The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games wrapped up with the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night, capping two weeks of nonstop athletic action. The medal count was finalized with Team USA atop the leaderboard, securing 40 gold medals, 44 silver medals, and 42 bronze medals and edging out China.
Athletes from the DMV, including only participants from approximately 30 miles outside DC in any direction, took home 22 total medals and contributed an incredible 16 percent of all of Team USA’s medals.
Per the Washington Post, when weighted to account for the size of medal-winning teams, the DC metropolitan area contributed more to the US medal count than any other region.
DMV athletes who won medals
| Athlete | Hometown | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torri Huske | Arlington, VA | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Katie Ledecky | Bethesda, MD | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Noah Lyles | Alexandria, VA | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Durant | Seat Pleasant, MD | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Emily Fox | Ashburn, VA | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Thea LaFond* | Silver Spring, MD | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Masai Russell | Potomac, MD | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Quincy Wilson | Gaithersburg, MD | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Erin Gemmell | Potomac, MD | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Taylor Knibb | Washington, DC | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nicole Yeargin** | Bowie, MD | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Helen Maroulis | Rockville, MD | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Christian Tabash | Alexandria, VA | 0 | 0 | 1 |
*Lafond’s medal came for her birth country of Dominica.
** Yeargin’s two medals came for her mother’s birth country of Great Britain
The medal haul came in seven disciplines: swimming, track and field, basketball, soccer, triathlon, wrestling, and rowing. The 22 medals would have seen the DMV rank 12th in total medals just ahead of Brazil and New Zealand.
Their 11 gold medals would rank them 11th on the final table standings. The area finished with more medals than countries like Spain, Iran, Sweden, Belgium, and Russia.
Torri Huske led the way with her five total medals. The Virginia native won gold in the 100 m butterfly, 4×100 m medley relay, and 4×100 m mixed medley relay. She took home silver in the 100 m freestyle and 4×100 m freestyle relay.
No US Olympian earned more medals than Huske’s five in Paris and she was only beat out by China’s Zhang Yufei (6) in total medals among all athletes.
Bethesda’s Katie Ledecky added another chapter to her historic run in the pool after she took home medals in the 800 m freestyle, 1500 m freestyle, 4×200 m freestyle relay, and the 400 m freestyle. Ledecky is now the most decorated female US Olympian with 14 total medals over four different Olympics.
NBA superstar Kevin Durant won his fourth gold medal, the most of any men’s basketball player in Olympic history. He also secured his status as the all-time leading scorer for the US, passing Lisa Leslie, with 518 total points.
Noah Lyles is now known as the “fastest man in the world” after he took gold in the 100 m with a photo finish. Lyles then won a bronze in the 200 m sprint despite suffering from the effects of COVID-19.
Quincy Wilson, 16, picked up a gold in the 4×400 m relay after making his debut as the youngest American male to compete in a track-and-field event. Wilson and fellow gold medalist Masai Russell are products of Potomac’s Bullis School.
If you extend the DMV to include the entirety of Maryland, you can add two more medals from Aaron Russell (Ellicott City, MD) in volleyball and Aaron Brooks (Hagerstown, MD) in wrestling.
If you do the same with Virginia, you can add medals from Thomas Heilman (Crozet, VA) in swimming, Charlie Swanson (Richmond, VA) in swimming, and Grant Holloway (Chesapeake, VA) in track.
Area colleges had plenty of medal representation including Alyssa Thomas (UMD) in basketball, Kate Douglass (UVA) in swimming, Gretchen Walsh (UVA) in swimming, Paige Madden (UVA) in swimming, Emma Weber (UVA) in swimming, Heidi Long (UVA) in rowing, Pien Dicke (UVA) in field hockey, and Emily Sonnett (UVA) in soccer.
Additionally, the Washington Wizards’ Bilal Coulibaly won a silver for France in basketball, the Washington Mystics’ Jade Melbourne won a bronze for Australia in basketball, and Mystics general manager Mike Thibault helped the US women win basketball gold as an assistant coach.
The NWSL’s Washington Spirit also saw Trinity Rodman, Croix Bethune, Hal Hershfelt, and Casey Krueger win gold in soccer.
