From July 26th to August 11th, the five Olympic rings sat proudly atop the Eiffel Tower as thousands of the world’s best athletes gathered in the majestic city of Paris, France, for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. 10,714 Olympians from 206 countries spent two weeks competing for gold under the eyes of the entire world, trying to bring their country—and themselves—the pride of an Olympic champion. Sports ranged from gymnastics to soccer to breakdancing and everything in between, each athlete’s years of dedicated training finally paying off during the world’s largest sporting event ever. Not only was gold won, but history was made as the Olympians pushed themselves to their limit, achieving feats we never thought possible. The Paris Olympics as a whole will go down in history for multiple reasons: it hosted the first Olympic Opening Ceremonies outside of a stadium, instead holding it on the Seine River, was the first Olympics to ever have an equal distribution of male and female athletes, and is the second city to ever host the Olympics three times.
However, it wasn’t only the overall event of Paris 2024 that made its mark on Olympic history—hundreds of individual athletes from every country around the world in multiple sports made just as much history as Paris 2024 did. The rest of this article series will attempt to cover the main highlights of these Olympic games, first with a general overview of star athletes and teams from various sports, followed by more detailed highlights of gymnastics, diving, swimming, and track and field, some of the Olympics most popular sports.
General Overview
In kayaking and canoeing, a Tokyo star returned to prove her worth once again. Jessica Fox of Australia blew away the competition to win gold in both the women’s kayak and canoe single events. Her younger sister, Noemie Fox of Australia, followed in her big sister’s footsteps, beating her out to win gold in the women’s kayak cross and helping create an amazing story of sibling success at these Olympics. In the debut of Olympic breakdancing, Australia’s Rachael Gunn, or “Raygun,” made a big splash. Her performance in the women’s breakdancing final earned her a score of 0 and sparked a controversial debate over her breakdancing moves and whether or not she was really qualified for the Olympics. France’s judoka Teddy Riner, after having the honor of lighting the Olympic cauldron, created more history in his home country. On the last day of judo competition, he defeated South Korea’s Kim Minjong to win his sixth Olympic gold medal, becoming the most decorated Olympic judoka in history. In men’s and women’s soccer, competition was fierce, but Spain, France, and Morocco came out on top, in first, second, and third, respectively. With a stunning victory over Brazil in women’s soccer, the U.S. took the gold medal, leaving Brazil with silver and Germany with bronze. Stephen Curry was no doubt the star of men’s basketball, leading the U.S. team to gold with spectacular performances throughout the games. France came in second, defeated in their home country only by the U.S., while Serbia, with some phenomenal plays of their own came in third. The U.S. and France also came in first and second, respectively, in women’s basketball, with Australia taking the bronze. France was victorious in men’s volleyball, winning gold ahead of Poland in silver and the U.S. in bronze. Italy took first in women’s volleyball, with the U.S. taking second and Brazil following them in third. Men’s tennis singles was packed with phenomenal players, with the gold medal match coming down to tennis legend Novak Djokovic of Serbia and newer, potential tennis star Carlos Alcaraz of Spain. With one final nail-biting point, Djokovic managed to best Alcaraz, taking gold and leaving Alacarz with silver and Lorenzo Musetti of Italy with bronze. Women’s tennis singles were topped by Qinwen Zheng of China, followed by second place Donna Vekić of Croatia and third place Iga Świątek of Poland. Great Britain topped competition in the men’s team rowing event, while the Netherlands took second and the U.S. took third. Great Britain also got bronze in the women’s team rowing event, beat out by Canada in second and Romania in first. Cindy Ngamba made history for the Refugee Olympic Team with her bronze medal in boxing, winning the team its first-ever Olympic medal. Ngamba’s victory has helped bring attention to the refugee athletes and has earned them glory and global recognition at these Games. Despite having not been in the lead for much of the race, Cassandre Beaugrand of France managed to take gold in the women’s individual triathlon, followed by Julie Derron of Switzerland in second and Beth Potter of Britain in third. Water polo competition turned out to be quite exciting this year, with Serbia, Croatia, and the U.S. taking first, second, and third, respectively, in the men’s competition. The women’s water polo team for the U.S. faced disappointment, losing several matches and finishing off the podium. However, Spain took gold, while Australia came in second and the Netherlands came in third.
