Paris Olympics 2024: Team USA stars to know as the Games begin
The Paris Olympics kicked off earlier this week and will officially get underway with the opening ceremonies on the Seine River Friday. Here are some athletes to watch out for.
With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games underway, here are some of Team USA’s stars to look out for over the next couple of weeks.
Fredette made his USA basketball debut at the 2022 FIBA 3x3 men’s AmeriCup, where he helped win gold. The 35-year-old was named the 2023 USA Basketball 3x3 Male Athlete of the Year for his efforts to help the USA Basketball 3x3 Men’s National Team automatically qualify for the Olympics. Prior to joining USA basketball, Fredette spent seven seasons in the NBA after being selected with the No. 10 overall draft pick in the 2011 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. After spending parts of six seasons in the NBA, Fredette played internationally with Panathinaikos (Greece) and the Shanghai Sharks (China) since 2017.
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Fredette played four seasons at BYU and dominated college basketball. He set multiple school and Mountain West Conference records, including most points scored in a game (52) and most points scored in a season (1,068), while leading the NCAA in scoring as a senior in 2010-2011. Following his senior season, he was unanimously named the 2011 national player of the year by the AP and was awarded the 2011 Best Male College Athlete ESPY.
Budinger, 36, is a former NBA player turned men’s beach volleyball Olympian. Budinger played college basketball at Arizona and was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2007, third-team All-Pac-10 in 2008 and first-team All-Pac-10 in 2009. The California native was drafted in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons before immediately getting traded to the Houston Rockets. Budinger also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and Phoenix Suns in his seven-year NBA career.
Following his NBA career, he played one season with Baskonia in the Euro League before playing beach volleyball. Budinger was named the 2005 Volleyball Magazine national high school player of the year before choosing to play basketball. He is partnering with Miles Evans for the Paris Olympic Games. The pair have been playing together since 2023 and won the 2024 NORCECA Continental Tour Final.
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Zhang, 21, burst onto the scene in 2019, when she was one of the youngest competitors in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur at age 16, finishing in a tie for 17th place. In 2020, she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur after defeating Gabriela Ruffels in the final. Zhang has one of the most successful careers in amateur history, having won back-to-back NCAA Division I women’s golf championships in 2022-2023 at Stanford University.
She took her amateur success straight to the LPGA Tour, where she won in her professional debut at the Mizuho Americas Open. Zhang was the first player to win in a professional debut since Beverly Hanson did so in 1951. Zhang was the first player to win a first start as a professional on the LPGA Tour since Hinako Shibuno won the 2019 AIG Women’s Open. Zhang previously represented the United States in the 2023 Solheim Cup.
Biles, 27, is one of the most celebrated athletes of all time and is the most decorated U.S. gymnast in history. At the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, she earned an unprecedented four gold medals in the floor exercise, vault, all-around and team segments. She became the first woman to achieve such a feat since 1974. At the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, she helped Team USA earn silver as a team while she added a bronze medal in the balance beam.
With her success, Biles was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. Following that, she led the U.S. national gymnastics team to victory in the 2023 world championships, where she got another gold medal. Biles was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year in 2019 and 2020 and has a record-breaking 37 world championships and Olympic medals. Biles is married to Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens.
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Lee, 21, is one of the most decorated female artistic gymnasts and made history as the all-around champion at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. In those Games, Lee won the gold medal in the women’s all-around, contributed to the U.S. team’s silver medal and earned a bronze medal in the women’s uneven bars. The Minnesota native is the 10th most-decorated American female gymnast with six world championships and Olympic medals.
In 2021, Lee was named Sports Illustrated’s Female Athlete of the Year and received an Asia Game Changer Award. Her professional career began in 2016 when she debuted as a junior elite at the U.S. Classic. Lee committed to Auburn University in 2020, where she has since earned multiple titles and All-American honors. She also won the Super 16 all-around title in the 2022-2023 season.
Jagger Eaton, 23, won the bronze medal in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in men’s street during his Olympic debut. He won the medal despite skating with a broken ankle. Eaton is now seeking to become the first skateboarder to medal in both the street and the park in the Paris 2024 Games. The Arizona native is ranked No. 2 in the world in both street and park.
Eaton comes from a long line of elite athletes. His mother, Shelly, was on the U.S. national gymnastics team during the 1980s. His father, Geoff, was a gymnast himself. His grandfather, Stormy, was a U.S. national gymnastics team coach who founded Desert Devils Gymnastics. Eaton started skating at 4 years old, was sponsored by the age of 9 and became the youngest athlete to compete in the X Games at 11.
Dressel, 27, is a two-time Olympian making his debut at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and later competing in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. Dressel is a seven-time gold medalist. In 2016 he won gold in the 4x100m men’s freestyle relay, 4x100m men’s medley relay, and the 100-meter men’s freestyle. In 2020, he won gold in the 100-meter men’s butterfly, 100-meter men’s freestyle, 4x100m men’s medley relay.
Dressel went to the University of Florida, where he was a 28-time All-American selection, the most that can be achieved in a four-year career. He is also a 10-time NCAA champion, surpassing Ryan Lochte’s eight for the most in school history on the men’s side. Dressel has one of the greatest college swimming resumes of all time.
