Olympics 2024: Team USA leads in medal count; Ledecky claims record 13th medal
With gymnastics, swimming, rowing and fencing, the U.S. added four more gold medals on Day 6 of competition at the Paris Games, bringing the USA second behind only China in the number of top medals.
The U.S. had nine gold medals, and a top 37 medals overall at the end of the day of competition Thursday. China has 11 gold medals and an overall 24.
Simone Biles, Kate Douglass, the U.S. four rowing team, and the women’s team foil won gold medals today.
France is third in gold medals, with eight, and has 27 medals overall.
Four more sets of swimming medals were handed out tonight at Paris La Défense Arena.
In the 200-meter women’s butterfly, Canadian prodigy Summer McIntosh, China’s Zhang Yufei and Smith were considered the favorites with Carmel, Indiana’s Alex Shackell also in the mix.
It was McIntosh who prevailed to take the gold. The USA’s Regan Smith finished second to add another medal to her collection, which now boasts five. She also won silver in the 100 backstroke Tuesday. Zhang took bronze.
The men’s 200-meter backstroke featured Hungary’s Hubert Kós, Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov and Arizona native Keaton Jones. It was a race most notable for who wasn’t there — Ryan Murphy, who won silver in Tokyo, failed to qualify.
Jones was shut out of the podium. Kos took gold, Apostolos Christou of Greece the silver, and Mityukov the bronze.
Indiana’s Lilly King, a five-time medalist with two golds on her mantle, faced a stiff challenge in the 200-meter breaststroke from South Africa’s Tatjana Smith and Kate Douglass, of Pelham, New York. In the end, Douglass took gold, Smith silver and Tes Schouten of the Netherlands the bronze.
Swimming powerhouses the U.S., Australia, Canada and China faced off in one of the signature races of these games, the 4×200-meter women’s freestyle relay.
Australia may have won the gold, but Katie Ledecky came out on top with her 13th medal— a silver medal — that cemented her as the most decorated female Olympian.
Ledecky became the most decorated U.S. female Olympian of all time with her silver medal win alongside the 4×200-meter freestyle relay team in Paris today.
Here’s a reminder of all her hardware:
London 2012: Gold in 800m free
Rio 2016: Gold in 200m free; gold in 4x200m free relay; gold in 400m free; gold in 800m free; silver in 4x100m free relay
Tokyo 2020: Gold in 1500m free; gold in 800m free; silver in 4x200m free relay; silver in 400m free
Paris 2024: Gold in 1500m free; silver in 4x200m free relay; bronze in 400m free
Upon winning gold and bronze in the all-around today, Simone Biles and Suni Lee shared their Olympic nails, which were a nod to the host country.
“A little something *french* for today’s nail check,” USA Gymnastics said in a post, along with a photo of the gymnasts’ French manicures.
Simone Biles has been to the mountaintop, but getting back to the summit is even harder.
In her third Olympic Games, Biles won the individual all-around gold medal for a second time, reclaiming the 2016 title that etched her name among the sport’s legends.
U.S. gymnasts have taken the individual all-around at the last five Olympics: Athens, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo.
Today, Biles added Paris to that storied list.