Now that the 17-day Tokyo Olympics are over, here are some of our popular stories from the games and beyond:

Daiki Hashimoto emerges as Japan's new gymnastics star

19-year-old Daiki Hashimoto won two gold medals on his Olympic debut in men's gymnastics, dominated for years by "King" Kohei Uchimura, the winner of the last two individual all-arounds at the Olympics, while Mai Murakami claimed the bronze medal in the women's floor exercise.

Japan's Daiki Hashimoto wins men's gymnastics all-around gold

Olympic gymnastics champ Hashimoto responds to scoring criticism

Gymnastics "King Kohei" Uchimura bows out in Tokyo after fall

Japan's Murakami makes history with floor exercise bronze

Japan's Hashimoto wins horizontal bar for 2nd gold medal in Tokyo

Daiki Hashimoto of Japan performs in the men's horizontal bar final at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 3, 2021, at Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Hashimoto won his second gold medal of the games. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan puts crack in wall of China in Tokyo table tennis

Mima Ito and Jun Mizutani's epic gold-medal win in the mixed doubles table tennis final at the Tokyo Games exposed cracks in the wall of dominant China, and Japan won medals in each of the sport's events except the men's singles.

Mizutani, Ito win historic gold in table tennis mixed doubles

Japan's Mima Ito adds bronze to mixed table tennis doubles gold

Japan's table tennis teen star Harimoto makes surprise Tokyo exit

Japan takes table tennis women's team silver, China wins in Tokyo

Japan men top South Korea to win team table tennis bronze

Japan's Jun Mizutani (R) and Mima Ito react after winning the table tennis mixed doubles final against China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen at the Tokyo Olympics on July 26, 2021, at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. (Kyodo)

Tokyo Olympics closes but pandemic rages on

After a one-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo is still and more than ever struggling with a surge in infections, and some Olympic-related cases also grabbed attention.

Tokyo logs record COVID cases over 5,000 amid medical collapse fears

Tokyo Olympics report 1st post-competition COVID-19 case

Tokyo Olympics see 1st cluster of COVID-19 infections

Tokyo Olympics see record COVID-19 cases for 2nd straight day

Combined photo shows a staff member at the Tokyo Olympics holding up signs to cue athletes to take off their masks for photos on the podium and put their masks back on afterwards during a judo medal ceremony at Nippon Budokan in July 2021. (Kyodo)

People wearing face masks walk in Tokyo's Ginza area on Aug. 1, 2021, as the Tokyo Olympics goes on with COVID-19 cases remaining rampant in the capital. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japanese men's badminton singles top seed Momota knocked out

While men's badminton singles top seed and world No. 1 Kento Momota was knocked out of the Tokyo Olympics, meaning another of Japan's biggest stars and gold medal hopes has fallen to the wayside, his injury in January 2020 in a car crash in Malaysia drew renewed attention and women's match stories were also well read.

Badminton world champ Kento Momota injured in Malaysia car crash

Matsumoto, Nagahara crash out of badminton women's doubles

Naomi Osaka suffers shock 3rd round women's singles tennis loss

Japan's Fukushima, Hirota take 1st women's badminton doubles loss

Japan's Kento Momota (R) reacts after losing to South Korea's Heo Kwang Hee in a Tokyo Olympics men's badminton singles group play stage match at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo on July 28, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Marketa Vondrousova (R) of the Czech Republic is pictured after upsetting Japan's Naomi Osaka in the third round of the Tokyo Olympic women's singles tournament at Ariake Tennis Park on July 27, 2021. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Some athletes make the news outside games

Video of Israeli athletes breaking cardboard Olympic village bed goes viral

2 Georgian judoka ejected from Olympics for violating COVID protocols

Ugandan athlete in Japan for Olympics who went missing heads back home

Volunteers see off athletes who competed at the Tokyo Olympics at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Aug. 9, 2021, a day after the closing ceremony of the games. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo