Olympics Recap
Aug 07, 2024 12:33PM ● By Allison EliasonIt has been nothing but round the clock competition from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Into the second week of elite contests, the 33rd Olympic Games has been nothing short of mind-blowing. There have been moments of disappointing defeat, but those moments have been far surpassed by the dominating spirit of determination, grit, tenacity, and resolve to put everything on the line. Over the last week, Team USA has taken a commanding lead on the medal table, leading with 79 total medals after Day 10. Here is a look at those great athletes that have made such a dominating show possible.
With the conclusion of the swimming events, Team USA tallied up 28 medals to surge past Australia in their pool rivalry, 8 of those medals being gold. The women’s team won silver in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay that paled to their gold in the 4 x 100m medley relay and in the 4 x 100 medley relay as they set a new Olympic record, beating the record by nearly a second and finishing a full three seconds ahead of Australia in second place.
Earning individual medals for the women’s team included Regan Smith with a silver in the 100m backstroke, 200m butterfly, and 200m backstroke, Katharine Berkoff with bronze 100m backstroke, Torri Huske with a silver in 100m freestyle, and Kate Douglass with the gold in 200m breaststroke and silver in the 200m individual medley.
Leading the charge for the women’s team was four time olympian Katie Ledecky who made history in multiple ways as she won her fourth consecutive medal in the 800m freestyle, her second gold medal in the 1500m freestyle and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle to make her the most decorated U.S. female Olympian of all time.
Throughout the 2024 Olympics, Ledecky has wowed the fans not only with her impressive medal count but her impressive fashion in doing so. In her 1500m qualifying race, she finished the grueling 30 laps 18 seconds before the second place winner. Even in the final race, Ledecky was a standout with a 10 second lead. Competitors accepted that as she alone holds the 20 fastest times in the race, they were all competing for second place.
Ledecky’s counterpart in the men’s 1500m freestyle, Bobby Finke, set a new world and olympic record with his repeat gold medal win. Finke also added a silver in the 800m freestyle. The men’s team won silver in the 4 x 100m medley relay and 4 x 200m freestyle relay. The two swim teams finished out the pool events with a gold in the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay.
Team USA’s success in the water wasn’t limited to the pool as a number of teams and individuals medalled in other various open water events. Evy Leibfarth won bronze in the women's single canoe single. Leibfarth qualified 12th of 12 finalists which put her first to go in the final round. Her strong performance was the one to chase for nearly the entire final round.
The men’s rowing teams turned a corner as they added two medals to the count. The rowing four man team won gold, battling it out to the finish with New Zealand. It was the first men's rowing four medal since the Rome Olympics 1960. The rowing eight man team won bronze, holding the position over the 2000 m race.
Ian Barrows and Hans Henken sailed into a bronze medal finish in the men’s skiff event. After placing in the top 10 in each of their 11 races, they qualified for 12th and final race. Accumulating points across their races, a fourth place finish is all it took to solidify their place on the medal stand.
The women’s gymnastics team didn’t disappoint as they were slated for gold in the team event. Moving into the individual events, they have tallied an additional 7 medals. Simone Biles won gold in the All-Around and vault with a silver in the floor exercise. Suni Lee took bronze in the All-Around as well as in the uneven bars. Jordan Chiles won bronze in the floor exercise with Jade Carey taking bronze in the vault.
“The pommel horse guy” Stephen Nedoroscik found himself on the medal stand once again after a stunning performance in his single event to win a second bronze medal. The gymnast has been compared to Clark Kent by social media fans as the nerdy boy (in his own words) whips off his dark rimmed glasses and transforms into an American hero with his own super human abilities. Nedoroscik completed the vision as he draped the flag around his shoulders like his own Superman cape.
Speaking of heroes, the USA Women's rugby 7s has become an American star in their own right as they won a bronze medal, the first ever medal in rugby 7s. The team clinched the victory over the favored Aussies with a jaw dropping late try in the final seconds to win 14-12. Team USA was deep in their own territory with the Australian defense not allowing any gains when Alex Sedrick broke loose and ran the entire distance of the field for the score. She then made the conversion kick to put them ahead on the scoreboard and place them on the medal stand.
