After 16 days of grueling competition, the 2024 Paris Olympics have come to a close.  Those 16 days were nothing short of exceptional talent demonstrating what determination, grit, and perseverance can accomplish.  After a somewhat disappointing Olympic games in Tokyo with a number of athletes out due to covid, the seats empty of spectators and the Olympic Village eerily quiet in comparison, the  Paris games brought a resurgence of that vivacious

Olympic spirit.

As the final events concluded and the medals were tallied up, it was Team USA that was crowned winner of the 2024 Paris Olympics.  With 40 gold medals (tieing with China), 44 silver and 42 bronze, the team and individual winners collected a total of 126 medals, the most by 35.  Oddly enough, in the first ever Olympics with men and women having an equal number of events, the women of Team USA earned 67 medals- more than half of their combined total.

In the final week of events, the Stade de France became front and center with the final proceedings for the track and field.  Quincy Hall won gold in the men’s 400m after mounting a furious comeback to take the lead in the final meters.  Coming around the final turn, Hall found himself in fourth place.  Finding a second wind, he picked off the leaders just before closing in on the finish line.

Noah Lyles hoped to be named the fastest sprinter by winning both the 100m and 200m.  Unfortunately, just days before the 200m race, he was diagnosed with covid.  Finding himself wanting and fit enough, he stepped up to the line to compete.  Coming up short of gold, Lyles was still pleased with his bronze medal finish in spite of his trying circumstances.  Lyles came in behind teammate Kenneth Bednarek who won his second silver in the 200m race.

Team USA took 1 and 2 in the 110m hurdles with Grant Holloway leading the way followed by Daniel Roberts.  Both runners had competed in the hurdles at the Tokyo games, but came up short, finding redemption in these Paris Olympics.

It was unsure how Team USA would compete in the distance racing but with great surprise, the endurance runners not only held their own but added medals of their own.  Grant Fisher became the first American to ever medal in both the 5000m and the 10,000, earning bronze in both.

Kenneth Rooks surprised many by simply qualifying for the 300m steeplechase let alone taking the silver medal podium.   The BYU track star seemed caught up in the pack over the seven plus laps of the race, but he had a plan in mind.  Sticking close by the race favorites, he waited until the end to put on a burst of speed to come out and around the leaders, although the long legged S. El Bakkali from Morocco passed Rooks before the finish line.  Along with his silver medal, Rooks claimed a new personal record with the race as he shaved nine seconds off his personal-best for a time of 8 minutes, 6.41 seconds. 

In the men’s 400m hurdle, Rai Benjamin secured the gold medal win, even after a wobbly landing on his eighth hurdle.  Praying he wouldn’t fall, Benjamin adapted to lead with the opposite leg for the next hurdle.  Despite taking the hurdles with his off leg and coming into the finish from behind, Benjamin blasted to the front to take the lead with just a few strides ahead of the current record holder.

Benjamin’s counterpart on the women’s team, Sydney McLaughlin- Levrone also won gold in the women’s 400m hurdles but did so in her own spectacularly dramatic way.  Running in what commentators called a “clearly relaxed form,” McLaughlin slowly inched her way to the lead, surging ahead as she cleared the final hurdle.  Waiting at the finish line was not only a gold medal finish but a new world record as she smashed her own world record as she stormed to a sensational time of 50.37 seconds.   

Teammate Anna Cockrell followed for the silver medal finish with what became a new personal best time.

It was a photo finish that brought Masai Russel’s dreams to a reality as she won the 100m hurdles in her debut Olympics.  Seeing that she was trailing on the last hurdle, she knew she would have to kick it on the last sprint.  The late spurt gave her the edge she needed as she leaned over the finish line before France’s Samba-Mayela.  Russel had no idea she had won, watching the jumbotron for a long, drawn out 15 seconds before the results were posted.

Tara Davis-Woodhall jumped for gold as she won in the long jump, surpassing her previous 6th place finish in the Tokyo Olympics.  In fact, Davis-Woodhall jumped the two best distances in the competition.  The win was more than just a feat at the most elite level, but a win that came from overcoming two broken vertebrae, a broken ankle and a broken hip as well as intense depression after the Tokyo games.  Recognizing her incredible accomplishment, she raced to the stand to jump into the arms of her husband, three-time medalist in the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics Hunter Woodhall. 

Sharing the medal stand with Davis-Woodhall to represent Team USA was Jasmine Moore with the bronze medal finish.  Medaling in both the long jump and triple jump made her the first American woman to not only qualify for the olympics in both events but to medal in them
as well.

Shelby McEwen accepted the silver medal finish for the high jump despite the criticism cast on social media for his choice.  As the final two left in the high jump, McEwen and New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr found themselves tied with neither of them clearing the final height of 7 feet, 9 3/4 inches.  The two could have simply shared the first place win but as the true competitors, they didn’t go to the Olympics for a tie.  Kerr suggested a jumpoff and McEwen happily accepted.  The two jumpers together missed the final height eleven times before Kerr finally sailed over the bar.  In his final attempt, McEwen missed and secured his place with the silver medal.

It was nothing but gold medals for the men’s and women’s relay teams.  Team USA’s men’s team of Rai Benjamin, Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood and Bryce Deadmon set a new record in the 4 x 400 relay, beating the record set by Team USA at the Beijing Olympics.  In similar fashion, the women’s team of Alexis Holmes, Gabby Thomas, Shamier Little and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone held on to their 30+ year reign as the gold medal winners.

