Olympic Recap

Nearly a week into the 2024 Paris Olympics and Team USA is leading in the medal count.  With 20 medal finishes already secured, the prospects of a dominating finish is looking good.  Here are the highlights of all the excitement happening for Team USA across all the events that are taking place.

The first Team USA medal was earned by Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon in Saturday’s 3-meter synchronized springboard competition at the Aquatics Centre. The American duo scored 314.64 points to earn the silver placing, the first US medal in team diving since 2012

Team USA has continued its rivalry in the pool with Australia as the two teams lead out with total wins.  However, Team USA pulled ahead Monday, July 29 to take a commanding lead- 11 medals to Australia’s 6.  Contributing to Team USA’s tally are Ryan Murphy’s bronze in 100m backstroke (his 7th olympic medal),  Katie Grimes silver medal in the 400m Individual Medley with teammate Emma Weyant following to win the bronze, Luke Hobson’s bronze medal with PR of 1:44.79 in the 200m free, Katie Ledecky with a bronze in the 400m free s and Carson Foster with the bronze finish in the 400m Individual Medley.

Winning silver for Team USA was Nic Fink in the 100m breaststroke, Gretchen Walsh in the 100m Butterfly, and the Women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team.  Torri Huske’s elite performance in the 100m butterfly earned her a gold medal placing as well as the Men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team.

Team USA’s third gold medal was won by Lee Kiefer in the women’s foil individual fencing event, making her the first USA woman to win gold at two consecutive Olympics.  Teammate Lauren Scruggs secured the silver medal in her Olympic debut.  The two competitors look to team up in the team fencing event, a finish that is surely worth watching for.  In the men’s fencing division, Nick Itkin won the bronze medal in the individual foil.

The Men’s gymnastics team stepped up to win the bronze medal, the first medal since 2008.  Their final performance began with a stellar routine by Brody Malone on the rings and was clinched by Stephen Nedoroscik as he crushed his final routine on the pommel horse.

Team USA’s cycling team won their best medal ever as Haley Batten earned the silver in the women’s Cross-country event despite a punctured tire partway through the race.  Chloe Dygert added a bronze medal in road cycling to the count as well, battling through a slick, rainy day in Paris that caused several cyclists to fall, including her.

Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston added a silver and bronze medal, respectively, to the medal table in men’s Street skateboarding.  Both competitors had the gold medal in their sights but without landing their final tricks, they unfortunately came up short.

While they haven’t yet competed in the final medaling games, a number of USA teams are working through their brackets with high hopes of a gold medal.  The women’s rugby team is nothing short of fierce as they have dominated the field.  With their 17-7 finish over Great Britain, they look to play New Zealand, the 2020 gold medal winner.

Team USA beat Germany 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals, playing next on Saturday, August 3.  In their two wins, striker Mallory Swanson has put in three of their seven goals, proving what a vital asset she is to the team effort.  

In their first game of the Olympics, the women’s basketball team won with an overwhelming lead of 102-76 over Japan.  Thursday the team will take on Belgium before playing Germany on Sunday to finish out their pool play.  The top two teams from each pool will advance to the single elimination tournament that will begin Wednesday, August 7.

Team USA’s beach volleyball duos have both advanced with 2-0 wins.  The  women’s beach volleyball team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng defeated the Czech Republic in their first match of the Paris Olympics while the men’s team of Miles Evans and Chase Budinger took the win over France.

All eyes are on Team USA’s gymnastics team of Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera who are the heavy favorites to win gold after a dominant qualifying round.  Beginning with routines on the vault, they lead the competition with a commanding lead that they are unlikely to relinquish in their Tuesday competition.

With events happening around the clock, the Paris Olympics are a non-stop show of elite athleticism.  Team USA is proving that they are once again a force to be reckoned with.  To stay up to date on the medal count go to https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/medals.