All things considered, the Paris Olympics saw the USA Women’s Gymnastics and Swimming Teams shine, led by Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky. Beginning with Biles, her time in the City of Lights ended with a Silver medal in the Women’s Floor Final as Rebeca Andrade won Gold and teammate Jordan Chiles took the Bronze.
While Biles placed fifth in the Women’s Balance Beam Final, she added plenty of hardware to her already massive collection in the Paris Olympics. She took home four total medals with three of them being Gold. In all, she has 11 career Olympic medals and is already the most decorated female U.S. gymnast of all time.
Her now seven Gold medals are also the most for a U.S. gymnast ever. Overall, she is tied for the second-most medals ever won by a gymnast.
+ 🥇🥇🥇🥈#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/RwqnGRiTW3
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 5, 2024
Instead of asking what’s next for one of the greatest athletes of her generation, let’s embrace Biles’ greatness as we may not see it again for another generation.
Katie Ledecky: Queen of the Pool in Paris Olympics
While Biles cemented her greatness in gymnastics, Ledecky did the same in the pool. The most decorated female Olympian of all time took home four medals in this 33rd Olympiad. She defended her Gold in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle for the second straight Olympics and in the Women’s 800m Freestyle for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Olympics.
She won Silver in the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay and Bronze in the Women’s 400m Freestyle.
Ledecky’s nine Olympic Gold medals are the most for any female swimmer and American female Olympian. It is important to note that eight of her nine Gold medals came via individual events. The lone team Gold came in the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay in the 2016 Games in Rio. Back to her medals, she ranks behind a swimmer named Michael Phelps as the most decorated American Olympian period.
ONE OF ONE 🐐@katieledecky breaks the record for the most Olympic gold medals won by a woman in Team USA history. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/oEtL2HtmX2
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 3, 2024
Like Biles, we won’t discuss what’s next and just enjoy the greatness of Ledecky as the greatest female to ever be in an Olympic pool.
Olympians Not Named Ledecky Winning Medals in Swimming
Biles and Ledecky were not the only ones to make the podium for Team USA in Gymnastics and Swimming in these Olympics. In the Women’s 200m Backstroke, Regan Smith won Silver as Australian Kaylee McKeown set an Olympic record en route to the Gold.
It was quite the Paris Olympics for Smith as she won five total medals. She won Gold in the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay and Silver in the Women’s 200m Butterfly and Women’s 100m Backstroke.
Regan Smith claims #silver in swimming women's 200m butterfly🥈 🇺🇸@TeamUSA | @WorldAquatics | #Swimming | #Paris2024 | #Samsung | #TogetherforTomorrow pic.twitter.com/3LJk0AL7PE
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 1, 2024
Next, the Women’s 200m Individual Medley saw Katie Douglass miss out on the Gold as Canadian Summer McIntosh won by .36 hundredths of a second. For Douglass, she won four medals overall. She took the Gold in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke and Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay. Douglass got her other Silver in the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
As mentioned earlier, Smith won Gold as part of the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay along with Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh, and Torri Huske. It was King’s only medal of the Games while it was No. 4 for Walsh and No. 5 for Huske. The team broke the World Record for the event with a time of 3:49.63.
Olympians Not Named Biles Winning Medals in Gymnastics
As part of the team known as the “Golden Girls”, Biles and USA Gymnastics won Gold in the Team All-Around. Other members included Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera. Chiles took Bronze in the Women’s Floor, her lone individual medal. Carey won Bronze in her lone individual event – the Women’s Vault.
Jordan Chiles was overcome with emotion when she learned she won bronze! 🥹 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/bAlW3IJXNS
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) August 5, 2024
All in all, the Paris Olympics was magnifique for the USA women in Swimming and Gymnastics. The future looks bright as greatness is the standard.
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