The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris officially kick off with the Opening Ceremonies on Friday, July 26. Over 10,000 athletes worldwide will take to the track, pool, streets, and arenas to go for the gold in 329 competitions through Sunday, Aug. 11.
Earlier this month, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee shared the complete 592-member team that will represent our country at the games. Team USA will participate in 253 of the total 329 medal events across 44 sports, with more than 250 returning Olympians, including 122 Olympic medalists and 66 Olympic champions.
Check out the full NBC broadcast schedule and mark your calendar for your favorite events. Watching with kids? Download this free Kids Guide to the 2024 Paris Olympic & Paralympic Games.
Fascinating Facts About Team USA 2024
Before the Games begin, let’s take a closer look at Team USA. Here are some fun facts to know about our nation’s amazing athletes:
- Team USA’s roster includes more women than men for the fourth straight Olympic Games: 314 women and 278 men.
- The 2024 US Olympic Team includes 3 five-time Olympians, 4 four-time Olympians, 16 three-time Olympians, and more than 50 two-time Olympians.
- Team USA’s members range in age from 16 (artistic gymnast Hezly Rivera and track and field athlete Quincy Wilson) to 59 (equestrian Steffen Peters).
- Six sets of siblings will compete as part of Team USA, including twins Annie and Kerry Xu (badminton), Brooke and Emma DeBerdine (field hockey), Alex and Aaron Shackell (swimming), Gretchen and Alex Walsh (swimming), Juliette and Isabella Whittaker (track and field) and Chase and Ryder Dood (water polo).
- Team USA has 46 parents competing in the Games, including 34 dads and 12 moms.
What’s New With The 2024 Paris Games?
Everyone’s favorite Summer Olympic sports are on the docket for the 2024 Paris Games, including swimming, track and field, and gymnastics. But this year marks the debut of one new sport and the return of three other relative newcomers:
- Breaking: Breakdancing spins into the Olympic Games in 2024. Born on the streets of New York City in the 1970s, breaking combines dance moves, acrobatic moves, and intricate footwork. The sport debuted in Argentina’s 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games with much success, leading the Olympic officials to add breaking to the 2024 Olympic program. As of now, breaking will not return in 2028, so if you want to watch some incredible moves, catch the competition this year.
- Skateboarding: Watch athletes perform aerial acrobatics with their stylish boards in the return of skateboarding to the Olympic Games. The youngest athlete competing this year, 11-year-old Zheng Haohao of China, will make her Olympic debut in this event.
- Sport Climbing: How fast can climbers make it up the wall in three levels of competition? Sport Climbing returns to the Olympics after being left off the roster in 2020
- Surfing: After a successful competition during the 2020 Tokyo Games, surfing returns to the Olympics in 2024. Of course, Paris will not be the center of the surfing action. Athletes will hang ten off the shores of Tahiti for their competition.
Olympic Athletes We’re Watching In Paris
Every Team USA athlete has overcome significant challenges to be at the top of their game, and these 26 are amongst those drawing extra attention as the Paris games begin.
LeBron James (Basketball) and Coco Gauff (Tennis)
Of course we’ll have our eyes on the NBA’s all-time top scorer, LeBron James, and US Open champion Coco Goff when they represent Team USA on their respective basketball and tennis courts during the Paris Games. But first, we’ll be watching two-time Olympic gold medalist James alongside first-time Olympian Gauff during Friday night’s Opening Ceremony. Gauff, 20, and James, 39, were chosen by their fellow athletes to lead Team USA as flag bearers in the Parade of Nations.
Watch the sweet moment Gauff learned she’d be joining James for the momentous occasion.
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Simone Biles – Artistic Gymnastics
Artistic gymnast champion Simone Biles may already be known as the GOAT (greatest of all time) in her sport as the most decorated gymnast ever, with two Olympic Games under her belt and winning four gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals. Her last Olympic experience at the 2020 Tokyo Games unexpectedly ended early after she struggled with focus and a case of the “twisties,” and she won’t be required to compete in all for events in the team final in Paris if she doesn’t feel it’s best for the team and herself. Whatever she ends up deciding, we can’t wait to see this legendary gymnast in back in action.
Simone Biles, having experienced the foster care system herself, is dedicated to helping foster kids by working with Friends of the Children, a nonprofit that provides children with professional mentors from kindergarten through high school graduation. “Foster kids will always have a special piece of my heart,” Biles told People.
Noah Lyles – Track and Field
The 2020 Tokyo Games bronze medal winner in the 200m event has his eye on winning big in Paris. In the 2023 World Championships, he won gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4 x 100m relay events. According to Team USA, Lyles has topped 23 miles per hour in the 200m event. He also holds the U.S. record in the 200m with 19.31 seconds.
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Stephen Curry – Basketball
One of the NBA’s biggest stars will make his Olympics debut in Paris. The Golden State Warriors guard was part of the 2010 and 2014 World Championship Team USA, has four NBA championship rings, and has appeared in 10 NBA All-Star games.
The basbetball superstar is also known for paying forward his good fortune off the court alongside wife Ayesha through their Eat.Learn.Play Foundation. In 2023, the NBA honored his philanthropic contributions, naming him the 2022-23 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion.
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Katie Ledecky – Swimming
Ledecky is synonymous with women’s swimming. She is a three-time Olympian and a 10-time Olympic medalist (seven gold and three silver). If she wins her events in Paris, Ledecky could claim the women’s record for winning the most Olympic gold medals in any sport (10).
Breanna Stewart – Basketball
Stewart is returning for her third Olympic Games and has two gold medals to her name. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, she was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. She is also a leading player in the WNBA as part of the New York Liberty, where she was named the league’s 2023 MVP.
