There were tons of moments to remember from Paris 2024, but one thing that stuck out to us? Women athletes were doing some really amazing things at these Games. Case in point: Out of the 126 total Olympic medals won by Team USA athletes, more than half of them—67—were earned by female athletes. In fact, that number would have placed them third among all countries in the medal table.
What’s more, Team USA, the largest team to compete, sent more women than men to the Olympics for the fourth consecutive Games (315 women compared to 279), according to Census.gov.
And it wasn’t just with Team USA athletes, either. Leading up to this year’s Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made a concerted effort to achieve gender parity by increasing the number of gender-equal and mixed-gender events (including mixed relays in track and swimming). According to the IOC, this year marked the first games with equal numbers of male and female participants.
Hundreds of female athletes from around the world showed stunning speed, power, skill, and more on the world stage. Here are just 10 of the ways women made history at the Paris Games.
1. Lauren Scruggs becomes the first Black American medalist in women’s individual fencing.
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Team USA’s Lauren Scruggs, a 21-year-old Harvard student, broke barriers with a silver-medal finish in individual foil in Paris. “Growing up in fencing, no one really looked like me,” she said in an interview with ABC News. “My success has helped break stereotypes about what Black people can do and who can be a fencer.” Scruggs also teaches fencing to underrepresented kids through the Peter Westbrook Foundation and said, “I’m not just fencing for myself, but I’m fencing for the kids back home too.”
