The 2024 Summer Olympics kicked off on Friday, July 26, 2024, in Paris, France. This marks the 54th Olympic Games and the 30th Summer Games. United States swimmer Katie Ledecky won four new medals to add to her collection. With two gold, one silver and one bronze, she gained two new titles. She became the most decorated American female swimmer and the female athlete with the most medals in Olympic history. Ledecky won the 1500m freestyle by 10 seconds, leading the United States to victory against Anastasiia Kirpichnikova of France who came in second.
Another notable American athlete this Olympic season is gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik. Known as the “Pommel Horse Guy” on social media, Nedoroscik led the men’s team to bronze, breaking the losing streak of 16 years, also known as the “drought”. Nedoroscik’s performance was highly anticipated, as his only event was the pommel horse. He changed his routine last minute to avoid the harder one intended to win and end the drought His final score was 15.3, making him the only American male gymnast to qualify for an apparatus final.
Track and field gold medalist Quincy Wilson swept his category for the 4×400-meter relay race. Wilson, only a junior in high school, is the youngest male athlete to compete at the Olympic Games in track and field. Wilson earned his spot on Team USA after his performance at the trials in June, setting a new record for under 18 years old with a time of 44.59 seconds. Later breaking his record again in July with a time of 44.20 seconds.
Besides the American athletes, there were many of great athletes in the Olympics this year. A few that stood out from the rest were Oka Shinnosuke, Jessica Fox and Leon Marchand.
Shinnosuke was the only athlete from Japan to win multiple gold medals for his country. Previously, he won the 2019 Junior World All-around Championship. He also competed in the Junior Asian Championships where his team won silver right behind China.
Fox made her first appearance in the 2012 Summer Olympics where she won silver in the K1 event. She won bronze in the same event four years later in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics And four years later in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before winning two gold medals this year.
Leon Marchand won four gold medals in swimming at this Olympics, which is impressive with this being his first time competing. Leon Marchand broke multiple records during this Olympics and now holds the records for the 200-meter Butterfly, the 200-meter Breaststroke, and the 200-meter Individual Medley.