The women’s team also continued their gold medal streak in the 4 x 100m run by Gabby Thomas, Sha’Carri Richardson, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, as they cruised to a season-best 41.78.  The event earned Richardson the gold medal she missed out on in her individual 100m race as she anchored the team and brought the victory home.  Receiving the baton in third place, she was nothing but strength and speed and before anyone knew it, she had taken the lead.

On a different track, the Team USA women’s cycling track team won their first ever gold medal in the women’s pursuit.  Claiming the victory was Jennifer Valente, Lily Williams, Chloe Dygert and Kristen Faulkner.  The power team made up of Olympic medalists and world champions dug deep to keep New Zealand at their rear, beating them by less than a second.

Valente secured a second gold medal in the track cycling omnium event, an event she already has two silver medals in.  The omnium includes a series of races that range from short sprints to long endurance rides.  Tallying points along, it was clear the Valente would be a force on the track, a forecast that was spot on.

Team USA saw great success on the wrestling mats as they collected seven medals from both the men’s and women’s events.  After two gold medals in the previous week Sarah Hildebrandt earned the gold medal in the freestyle wrestling 50kg weight, Helen Maroulis took bronze in 57 kg, Kennedy Blades placed with a silver medal finish wrestling 76 kg, as well as Spencer Lee wrestling freestyle in the 57 kg weight, with Kyle Dake winning bronze wrestling at 74kg, and Aaron Brooks taking the silver medal in the freestyle wrestling 86 kg. 

Moving to the weight lifting event, Olivia Reeves grabbed gold in the 71 kg division, the first medal in women’s weightlifting since 2000.  To secure her finish she lifted 390 pounds in the snatch and 320 pounds in the clean and jerk to beat out Columbia’s Marie Leivis Sanchez by just 10 pounds.  On the men’s team, Hampton Morris won bronze in the 61 kg, a victory for the athlete and his family.  From his dad coaching him in their garage to his grandmother that helps drive him to physical therapy, the win was certainly earned by a team effort.

For some athletes like Kristina Teachout, the opposite path helped lead them to the Olympics.  To chase her dream, Teachout left her family to train in Colorado and then North Caroline.  As a 14 year old girl, the transition was hard but it all paid off when she earned a bronze medal at 18 in the 67kg division of taekwondo. 

Team USA made a big comeback in many events at the Paris Olympics, including artistic swimming, more commonly known as synchronized swimming.   The event is far more than swimming as it combines dancing, gymnastics and swimming.  The event features a free routine and a technical one where teams are judged and scored based on execution, synchronization, degree of difficulty, music and choreography.  After a lengthy dry spell, Team USA found themselves on the medal stand in the silver position.

In his debut Olympics, Victor “b-Boy”Montalvo took bronze in the first ever breakdancing event.  B-Boy lost out in the semi-final round to France’s Danny Dean but broke past his opponent from Japan in the bronze medal match up.  

Tom Schaar’s performance in the men’s park skateboarding was called “absolutely mindblowing,” something that was clearly visible as Snoop Dogg was giving him the dap.  While some think he should have been awarded more points for the run, he came up short of the gold and finished with a silver.

The margin between gold and silver has been slim in several events, including the canoe 200m sprint.  In hopes of a second gold medal, Nevin Harrison battled it out on the water against Canada’s Katie Vincent in what would be the closest race in the history of the Olympics for the event.  Unfortunately, the photo finish wasn’t in favor of Harrison, coming in behind by just one hundredth of a second.  To her credit, she beat her previous Olympic time as well as the world record time.

Team USA found purchase in the climbing events as Sam Watson took the bronze in speed climbing.  After missing out in the gold medal round, Watson set a new world record in his final bronze medal matchup.  Despite having the fastest time of the competitors, he didn’t earn the medal to match.

Winning the silver medal in climbing boulder and leader, Brooke Raboutou continued to climb to higher heights as the first American woman to medal in a climbing event.

After countless matches, Team USA men’s volleyball team found their way to the medal stand.  They had high hopes but happily settled for bronze after sweeping Italy in a true dogfight.  Still tired at 22 points in the opening game, they realized that it was going to be a fight to the end, a fight they proudly won.

Implementing what they called “plan F,” the women’s volleyball team was determined to finish out their Olympics by putting it all out on the court.  With countless injuries, illnesses and the like, they couldn’t believe they had made their way to the gold medal round.  Italy came ready to play, winning the game in three games.  Despite the loss, Team USA was more than proud of their silver medal finish.

It was nothing but gold for both men’s and women’s basketball teams, both extending their impressive streak.  It didn’t come easily though as there were both times over their tournament play that the USA teams found themselves behind.  The women’s team won by a single point as France put up a buzzer beater in an attempt to tie the game.  Instead of banking a three pointer in, Gabby Williams stepped over the arc making the basket only worth two points.

The women’s soccer team also demonstrated that it only takes a single point to claim the victory.  With a single point scored in the 57th minute of the game, Team USA took the one point lead it would need to beat Brazil for the gold medal.  After the second half score, the team tightened up their defense to make it nearly impossible for Brazil to bring the ball into scoring range, let alone get a shot off.  

The men’s water polo took great satisfaction winning their bronze medal match against Hungary, the team that beat them out of the 2008 final game.  With just over three minutes left, Team USA began to pull from behind, rallying to score five points in the final quarter to win 11-6.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will certainly be one worth remembering.  The days of competition were filled with stories of redemption, incredible firsts, and lasting legacies.  An amazing 31 world records were broken across all events, demonstrating that the world’s athletes are only beginning to show what they are capable of.  The only question that remains is, what will Los Angeles 2028 bring?