10 breakout stars from the 2024 Paris Olympics

Has there ever been a more fun Olympics than what we just witnessed in Paris? These Olympic Games had everything that fans could hope for — high drama, dramatic upsets, and athletes willing to push themselves to the absolute limit in the pursuit of greatness.

The end result was spectacular, and the Paris Games managed to leave us wanting more even after 17 days of wall-to-wall sports greatness. For as magical as the host city was, though, when fans think back on their favorite Olympic moments from Games gone by, they often think not of where the Games took place, but of the athletes that made an indelible mark after a lifetime of hard work. Nadia Comaneci. Kerri Strug. Michael Phelps. Usain Bolt. They all made the most of their Olympic opportunity.

So too did the following athletes. Most took home gold medals, or in some cases multiple golds, but each one left their mark on the Olympics in a unique way. When we look back at these Olympics years from now, these are the athletes that will bring a smile to our faces.

Roje Stona

In most respects, it was a disappointing Olympics for Jamaica. The Caribbean nation has become the most dominant force in modern track and field, producing not only Usain Bolt, but multiple generations of sprinting champions, both male and female. In Paris, however, Jamaica managed only six medals, with only Kishane Thompson's heartbreaking silver in the 100m and Rasheed Broadbell's bronze in the 110m hurdles coming on the track.

To the surprise of many, Jamaica did make great strides in the field events, with a silver in the women's triple jump, a silver in the men's long jump, and a bronze in the men's shot put. The country's lone gold medal was a real shocker, though, and it deserves a spot on our list.

The men's discus event was supposed to be a coronation, or at least an act of succession. Lithuanian Mykolas Alekna entered as the overwhelming favorite, and for good reason, as he's the man who broke the discus world record that had stood for 38 years. His father Virgilijus has two Olympic discus golds that he earned in 2000 and 2004, and it was assumed that Mykolas would keep the family business running in Paris.

Everything was going according to plan when Alekna broke the Olympic record with his second throw, but then Jamaican Roje Stona came out of nowhere to top it by .03 meters.

Stona is a fascinating guy. He attended college in the U.S., starring on the track and field teams at Clemson and Arkansas. He attended minicamps with the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints earlier this summer despite never playing football before. And he's coached by now-three-time Olympic shot put gold medalist Ryan Crouser.

Stona's gold was one of the most shocking results of the Games, an it's exactly the reason so many fans tune in.

Teddy Riner

The Olympics were an enormous success for the host nation. France put on a phenomenal show, with an inventive Opening Ceremony that included a boat parade on the Seine, beach volleyball in front of the Eiffel Tower, breaking in the shadow of the Luxor Obelisk at Place de la Concorde, and equestrian at the Palace of Versailles.

France also won 64 medals, its best performance in the Games since 1900. One sport in particular that Les Bleus excelled in was judo, where it won 10 medals, the most of any country. Two of those medals were gold, and they both came from Teddy Riner.

Riner is the most decorated judoka of all-time, with five Olympic golds, 11 world championships, and five European championships in career. That should exclude him from this list, but I think I speak for many Americans when I say that we don't know judo! I guess that's why the U.S. didn't win a single judo medal.

The 35-year-old Riner is a national hero in France, and this was his fifth Olympic Games. He was a torchbearer in the 2008 Beijing Games, and a flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony in Rio in 2016. He helped light the Olympic cauldron to officially start the Games in Paris. At this point in his career, he's achieved pretty much everything there is to achieve.

Riner once won 154 straight matches from 2010 to 2020. He's one of the most accomplished Olympic athletes in history, so while it's not accurate to call him a breakout star, consider this an apology on behalf of American sports fans for only now learning his story.

Julien Alfred

There may be no event in the Summer Olympics with the prestige of the 100m dash. Perhaps it's because it's the easiest to understand — run as fast as you can, and the finish line is right over there. Maybe it's the titles of World's Fastest Man and World's Fastest Woman that are on the line that make this event so inherently cool.

On the men's side, Noah Lyles nipped Jamaica's Kishane Thompson in a stunning photo finish. Lyles is already famous, for both his exploits on the track and his hilarious ongoing beef with the entire NBA. On the women's side, Sha'Carri Richardson came to Paris hoping to achieve similar success, but though she undoubtedly acquitted herself extremely well in winning a gold and a silver, she left without the title of World's Fastest Woman.

That honor belongs to St. Lucia's Julien Alfred, who not only beat Richardson in the 100m dash, she came within a quarter-second of beating Gabby Thomas in the 200m for the coveted double.

No athlete from St. Lucia had ever won an Olympic medal of any kind before, which makes Alfred a national hero to the tiny island nation. Just check out how St. Lucia celebrated her victory. If that's not a star-making turn, I don't know what is.

