From the mass participation marathon held on the Olympic course to history-making gender-parity among participating athletes, the Olympic Games Paris 2024 were a Games of firsts.
But what other records were broken during the Games?
From 14-year-old Arisa Trew becoming her country’s youngest Olympic gold medallist to Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis’ leap into the history books, Olympics.com takes a look at some of the records that tumbled in Paris.
Olympic firsts
Four National Olympic Committees (NOC) won their first-ever gold medals at Paris 2024: Botswana, Dominica, Guatemala and Saint Lucia.
Athletics was a common theme among those making history by achieving their NOC’s first Olympic gold medal, with Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred storming to victory the women’s 100m, Dominica’s Thea LaFond leaping to history in the women’s triple jump and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo sprinting to gold in the men’s 200m.
However, shooting also delivered historic gold medals, with Adriana Ruano winning Guatemala’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s trap, and Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid becoming the first female Olympic champion from her NOC in the women’s skeet.
African athletes also produced many historic medals during Paris 2024, with Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy winning his NOC’s first gold medal in modern pentathlon, Tunisia’s Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi making history as the first taekwondo gold medalist from his NOC and Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour becoming the first African gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal.
Asia joined the conversation as well, with the Republic of Korea’s Kim Woojin becoming the first male archer to win three gold medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games, Japan’s Horigome Yuto making history as the first skateboarder to win back-to-back Olympic titles and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem winning his NOC’s first-ever medal in athletics, adding extra meaning to his victory in the men’s javelin.
Athletes from Asia were also in history-making form, with Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova winning her NOC’s first gold medal in judo and Hong Kong, China’s Vivian Kong becoming her NOC’s first-ever female Olympic champion in fencing.
Historic firsts knew no boundaries as Cindy Ngamba made history as the first refugee athlete to win a medal at an Olympic Games, while Belgium's Remco Evenepoel became the first man to win both the time trial and road race in road cycling at the same edition of the Olympic Games.
Of course, any list of firsts wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the bronze medals won by Albania’s Chermen Valiev and Cabo Verde’s David de Pina - the first for each of their NOCs.
Sporting giants
While there were many firsts at Paris 2024, sporting legends continued to write their own stories as well.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic finally won Olympic gold in men’s singles that had eluded him for four editions of the Games. With his victory, the 37-year-old achieved a career Golden Slam in tennis: winning all four major Opens and the Olympic Games.
Team USA’s Simone Biles completed her comeback, triumphing in the women’s team, women’s individual all-around and women’s floor finals at Paris 2024. With 11 medals total, seven gold, Biles became the joint second most decorated Olympic gymnast of all-time, tied with Vera Caslavska.
Biles’ teammate, Katie Ledecky, was also busy making history in the pool at Paris 2024.
Ledecky became only the second swimmer in history to win an event four times in a row, capturing gold in the women’s 800m freestyle at Paris La Defense Arena. Her victory in the women’s 1500m freestyle also tied her with Larissa Latynina for the most Olympic gold medals won by a female athlete.
It was a remarkable Games for Ledecky, who hasn’t ruled out competing at the Olympic Games LA28. Will she be able to extend her records? Check back in four years.
One athlete who will not make the trip to Los Angeles after retiring at Paris 2024 is Mijaín Lopez. The Cuban greco-roman wrestling star went out on a high, making history as the first athlete to win five consecutive gold medals – an extraordinary achievement for an extraordinary athlete.
Faster, higher, stronger
Sweden’s Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis soared higher than any athlete in history at Paris 2024, winning gold in the men’s pole vault at an astounding 6.25m to break his own world record.
But he wasn’t the only athlete setting records at Paris 2024, with a total of 19 new senior world records set across seven sports: archery, athletics, modern pentathlon, sport climbing, swimming, track cycling and weightlifting.
A few highlights include the Republic of Korea’s Lim Sihyeon shooting 694 in the women’s ranking round of archery, Team USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone improving her own world record in the women’s 400m hurdles, Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw beaking her own world record in women’s speed climbing, with the world record broken five times in the women’s team sprint track cycling, and Team USA’s Bobby Finke swimming to a world record in the men’s 1500m freestyle to claim his third Olympic gold medal.
In addition to world records being set, numerous Olympic records were set in eight sports: archery, athletics, modern pentathlon, shooting, sport climbing, swimming, track cycling and weightlifting.
Olympic best times were also set in canoe sprint and rowing, with Canada’s Katie Vincent setting a world best time of 44.12 seconds in the women’s canoe single 200m event in canoe sprint.
Allez les Blues! French athletes illuminate the City of Light
French athletes topped the podium 16 times at Paris 2024 with a quarter of those victories belonging to swimmer Lean Marchand, who endeared himself to the French public with victories in the 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley.
His final tally of five medals, including a bronze medal in the men’s 4x100m medley relay, was the most won by a French athlete since Roger Ducret in fencing at the Olympic Games Paris 1924.
Chants of “Leon, Leon, Leon” rang out during the closing ceremony, but he wasn’t the only homegrown champion to receive the affection of the home crowd.
Teddy Riner etched his name into national folklore by winning two gold medals in judo, becoming the most decorated judoka at the Olympic Games with seven medals to his name.
Antoine Dupont helped guide Les Bleus to their first ever gold medal in men’s rugby sevens at the Olympic Games, while Kauli Vaast surfed his way into the history books, winning France’s first-ever gold medal on his home wave of Teahupo’o in Tahiti.
Perhaps the most emphatic moment of French excellence came during the men’s BMX racing final, when Joris Daudet, Sylvain Andre and Romain Mahieu swept the podium at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium.
It was the first time since Paris 1924 that France achieved a podium sweep at a summer Olympics, and one that was celebrated loudly and proudly through the host nation.
France ended Paris 2024 with 16 gold medals, 26 silver medals, 22 bronze medals.
Age is just a number
Sporting excellence wasn’t limited to a specific nationality or gender at Paris 2024, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it wasn’t limited to a particular age either.
The youngest athlete to compete at the Games was 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao of the People’s Republic of China, who turned 12 on the day of the Closing Ceremony, while the oldest athlete in action was 65-year-old equestrian rider Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo of Spain.
Arisa Trew, 14, of Australia, and 58-year-old Laura Kraut of the US were the youngest and oldest medallists at the Games, in skateboarding park and equestrian team jumping events respectively.
And Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze broke new ground by competing in a 10th consecutive Olympic Games; a run stretching all the way back to Seoul 1988.
The 55-year-old was chosen to be Georgia’s Flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony at Paris 2024, the third time she has been given the honour, and finished 38th in women’s 10m air pistol and 40th in women’s 25m pistol.
How to watch highlights and replays of Paris 2024
Highlights and replays from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are available now on Olympics.com.
