NEWS
Team USA Wins Its First Gold Medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics
Team USA wasted no time winning its first gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, earning the prize after a strong performance in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay on Saturday, the first day of the games.
The team—made up of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel—finished 1.07 seconds before Australia, which won silver, while Italy followed with a bronze win. Team USA has won gold in this event in 10 of the last 13 Olympics. The win also marks Dressel’s eighth Olympic gold medal.
Earlier on Saturday, the U.S. secured its first medal of the Paris Olympics, courtesy of the women’s diving team. Synchronized divers Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook won silver in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard event, putting Team USA on the podium for the event for the first time since 2012.
The winning streak continued on Sunday, when both Simone Biles and Suni Lee advanced to the gymnastics finals after finishing the all-around qualifications round with the two top scores. Teammate Jordan Chiles ended in third, and while only two gymnasts from each country can advance to the individual all-around final, she will still compete in the team final.
With a powerful lineup of athletes, Team USA is destined to collect even more medals—but the prizes aren’t the only thing competitors are showing off. Plenty of Olympians, including Chiles and Sha’Carri Richardson, are bringing their fashion A-game to their events. “It all just makes me feel more confident. It makes me feel like I am who I am,” Chiles told Harper’s Bazaar in an earlier interview. “It makes me feel like I can just enjoy my personality and be something that God created me to be, and it was not to be shy, it wasn’t to be embarrassed of who I was, but to actually embrace who I am,” she added. “And fashion is how I can showcase that.”