The 2024 Paris Olympics began on July 26 and concluded August 11 after an exciting two weeks of action that saw several world records established in multiple sports and featured many inspirational stories. It also included the debuts of breaking, a street dance style with origins in 1970s New York City, and kayak cross as well as the encore of sport climbing, 3×3 basketball, skateboarding, and surfing, all of which debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Here’s a look at four of the biggest winners in the Paris Olympics.
Noah Lyles (USA)
The men’s 100m race is usually the most-anticipated event at the Olympics and often delivers some of the best theatrics. Usain Bolt, for example, became a global megastar after winning three consecutive gold medals in the 100m at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Games, setting an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds in the 2012 London Games. The 100m at the Paris Games was one of the most dramatic races ever.
American Noah Lyles finished first in the race, held at Stade de France, with a time of 9.79 seconds, finishing five-thousandths of a second ahead of silver medal winner Kishane Thompson of Jamaica. American Fred Kerley finished in third place, winning the bronze medal. All eight athletes finished the race in less than 10 seconds, with first and eighth place separated by 0.12 seconds.
“The final lived up to the hype. Going through the rounds it looked like a foregone conclusion that Kishane Thompson would win as he was the one who came in as the fastest man in the world,” four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson told BBC TV. “We had this amazing race where you could throw a blanket over the finishing line. We didn’t even know who won for a few minutes.”
Lyles, one of the pre-race favorites, had the slowest reaction time off the blocks and was in last place through the first 40 meters. He hit a peak speed of 43.6 kilometers per hour by the 60-meter mark and was declared the winner via photo finish. Lyles said he told Thompson that he initially thought the Jamaican runner won the race, but Lyles’ torso dipped just across the finish before Thompson. Johnson said it was the best 100m final in Olympic history.
Leon Marchand (France)
French swimmer Leon Marchand was the biggest star for host nation France in the Paris Games. Marchand, who attended Arizona State University and trained under Michael Phelps’ former mentor Bob Bowman, participated in the Tokyo 2020 Games but failed to win a medal. Since then, however, he won a pair of gold medals at the 2022 World Championships and three gold medals at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. He also broke Phelps’ world record in the 400m individual medley by 1.34 seconds.
Marchand met—and surpassed—lofty expectations in Paris, winning four gold medals and one bronze. He won gold in the 200m and 400m individual medleys and in the 200m backstroke and 200m breastsroke, the latter two events were held on the same night. He was also part of the French team that won bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.
Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Novak Djokovic was already the most accomplished tennis player of all time before Paris, winning a record 24 Grand Slams, 98 ATP Tour titles, and holding the world No. 1 position for a record 428 weeks. The only thing missing from his resume was an Olympic gold medal. He won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games and was fourth in 2012 and 2020, and lost in the first round at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. However, he completed the “golden” grand slam in Paris, beating 21-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), in the final.
Djokovic lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final just three weeks prior and was only a couple months removed from minor meniscus surgery, but the 37-year-old persevered in Paris, cementing his status as the best player in the sport’s history. Italian Lorenzo Musetti earned bronze in tennis with a victory over Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Scottie Scheffler (USA)
Already a six-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2024, American Scottie Scheffler added another impressive accolade to his resume by winning the gold medal in the four-round golf tournament at Le Golf National. Scheffler trailed by four strokes to begin the fourth round, but took advantage of poor rounds by fourth-round co-leaders Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm while posting an impressive final round 62, which tied the course record, to win the gold medal in dramatic fashion.
Scheffler didn’t have the hottest of starts in the final round and was even as far as six strokes back with nine holes remaining, but birdied five of the last six holes, including an 18-foot putt on the final hole. He set a new Olympic record with a 72-hole score of 19-under 265. Tommy Fleetwood (Great Britain) and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) won silver and bronze, respectively.
Scheffler is the third American and second consecutive to win Olympic gold in golf. Schauffele won in Tokyo 2020 and Charles Sands won in Paris 1900. Justin Rose of Great Britain won the gold medal at Rio 2016, the first time golf was contested in the Olympics in more than 100 years.