Kristne Faulkner was another that defied the odds, winning a gold medal in the women’s road race when she had only made the Olympic team as a replacement. Faulkner rode a near perfect race over the 98 miles that put her in position to attack and push at the finish in a way that made her unbeatable. Her win made her the first American rider in 40 years to win a medal in the event. Cycling teammate Peris Benega added a silver medal in the women’s BMX event. Benega had worked her way back from an ACL-LCL surgery in June 2023, only returning to competition in May to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Capturing gold in all of her events, Lee Kiefer led her team to a golden victory over Italy in the women’s foil team event with Lauren Scruggs, Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub.
Going four for four, Vincent Hancock won gold in the men’s skeet shooting in his fourth Olympics, beating out his own coachee Conner Lynn Prince in a head to head in the gold medal round. Hancock also claimed a silver medal in the mixed skeet event as he teamed up with another of his pupils, Austen Jewell Smith. In the women’s single skeet event, Smith also found herself on the medal stand in the bronze position.
In similar fashion, coach Brady Ellison won the silver men’s individual archery then took bronze in the mixed with women’s Case Kaufhold. The duo clinched the 6-2 victory over India, awarding Kaufhold with the first medal for Team USA in women’s archery since 1988.
Team USA’s three man equestrian jumping team was awarded the silver medal, a repeat of their Tokyo Olympics accomplishment. Also earning silver was Sergeant Sagen Maddalena in the women's 50m rifle 3 position silver, earning a position on the medal stand in her second Olympics.
Looking for redemption after struggling in their individual triathlon races, the mixed triathlon relay team found their place on the silver medal podium.
The women’s 3x3 women's basketball won bronze over Canada. CapitalizIng on Canada’s mistakes, Team USA hit 5/7 from the free throw line from Canada’s 8 fouls, forced 7 turnovers, grabbed 14 rebounds to win 16-13.
Grant Fisher kicked off Team USA’s track medals as he won the bronze in the men’s 10,000m race. There were high hopes for Sha’carri Richardson as she looked for redemption in the 100m run. Unfortunately she had to settle for a silver medal after she came out of the blocks behind all the competition. Also running in the 100m dash for Team USA was Melissa Jefferson, coming in just behind Richardson for the bronze.
On the flip side, Noah Lyles didn’t disappoint after all his smack talk of being the best in men’s 100m. Winning gold with a personal best time of 9.784, Lyles admitted that he was flying blind in the race, unable to see his toughest competition in lane 7. As he came to the finish line, Lyles leaned in ahead just enough to claim the win. Fred Kerley came in just fractions of a second behind Lyles to finish in third for the bronze.
Team USA’s mixed 4x400 relay team won silver, narrowly missing out on the gold as the team from the Netherlands inched past in the final stretch. Despite coming up second, the team celebrated their new world record set in the qualifying race.
Ryan Crouser added a gold in the shot put, leading the event from his first throw to his sixth. He won the contest with a season best of 22.90 meters. The win made him the first ever man to have 3 golds in shot put. Sharing the light on the medal stand was teammate Joe Kovacs with the silver medal finish.
Winning the first ever USA medal in the triple jump, Jasmine Moore earned bronze on her jump of 14.67 m on one of her first attempts, despite the rainy, wet track. Valarie Allman also made history with her gold medal discus throw. Her repeat win made Allman the first US women to win back to back field event gold medals. Her winning throw of 69.50 meters surpassed the best mark of second-place Bin Feng of China by nearly two full meters.
The final track and field medal for Team USA was earned by pole vaulter Sam Kendricks. Clipping his hands with his spikes early in the competition, Kendricks found his hands bloody and sore. Still, the world class vaulter made his way to a second place finish, coming up short behind his Swedish competitor who set a new world record for the 9th time at 6.25m.
On the tennis courts Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram won silver in the men’s tennis doubles. The team found themselves in what was obviously a true matchup of the best as the lead went back a number of times. Coming in for the bronze in a game of no contest was Fritz Taylor and Tommy Paul.
A final gold medal for Team USA came from Scottie Scheffler in the men’s individual golf stroke play. Trailing the leaders and coming in as an afterthought, Scheffler’s win was a come from behind victory for the ages.
Moving into the final week of competitions, Team USA looks to keep their lead on the medal stand. It is unlikely that any other country will catch them with the total number of medals, but the real contest will lie in the gold medal count. The 2024 Paris Olympics will truly be an exciting watch down to the very final events.