Black women had a moment at the Paris Olympics
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Gymnast Jordan Chiles with her gold medal during the 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images
Black women earned 42% of Team USA's women competition medals — a much larger share than in past Games.
Why it matters: This is a big moment for Black and brown athletes, and little girls who look up to them.
Flashback: Black athletes accounted for only a third of the women's medal haul after the Tokyo Olympics.
By the numbers: They won 17 individual medals in Paris, up from 11 in 2021.
Here are some of the highlights:
History-makers
- Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles were a part of the first all-Black gymnastics podium with Brazilian Rebeca Andrade and created this viral moment. (Chiles, who won a team gold, was ordered to return her individual bronze, but U.S. Olympic officials say they are appealing the decision.)
- Queens, N.Y. native Lauren Scruggs became the first Black American woman to win an individual fencing medal (silver). The Harvard student also helped the U.S. capture its first gold team medal.
- Nigerian-American hammer thrower Annette Echikunwoke was the first woman to medal in the event for Team USA.
Redemption stories
- After leaving the Tokyo Olympics and becoming a mental health advocate, Biles won 4 medals, including 3 gold, in Paris.
- Track star Sha'Carri Richardson contributed to two of 15 of the women's medals in her first Olympic competition. The Texas-native was denied an Olympic bid in 2020 because of a failed marijuana test.
Soccer's new faces
- The "Trident" or, as they like to call themselves, "Triple Espresso" — Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson — successfully led USWNT back to the top of the soccer podium.
- The trio scored 10 of the team's 12 goals these Olympics and Swanson put in the winning score in the gold medal game against Brazil, giving the United States its first Olympic gold since 2012.
Our thought bubble: Seeing Black women draped in the American flag after their wins felt euphoric this year, writes Axios' Analis Bailey. Their excellence and resilience made me proud to be a Black woman in America, no matter how complex that reality may often be.
- A'ja Wilson, Melissa Jefferson, Gabby Thomas, Tara Davis-Woodhall and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone are names I will tell my future children about.
