Jelley was 93.
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Although many of today's runners have been breaking national records, the likes of Sam Tanner, Zoe Hobbs and Maia Ramsden who ran for New Zealand in the Paris Olympics, did not make it to medal contention.
Ramsden finished eighth in the 1500m semi finals, setting a new national record. And sprinter Zoe Hobbs failed to qualify for the 100m final.
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Jelley - who was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2021 New Year's Honours - told Checkpoint the New Zealand team's success "put the rugby in the shade".
The former Olympic coach - who turned 102 on Tuesday - loved watching the Paris Games, saying there were so many "great performances" by Kiwi athletes.
"You need a bit of luck to do well at the Olympics, you've got to be [training] for a lengthy period, and you've got one day every four years where you've got to be at your best.
"So you've got to be good, but you've got to have a bit of luck as well."
Jelley surmised that Tanner and George Beamish - who competed in 3000m steeplechase - had been "handicapped by injuries... we didn't see them at their best".
Hobbs did "very, very well", he said, "but there's tremendous competition at that level and it's all over in the blink of an eyelid, so you need a bit of luck".
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The Olympic middle distance events were very different now, compared to when the likes of Walker were running, with the rise of African nations making those races even more competitive, he said.
Arch Jelley, left, at a function in 2009 with John Walker and Lloyd Drake, who was Walker's doctor. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Another difference was the quality of athletics tracks now, which were getting "better every year... and the shoes that they wear now with the carbon springs, that gives them quite a big advantage, so it's ... hard to compare the times they do now with the times they did in the past".
Peter Snell set the NZ record for 800m of 1:44:3 on a grass track that was damp, he said, "I don't think anybody could match that... Peter's time could compare with anything."
On The Netherlands' Sifan Hassan's three-peat - taking bronze in the 5000 and 10,000 metres races, before winning gold in the women's marathon - Jelley said "it's a bit crazy" and was not good for the athlete.
"I think you should just concentrate on one or two events... She's a remarkable athlete but I don't think her coach should have entered her for three events."
For anyone spurred by the Games to take up running, Jelley's tip was: Take it easy.
"Get into it very, very slowly. Don't worry about pace, just run for a certain time and be content, otherwise you'll get injured."
And how did Jelley keep so well, as a centenarian?
"I'm just average healthy, I've always been fairly active. I try and walk 3-4km a day.
"One thing I do - I don't know how I started it - is about 90 to 100 squats a day. I call them half squats and they're good value.
"I do a bit of work on the exercycle, and I always have some sort of project that I'm working on ... I play bridge ... at least three times a week, and that keeps you thinking. It's a very good mind exercise."
