10,714 athletes of the world traveled to the home of the Eiffel Tower to compete in the once every four years World Olympics. July 26th to August 11th marked the 2024 Summer Olympics, hosted by France. This year’s world wide competition sets the record for selling the most tickets: 9.7 million sold out of 10 million put on the market. 

To conclude their time in France, the top metal winners were USA (40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze), People’s Republic of China (40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze), and Japan (20 gold, 12 silver, 13 bronze). USA walked in with 594 competitors entering 47 out of 48 disciplines, and walked out with 44 winners ranging from weightlifting to cycling. 

American 400-meter hurdle competitor, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, has set 6 world records in her career, the first one being on June 27, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon, USA (51.90 seconds),  and the most recent one being on August 8th, 2024 in Paris, France (50.37 seconds).

According to a survey, 50% of 28 students tuned into the Olympics and the most popular sports watched were basketball, 29.2%, and track and field, 20.8%. 

When asked why they watched the 

Olympics, student responses varied from out of interest or out of curiosity to see the winners.

 “It was interesting to see if anyone would break world record times,” an anonymous 12th grade student said.

Women’s Rugby player, Ilona Maher, and male gymnast, Stephen Nedoroscik’s time on the big screen didn’t conclude in France: both have prepared to make an appearance on the dance floor on reality T.V. show, Dancing with the Stars for their 33rd season.