Summer McIntosh

It boggles the mind that at a gathering of the greatest athletes in the world, sometimes the best ones aren't even out of high school. The aptly named Summer McIntosh, a 17-year-old Canadian swimmer, wasn't just happy to be in Paris. She dominated an insanely deep roster of swimmers to take home three golds and a silver.

This was actually McIntosh's second Olympics, as she somehow made the team at 14 and finished fourth in the 400m freestyle in Tokyo. This was her real coming out party, though, as she showed off a variety of strokes in winning both the 200m (in an Olympic record 2:06.56) and 400m individual medleys, which are essentially the all-around competition for swimmers. She beat Olympic legend Katie Ledecky and finished just behind Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle, then shook it off by winning the 200m butterfly in Olympic record time over American Regan Smith, who won two golds and three silvers herself.

McIntosh comes from an athletic family. Her mom Jill Horstead represented Team Canada in the 1984 Olympics, and her sister Brooke is a pairs figure skater that has a real shot to make the 2026 Games in Milan.

If McIntosh could be this good at so young an age, it's scary to think what she might accomplish in 2028 when the Games are played on her home continent. Being selected as a flagbearer for the Closing Ceremony is an honor typically bestowed upon a veteran near the end of their career, but after McIntosh's performance in Paris, there really was no other choice.

Shinnosuke Oka

Artistic gymnastics is always one of the most popular sports in the Summer Olympics. The women's side is full of stars, with Simone Biles, Rebecca Andrade and Suni Lee all being household names. The men's side is a bit more inscrutable, at least in this country, due largely to the U.S. men not being nearly as successful as their female counterparts.

American men's gymnastics may be experiencing a resurgence after Team USA's bronze medal in the team competition. Fans fell head over heels for Stephen Nedoroscik, the pommel horse specialist that clinched third place with his clutch routine. Nedoroscik's 15 minutes of fame was among the very best moments in the Games, but the U.S. still has a long way to go if it hopes to dominate men's gymnastics in the same way it does the women's events.

Japan and China are head and shoulders above the rest of the world, and for now it's the Land of the Rising Sun that stands alone. That's due in large part to Shinnosuke Oka, the 20-year-old that put up a Biles-like performance of his own in Paris. Oka helped lead Japan to a stunning comeback win over China in the final rotation of the team competition, then went on to win gold in the individual all-around and horizontal bar, plus bronze in the parallel bars. His individual all-around gold was the fourth in a row from Japan.

Oka is one of only six athletes to win at least three golds and at least four medals in Paris. He's quite literally the gold standard in men's gymnastics right now, and a reminder of how far the U.S. needs to go to reach the top.

Leon Marchand

Just as Mark Spitz owned the 1972 Munich Games and Michael Phelps owned the 2008 Beijing Games, the 2024 Paris Games will be remembered for Leon Marchand. The 22-year-old entered these Games with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, and he delivered in every way. He entered four events and won four gold medals, then he carried the French flag in the Closing Ceremony and was the one honored with extinguishing the Olympic flame.

Marchand did things that few others have ever done. He pulled off double gold medals in the 200m breastroke and 200m butterfly just two hours apart, and he set the Olympic record in both of them. He joined Spitz and Phelps as the only male swimmers to win four golds in one Olympics, and his four golds in these Games were more than any athlete, in any sport.

We tune in to the Olympics to see greatness, and we often do. There's something extra special about seeing greatness achieved in front of the adoring fans of one's own country, though. Just as Michael Johnson raced to glory in Atlanta in 1996 and the Miracle on Ice team upset the invincible Russian hockey team in Lake Placid in 1980, Marchand's performance in France's capital city will live on forever.

Imane Khelif and Kaylia Nemour

The Olympics are supposed to be a safe haven from the ugliness of the outside world. Discrimination and politics are meant to be left at the door, but as we all know, that rarely happens. Every athlete in the Games overcame so much just to be able to compete in Paris. In the case of Imane Khelif and Kaylia Nemour of Algeria, the tribulations they weathered were more severe than most.

By now everyone knows the story of Khelif, the boxer that had to endure a tidal wave of misinformed online hatred. Leave aside the fact that 99.9% of those ganging up on her didn't even know her name before the Olympics began, because these are mostly the same people that rushed to their keyboards to decry the supposedly blasphemous depiction of The Last Supper (hint: it wasn't The Last Supper) in the Opening Ceremony. Focus instead on the fact that Khelif had to compete in what is inherently a grueling and lonely sport, and she rose above all the extra noise and vitriol to be standing atop the podium in the end.

Simone Biles has done a lot of work to bring attention to the importance of athletes' mental health. Khelif advanced that conversation while earning a gold medal, and now she's fighting back outside the ring, as it was reported on Tuesday that she filed a cyberbullying lawsuit in French court against Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling and others that slandered her online. Here's hoping she gets more gold to go with what's already draped around her neck.

