Tennis Djokovic-Golf Lydia Ko finally wins gold
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games featured some of the biggest stars in Olympic history.
Diana Turasi, 42, of the U.S. women’s basketball team, reached an Olympic milestone by winning her sixth consecutive gold medal in 20 years, dating back to Athens 2004. It was also the first time in the history of the sport that the U.S. women’s basketball team won eight consecutive gold medals.
The first five consecutive gold medals in a single sport also came at the Games. In the men’s Greco-Roman 130-kilogram final, Cuba’s Mihayn Lopez, 42, completed a feat that no other wrestler from Beijing 2008 to 안전놀이터 Paris has accomplished.
It was the birth of a new star in swimming. Host country France’s Leon Marchand, 22, won four gold medals at the Games, including the 400-meter individual medley (4:02.95), 200-meter butterfly (1:51.21), 200-meter breaststroke (2:05.85) and 200-meter individual medley (1:54.21). There were 10 triple winners at the event, including South Korean archery standouts Kim Woo-jin (32, Cheongju City Hall) and Lim Im-hyun (21, Korea National Gymnastics Team), but Marchand was the only one to win four.
French judo hero Teddy Ligner, 35, left the stage after the Games. The Frenchman, who lit the final flame at the opening ceremony, won gold in the men’s 100-plus kilogram category, beating Kim Min-jong (23, Yangpyeong County, South Korea), and also won the mixed team event, giving him a double gold medal. He left the Olympics with five gold medals.
Tennis ‘superstar’ Novak Djokovic, 37, of Serbia, put the final piece of the puzzle to his legendary career. After dominating the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, the Serb won the gold medal over Spain’s ‘supernova’ Carlos Alcaraz (21). Djokovic joins Andy Agassi (USA), Rafael Nadal (Spain), Steffi Graf (Germany), and Serena Williams (USA) as the only players to win the Golden Grand Slam.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, 27, who competed in women’s golf, won gold at the event, giving her a total of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics. She also became the youngest athlete to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The United States National Basketball Association (NBA) team, dubbed the “Dream Team,” also ended the Games with a gold medal. “It’s hard to imagine myself playing in the Olympics in four years,” said LeBron James, 40, who was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) after winning his fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal, while Kevin Durant, 35, who became the first male athlete to win four gold medals in ball games, will miss the next Games.