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Scottie Scheffler – Golf
2024 has been PGA golfer Scottie Scheffler’s year, and he hopes to add an Olympic gold medal while competing in Paris. He already won the 2024 Masters Tournament and has 12 total PGA Tour wins on his scorecard.
Suni Lee – Artistic Gymnastics
Lee enters the 2024 Paris Games as the reigning women’s all-around artistic gymnastics gold medalist. She returns to the arena with teammate Simone Biles to hopefully vault the U.S. women’s team to victory and add to her growing medal collection, which includes a gold medal, a silver medal, and a bronze medal.
Shilese Jones – Artistic Gymnastics
Jones didn’t make the cut for the 2020 Tokyo Games team, so she wants to shine on the Paris stage. The 21-year-old gymnast has been on the U.S. National team since 2017 and was a member of the 2022 and 2023 World Championship gold medal teams.
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Casey Kaufhold – Archery
Despite being only 20 years old, Kaufhold is a decorated veteran of her sport. She returns to the Olympic Games for the second time in Paris. In 2023, she became the first American woman to reach the top ranking in women’s recurve.
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Liam Corrigan – Rowing
Liam Corrigan competed in the 2020 Tokyo Games and finished fourth in the Men’s Eight event, just missing the medal podium. The 26-year-old rower from Connecticut will compete in the Men’s Four event. When not training or competing, Corrigan is a member of High Impact Athletics, a philanthropic organization where athletes help to raise funds and social awareness for high-need areas, including global health, poverty, animal welfare, and climate change.
More from Better: Learn about the George Pocock Rowing Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to introducing disadvantaged youth to rowing.
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Gavin Bottger – Skateboarding
This 17-year-old skateboarding phenom punched his ticket to the 2024 Paris Games. He is the reigning world champion in men’s park and the top-ranked athlete in his sport. He told Olympics.com that his rise through the ranks and to Team USA happened “organically” by focusing on each contest and constantly striving to beat his last-best performance.
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Tori Franklin – Track and Field
Franklin, a Chicago native, will compete in the triple jump competition in her second Olympic Games in Paris. In 2022, she won the bronze medal in the women’s triple jump world championship. Franklin founded The Live Happii Project, a nonprofit organization that uses travel and holistic wellness practices to transform the lives of BIPOC youth.
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Alena Olsen – Rugby
Despite her late start in the sport at age 18 while at the University of Michigan, Olsen quickly rose through the ranks of rugby to make Team USA. Olsen makes her Olympic debut in Paris, and she and her team hope to bring home the gold for the first time in a century for the U.S. rugby team. Off the field, Olsen works with EcoAthletes to fight against climate change. Her philanthropic work led Procter & Gamble to name Olsen a Paris 2024 Athletes for Good grant winner.
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Griffin Colapinto – Surfing
California native Colapinto won the bronze medal in the 2023 Surfing World Championships and is part of Team USA’s return to Olympic surfing. When he’s not training in the waves, Colapinto works with the non-profit group To Write Love Her Arms, whose mission is to raise awareness and funds for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. Colapinto’s charitable work also earned him a place on the Procter & Gamble’s Athletes for Good award winners list.
More from Better: A Chicago filmmaker spotlights an under-appreciated surfing destination.
Helen Maroulis – Wrestling
The 2024 Paris Games will mark Maroulis’ third appearance at the Olympics. She wrestled her way to gold and bronze medals in 2016 and 2020. She began her wrestling career at only age 7 and, over the years, worked her way up to winning three world championships. In her spare time, Maroulis is a member of the High Impact Athletes philanthropic organization.
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Steph Roble and Maggie Shea – Sailing
The dynamic duo of Roble and Shea return to the Olympics for a second time and hope to sail to a medal-winning performance. In the 2020 Tokyo Games, the pair competed in the 49er FX event and took 11th place.
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Victor Montalvo – Breaking
NBC considers Montalvo the gold medal favorite going into the 2024 Paris Games, where breaking makes its debut. The 29-year-old athlete follows in his father’s footsteps, a fellow “b-boy” originally from Mexico.
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Quincy Wilson – Track and Field
At age 16, Wilson is one of the youngest Team USA members and the youngest-ever male U.S. track Olympian. He will be part of the 4 x 400m relay team. Can he break more records by winning a medal? We’ll have to watch and find out!
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Jahmal Harvey – Boxing
After winning a gold medal in the featherweight division at the 2023 Pan American Games, 21-year-old Harvey will make his Olympic debut in Paris. Harvey told WTOP News that when he was younger, other kids would pick on him because of his smaller size. He honed that fighting instinct to a disciplined boxing career that has led him to potential Olympic glory.
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Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss – Beach Volleyball
This unorthodox pair of 26-year-olds have bucked beach volleyball tradition by opting to train outside California. Both women will make their Olympic debut in Paris and recently took home the bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships.
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Nick Itkin – Fencing
The 24-year-old fencing star comes into the 2024 Paris Games ranked number one globally. He already has an Olympic bronze medal from the 2020 Tokyo Games as part of Men’s Team Foil. At the time, Itkin was the youngest American fencer at the Games.
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Fred Richard – Gymnastics
Richard heads to his first Olympic Games as the current bronze medal winner from the 2023 World Championships, where he helped lead the men’s team to a bronze medal — the team’s first medal win in nine years. He hopes to reach even higher for himself and the team to reach the medal podium after Team USA’s disappointing performance in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
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How To Help
The Olympic and Paralympic Foundation’s mission is to support Team USA athletes on and off the field. The foundation recently embarked on its first comprehensive public fundraising campaign, with a goal of $500 million, to help athletes reach the 2028 Los Angeles games. You can learn more about how to support Team USA’s future here.
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