Kaylia Nemour won Algeria's other gold medal at these Games, and her path to the podium was also fraught, though in a different way. Nemour has spent her life growing up and training in France, but due to a messy dispute with France's gymnastics governing body that forced her to change her nationality, she competed under the flag of Algeria, a former French colony.

As with most former colonies and imperial nations, there is tension between Algeria and France, a fact that likely wasn't helped by Nemour's protracted battle to compete for the African country. The French fans had her back, though, and she was met with well-deserved cheers when she finished fifth in the individual all-around, and an even louder ovation when she nailed her uneven bars routine to clinch Africa's first ever Olympic gold in gymnastics.

Nemour is only 17, with many years of competition ahead of her. If her performance in Paris is any indication, she could be the next big star in women's gymnastics. Not bad for someone that wasn't even sure she'd be allowed to qualify for the Games.

Gabby Thomas

U.S. track star Gabby Thomas doesn't have the name recognition of Noah Lyles or Sha'Carri Richardson, but I'm here to argue that she should. She made her Olympic debut in Tokyo three years ago, impressively winning a bronze in the 200m and helping the U.S. take silver in the 4x100. In Paris, though, Thomas went from a nice little story to front page news.

Team USA's track team lapped the field in these Olympics, but Thomas was the MVP, as Runner's World correctly argued. No other track athlete secured three golds in these Games, and outside of her 4x400 teammate Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, nobody achieved the same level of dominance in their respective races.

First she won her best event, the 200m, by racing to the front and holding off 100m champ Julien Alfred. She also showed her versatility in the relay events. Few runners can compete at a world-class level in the 100m and 400m, but Thomas was part of the gold medal-winning relay team at each distance. In the 100m, her third leg split of 10.25 gave Richardson the chance to catch and pass Great Britain for the win. In the 400m, Thomas and Team USA posted the second-fastest time ever, literally running away from the field to win with ease.

So many athletes that prevailed in Paris have spent their entire lives in pursuit of that success, often sacrificing most other things in their lives as collateral damage. Thomas is now a five-time Olympic medalist, but she also has a degree in neurobiology and global health from Harvard and a master's degree in epidemiology from the University of Texas. It sure seems like she's got it all figured out, and we were lucky just to watch her these past few weeks.

Guerschon Yabusele

Guerschon Yabusele is the only athlete on our list that didn't take home gold in Paris, but he's also the only one that posterized U.S. flagbearer LeBron James, so he gets a pass. I'm not sure of the exact international statute that applies to this, but I believe that the United States would have had to become a French colony if Yabusele's thunderous dunk had led to a French victory. Thankfully, Steph Curry made sure that we won't have to find out.

In a tournament teeming with star power, Yabusele was the biggest revelation on the court. The 6'8" Frenchman averaged 14 points per game as the second scoring option behind "enfant prodige" Victor Wembanyama, but he saved his best for the gold medal game, where he finished with 20 points thanks to his relentless aggression that got him to the line for 10 free throws.

Yabusele played sparingly in two seasons with the Boston Celtics from 2017-19, but he's been on Real Madrid, one of the best European teams, since 2021. That could all change after his head-turning performance in Paris, though he reportedly has a $2.5 million buyout if he wants to leave for a return to the NBA. It would be great to see the rebuilding Spurs reunite him with Wemby, but there figures to be more than a few teams knocking at his door.

Quincy Hall and Cole Hocker

Team USA was unstoppable on the track in Paris, winning 34 medals in athletics. That's the same number as the next four nations combined. While it was exhilarating to see Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Rai Benjamin pull off double golds in their respective events, those results were expected. It doesn't diminish the accomplishment in any way, but it's the golds that seemingly came out of nowhere that will really stick with us.

Enter Quincy Hall and Cole Hocker. Hall took first in the men's 400m with a final kick that has to be seen to be believed:

Sometimes world-class athletes make it look easy. For Hall, you can see every ounce of effort that he was pouring in to every single stride down that final straightaway. That's because it was revealed later that he strained his leg during the run, an injury that forced him to miss the 4x400 relay. Somehow, he was able to dig deep and push through the pain to will himself to victory over the best runners in the world. In the 4x400, the U.S. broke the Olympic record without him. Just imagine what they would have done with the 400m Olympic champ?

Hall winning wasn't such a shock, as he was the second favorite behind Great Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith. It's how he did it that was incredible. For Cole Hocker, he also finished the 1500m with an unbelievable final kick, but his win came over two runners that were significant favorites, Great Britain's Josh Kerr and Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Ingebrigtsen won gold in the grueling 5000m in Paris, and he also won gold in the 1500m in Tokyo. Kerr is the defending world champion, but none of that matters when you can do this:

Team USA is the preeminent Olympic powerhouse. The U.S. led the medal count for the eighth straight Summer Games with 126, which is 35 more than China, it's closest competitor. Each athlete that played a part in that lofty number deserves credit, but for our money, the performances and thrilling finishes of Hall and Hocker stand alone.