Murphy, 27, is a two-time Olympian and a six-time medal winner over the course of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Murphy has four individual medals to date and is one of the most consistent backstroke swimmers of his generation. The Florida native swept the men’s 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke Olympic gold medals in Rio before teaming up with Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian and Cody Miller to win the 4x100m medley title.
Murphy’s 51.85-second backstroke leg broke the world record during that race. Murphy won three silver medals at the 2019 world championships. He was selected as one of the U.S. Olympic swim team captains for Tokyo 2020. In those 2020 Games, he teamed up with Michael Andrew, Dressel and Zach Apple to help Team USA win the 4x100m medley relay gold with a new world record.
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Walsh, 21, will be making her Olympic debut at the Paris Games. She burst onto the scene in 2015 when she qualified for a national juniors competition at age 12. One year later, in 2016, she became the youngest swimmer to ever compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials. The Nashville native set national high school records in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle. She is the younger sister of fellow Team USA Olympian Alex Walsh, who won a silver medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the women’s 200-meter individual medley.
Gretchen now attends the University of Virginia, where she is dominating. Walsh has won seven NCAA titles in 2024 alone and has led UVA to a fourth consecutive women’s swimming national championship. In the past season, she set American, U.S. Open and NCAA records in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle.
Ledecky, 27, is already one of swimming’s all-time greats. With her seven Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship titles, Ledecky holds the most medals of any women’s swimmer in history. The Maryland native won her first gold medal at age 15 in the 2012 London Olympic Games, defeating reigning world champion Kate Ziegler in the 800-meter freestyle. In the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, her success in the 200, 400 and 800 saw her claim the most individual titles in the pool. She also set new records in the 400 and 800 that year.
Ledecky is also the most decorated woman in world championship history. She is the only swimmer to win five consecutive world titles in an individual event, the 800-meter freestyle. No one has beaten Ledecky in the 800-meter freestyle in over a decade. She has been honored with the USA Swimming Golden Goggles Award for Female Swimmer of the Year seven times.
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Grimes, 18, was the first member of the 2024 U.S. Olympic team to qualify across all sports when she won a bronze medal in the open water 10-kilometer at the world swimming championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July 2023. The Las Vegas native was the youngest member of Team USA at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 and the youngest U.S. Olympic swimmer since Amanda Beard, who made the 1996 team at age 14.
Grimes finished in fourth place in the women’s 800-meter freestyle in her lone race in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Grimes has won four medals (three silver, one bronze) in the world championships. In 2022, she won silver in both the women’s 1500-meter freestyle and the women’s 400-meter individual medley. In 2023, she won silver in the women’s 400-meter individual medley and bronze in the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle.
Gauff, 20, entered the spotlight in 2019 when she earned wild-card entry to Wimbledon as a 15-year-old and upset her childhood idol, Venus Williams, in the first round. In that same tournament, she became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the grass court tournament since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. She proved her Wimbledon run was not a fluke by advancing to the third round of the U.S. Open later that year.
The Florida native won the U.S. Open in 2023, securing her first Grand Slam title after losing in the French Open final in 2022. The U.S. Committee selected Gauff to play alongside Jessica Pegula in the Tokyo Games, but she had to pull out after testing positive for COVID-19. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be Gauff’s Olympic debut.
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Lyles, 27, is a sprinting superstar. In his Olympic debut at Tokyo, he won the bronze medal in the 200 with a time of 19.74 seconds. As of 2023, Lyles is ranked first in the world for the 100 and 200. The Virginia native broke a national record at the 2023 U.S. Championships previously held by Michael Johnson with a time of 19.31 in the 200.
He has been clocked at 23.17 MPH in the 200. Lyles has earned six world titles from 2019-2023. In that stretch, Lyles claimed the sprint treble, winning gold in the 100, 200 and the 4x100m relay, being the first man to do so since legendary sprinter Usain Bolt did it in 2015. Lyles also has four Diamond League Final trophies to his name.
Richardson, 24, rose to fame during her freshman year at LSU, when she clocked 10.75 seconds in the 100-meter sprint at the 2019 NCAA Division I championships. In 2021, the Dallas native recorded a 10.72 second time in the 100, making her the sixth-fastest woman of all time and the fourth-fastest in American history. She recorded a personal best of 10.57 seconds in the 100 while preparing for the Paris Olympic Games in April 2023.
Richardson will be making her Olympic debut in Paris. She won the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in July 2023, with a 100-meter sprint time of 10.82 seconds. In the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Richardson won her first gold in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 10.65 seconds and secured a bronze medal in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 21.92 seconds.
McLaughlin-Leverone, 24, comes from an athletic background. Her father, Willie, made the 400-meter semifinals at the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials. Her brother, Tyler, won silver in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships. At age 16 and still in high school, Sydney finished third in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and set a new junior 400-meter hurdles record of 54.15. In 2016, McLaughlin-Levrone was the youngest American track and field athletes to qualify for the Olympic Games since the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.
McLaughlin-Levrone is a two-time Olympian. She won gold in the 4x400m women’s relay and the 400-meter women’s hurdles in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The New Jersey native has also won four medals at the world championships. She won gold in the 2019 and 2022 women’s 4x400m relay, while also taking home the gold medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 2022.
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