Team USA Dominates 2024 Paris Olympics

Written by Tanner Price

Published on August 15, 2024

To say Team USA had a great two weeks in Paris is an understatement. The stars and stripes showed unbelievable amounts of athleticism in all different sports, as the country prepares to host the games in 2024. We saw some household names and some new rising stars of our home country shine and become legends in their craft.

As if she could not get any better, Simone Biles walked out of Paris with three gold medals and a silver medal. Biles now holds seven gold medals in her Olympic career, crowning her as one of the greatest American athletes of all time. Even those who are not familiar with gymnastics and its rules watched as Biles’ took center stage in the country.

It wasn’t just Biles though. Katie Ledecky took home two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze in swimming this year. Ledecky is the world record-holder for fastest time in the 800m freestyle and 1500m freestyle competitions.

After a suspension in the 2020 Olympics, Sha’Carri Richardson rallied the United States in the 4x100m relay, giving Richardson her first gold medal alongside teammates Twanisha Terry, Gabrielle Thomas and Melissa Jefferson.

The US women’s soccer and basketball teams both took home the gold. Diana Taurasi set a record with her sixth gold medal, the most won by any basketball player ever at the Olympics. Taurasi, 42, said that she will not be playing in the 2028 Olympics. While she didn’t get into the gold medal matchup, the White Mamba will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game.

26 of the 40 events the U.S. placed first in were won by women. In fact, if you look at the total medal count, the U.S. women would have finished third overall.

On the Men’s side of the Olympics, we saw the dominance of the greatest basketball players in the world. Players we have seen go toe-to-toe in the biggest moments were lining up next to each other. Seeing LeBron James pair up alongside Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant was unbelievable.

Stephen Curry, who had never represented Team USA before due to injury, cemented himself as a team legend in his first, and potentially final shot at gold. The U.S. had been down at times throughout their games, but in the gold medal game, they saw a lead slipping away. The U.S. had been leading most of the way, but they thought France, led by Victor Wembenyama, would give them a taste of their own cooking.

That’s when Chef Curry awoke. In the game’s final 2:47, Curry notched four 3-pointers, and seemingly could not miss. The greatest three point shooter of all time did it for his country when it mattered most, even hitting his iconic “night night” taunt after hitting what was the dagger for France.
Seeing Curry, LeBron, and KD all paired up on the same team, while also making drastic comebacks will be moments basketball fans will remember forever. These three defined a generation, and battled each other in the league for years, and they finally were all together, and won a championship together.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be memorable for a multitude of reasons, but one of them will always be the dominance of the athletes from the United States.

 

Featured image from iStock