Olympic Record 4-Gold Medalist & Botswana's First Gold... Rising Star Shines in Paris [Paris Olympics]

French swimmer L?on Marchand, the only 4-title winner
Canadian 17-year-old Macintosh, 3 swimming titles
South Korea also shines with rising stars in archery and shooting

The brightest star born from the 2024 Paris Olympics is France's swimming hero L?on Marchand (22). He stood tall as the only athlete to win four gold medals at this Olympics. Marchand secured a total of five medals for his country, which hosted the Olympics for the first time in 100 years: four golds and one bronze. He set Olympic records and won gold in the 200m backstroke, 200m breaststroke, and both the 200m and 400m individual medleys. He also earned a bronze medal in the 400m medley relay with his teammates.

Marchand is regarded as being on par with the greatest swimmer of all time, Michael Phelps (39, USA). Phelps is the overwhelming all-time Olympic gold medalist, having won 23 golds across four Olympics. He first competed at the age of 19 in the 2024 Athens Olympics, where he won six gold medals. Comparing Marchand to Phelps may be somewhat forced, but Marchand fully deserves his current hero status for greatly boosting the pride of the host nation.

Leon Marchand [Photo by UPI Yonhap News]

There were 10 triple gold medalists, including South Korea's Kim Woo-jin (32) and Lim Si-hyun (21). Swimming produced the most triple gold medalists, with three athletes achieving this feat. Among them, the brightest star was Canada's Summer McIntosh (17), who sparked a teenage rebellion. McIntosh participated as the youngest member of the Canadian team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics three years ago. At just 14, she surprised the world by finishing fourth in the 400m freestyle final. Showing great promise, she declared the era of Summer had arrived by sweeping the 400m and 200m individual medleys and the 200m butterfly, and also winning a silver medal in the 400m freestyle at her second Olympics.

New stars also emerged from swimming powerhouses the USA and Australia. The American Tory Huske (22) and Australian Molly O’Callaghan (20) were the protagonists. However, while Summer won three individual gold medals, Huske and O’Callaghan each won only one individual gold. Both earned two gold medals in relay events.

Summer Macintosh
Photo by Xinhua Yonhap News

China’s Pan Zhanle (20) also drew attention with his brilliant backstroke. He ended the USA’s 11 consecutive wins in the men’s 400m medley relay. The men’s 400m medley relay was first included as an official event at the 1960 Rome Olympics, and except for the USA’s absence at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the USA had won gold at every edition. From the 1984 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the USA won 10 consecutive gold medals. At the Paris Olympics, China took the gold, marking one of the biggest upsets. Pan was China’s anchor in freestyle. China was third behind France and the USA after 300m, but Pan overtook in the final 100m freestyle leg. Pan also set a world record of 46.40 seconds in the 100m freestyle, winning gold and becoming a two-time gold medalist. He also earned a silver medal in the mixed medley relay, bringing his total to three medals at this Olympics.

Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyun led South Korea to sweep all archery events. Thanks to their efforts, South Korea swept all archery events for the first time in eight years since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, there were four archery gold medals: men’s and women’s individual and team events. The mixed team event was added at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and South Korea won five gold medals in archery at this Olympics. South Korean archery achieved a historic 10 consecutive wins in the women’s team event and three consecutive wins in the men’s team event. Kim Woo-jin was a key member of the men’s team gold medalists at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Adding three gold medals this time, Kim has collected a total of five Olympic gold medals, surpassing Kim Soo-nyung (53, archery), Jeon Yi-kyung (48, short track), and Jin Jong-oh (45, shooting) to become South Korea’s all-time top Olympic gold medalist.

Im Si-hyun (left) and Kim Woo-jin [Yonhap News]

In athletics, Noah Lyles (27) emerged as a new star by winning the 100m gold medal for the USA for the first time in 20 years. The USA is a sprinting powerhouse, having won 16 of the 29 men’s 100m gold medals awarded up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, after Justin Gatlin (42, USA) won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the era of Usain Bolt (38, Jamaica) began, and the USA failed to win the 100m gold for 20 years. Lyles won the 100m final at the Paris Olympics with a personal best of 9.78 seconds, narrowly beating Jamaica’s Keshorn Thompson (23) by 0.005 seconds, who is considered Bolt’s successor.

However, Lyles suffered a blow to his pride in his main event, the 200m. Botswana’s rising star Letsile Tebogo (21) won gold with a time of 19.46 seconds. Tebogo became Botswana’s first Olympic gold medalist and the first African man to win Olympic gold in the 200m. Lyles, the three-time world champion and favorite, settled for bronze with a time of 19.70 seconds.

Noah Lyles [Photo by UPI Yonhap News]

Lechile Tebogo [Photo by AP Yonhap News]

The newly rising star in gymnastics is Japan’s Oka Shinnosuke (20), who won three gold medals. Oka won gold on the horizontal bar, bronze on the parallel bars, and gold in the individual all-around. Japan also won gold in the team event, giving Oka a total of three golds and one bronze. Oka became the first Japanese gymnast to win three gold medals in apparatus gymnastics in 52 years since Sawao Kato (78) won three golds at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Kato is a legend in Japanese gymnastics, having won eight gold medals across three Olympics.

Young stars in their teens and early twenties also appeared one after another in the South Korean delegation. Thanks to their performances, South Korea far exceeded its initial target of five gold medals, winning 13 golds.

Lim Si-hyun, who won three gold medals, was selected as the MVP of the 2024 South Korean delegation along with Kim Woo-jin. Lim confirmed her status as the strongest female archer by winning three gold medals again at this Olympics following the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Hyojin Ban [Photo by Yonhap News]

Shooting achieved its best-ever Olympic result with three gold and three silver medals, thanks to the performances of teenage rising stars. Two of the three gold medalists are still teenagers. Yang Ji-in (21) won gold in the women’s 25m pistol, Oh Ye-jin (19) in the women’s 10m air pistol, and Ban Hyo-jin (16) in the women’s 10m air rifle. Notably, Ban Hyo-jin, who won South Korea’s 100th gold medal in Summer Olympics history, also earned the honor of being the youngest South Korean gold medalist in Summer Olympics history.

In taekwondo, two young stars in their early twenties helped restore the pride of the sport’s country of origin. Taekwondo won only one silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, marking the first time since taekwondo became an official Olympic sport at the 2020 Sydney Olympics that the host country failed to win gold, damaging its reputation. This time, South Korea won two golds and one bronze, regaining its pride. Park Tae-jun (20) won gold in the men’s under 58kg category, and Kim Yu-jin (24) won gold in the women’s under 57kg category. Badminton queen An Se-young, who won gold in women’s singles for the first time in 28 years since Bang Soo-hyun (52) at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, is also only 22 years old this year.