Olympic Games 2024 Recap: Which Nations Won the Most Medals in Paris?

A Memorable Olympic Games for Leon Marchand

The 2024 Olympic Games were headlined by some of the greatest performances seen in recent years, but few came close to the hometown hero Leon Marchand, who lit up the pool in Paris. The 22-year-old swimming sensation pulled off the incredible feat of winning two individual gold medals - the 200m breaststroke and the 200m butterfly - on the same night and in Olympic record times. 

However, the Frenchman was not done there, as he went on to claim four gold medals in total and a bronze in the Men's 4x100m Medley Relay, making him the most decorated male Olympian at this edition of the Games. He also became the first male swimmer to win four individual medals in a single edition since the legendary Michael Phelps at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

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Simone Biles - The Greatest of All Time

As if being the most decorated gymnast in history was not enough, Simone Biles left Paris with another three gold medals around her neck, as well as a silver, underlining her status as the undisputed GOAT that the sport has ever had the pleasure of seeing.

After the drama at the Tokyo Olympics, where she was forced to pull out from several disciplines due to the ‘twisties’, Biles returned to the grandest stage of them all this year and led the US to a gymnastics team gold, before claiming individual golds in the all-around and vault competitions as well as a silver on floor.

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Honourable mentions: Swimmers Light Up Paris

The swimming events at the 2024 Olympic Games proved to be truly incredible, as outside of Marchand, several other athletes etched their names in the history books, including Australian duo Mollie O'Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown, who walked away from Paris with 10 medals between them. 

O'Callaghan took gold in the 200m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay and 4x200m Freestyle Relay while bagging silver in the 4x100m Medley Relay and bronze in the 4x100m Medley Relay. McKeown notched up gold in the 100m and 200m Backstroke, silver in the 4x100m Medley Relay and two bronze in the 4x100m Medley Relay and 200m Individual Medley. 

However, while the Aussie women shone in Paris, we cannot discuss the swimming event without mentioning the star that is Torri Huske. The American swimmer took home five medals and set two new world records in the 4x100m mixed medley relay and 4x100m medley relay event. Huske also knocked over world-record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 100m butterfly event and claimed silver in the 100m freestyle and 4x100m Freestyle Relay. 

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USA and China’s Battle for Supremacy

The 2024 Paris Olympics once again came down to two nations battling for supremacy in the gold medal race - the United States and China. Both nations went toe-to-toe over the 16 days of competition and by the final day, the US were trailing China 38 to 39 in the race for the most gold medals. 

In the end, the decider came down to the women's basketball final and in true Olympic style, it was an absolute nail-biter, but the US prevailed, beating France 67-66 to claim the gold and tie China for the most gold medals in Paris at 40-40. The US ended the Games with a total of 126 medals, the most of any country and the third-highest total for the nation ever.  

Elsewhere, Team Great Britain had a mixed Olympic Games, as they ended the competition with a total of 65 medals, improving on their tally from Tokyo three years ago by one. It was Team GB’s third-highest tally ever behind the 67 in Rio 2016 and the 148 won in London way back in 1908. However, the nation earned eight fewer golds than in Tokyo and their total of 14 was only good enough for seventh overall, which was their lowest finish since Athens 2004. 

India left Paris with six medals, unfortunately, none of those were gold. Their Games delivered several near misses, including that of Lakshya Sen in Badminton, Saikhom Mirabhai Chanu in Weightlifting, and Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the wrestling final. India’s hopes of gold rested on world champion javelin star Neeraj Chopra, but he was only able to bag silver after Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem broke the 16-year Olympic record, not once but twice in the final to secure the top step. India ended in 71st place on the medals tally.

As a collective, 12 African nations took part in the 2024 Paris Olympics and earned a total of 39 medals led by Kenya, who secured a tally of 11, including four gold, two silver and five bronze. South Africa added six: one gold, three silver and two bronze, Ethiopia claimed four: one gold and three silver, while Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia all bagged three each. Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the men’s Olympic 200 metres and is now Botswana’s first-ever gold medalist at the Games.

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