Indiana athletes win big in Paris
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Granger wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt was one of many Hoosiers who made Olympic history in Paris. Photo: Franck Fife/Getty Images
Now that the 2024 Olympics are over, it's safe to say that Indiana made a significant impact on the world's biggest athletic stage.
The big picture: Along with having the eighth-most qualified athletes from any state, the medal tally among all of this year's Olympians with Indiana connections (28) is good enough to take 11th place on the medal table when compared to other countries.
- Some of those athletes include former or incoming student-athletes at Indiana schools, as well as players who represent our pro sports teams, though not all were on Team USA.
Yes, but: We're claiming them anyway.
Zoom out: Team USA dominated at the Summer Games and collected a total of 126 medals, up from 113 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- China and Great Britain rounded out the top three with 91 and 65 medals respectively.
- Team USA tied China for the most goal medals with 40.
- A full list of Team USA medal winners can be found here.
Some of Indiana's gold medalists:
🏃 Indianapolis Olympian Cole Hocker shocked the world by winning gold in the men's 1500m final with a time of 3:27.65 — an Olympic record.
- "That's an unbelievable feeling. I just felt like I was getting carried by the stadium and God," Hocker said. "My body just kind of did it for me. My mind was all there and I saw that finish line."
- "Winning gold was my goal this entire year. I wrote that down and I repeated it to myself even if I didn't believe it."
🤼 Sarah Hildebrandt became just the second American woman in history to win two Olympic medals in wrestling when she took gold in the women's freestyle 50kg.
- "It's cool to be a part of this trailblazing in women's wrestling," said the Granger native. "There's obviously so many women who came before me and laid the track for me. But to just keep building this platform … we're seeing more and more people start to believe in themselves that they can do this. It's such an honor to be a part of that."
🏊 Alex Shackell made waves in the pool and the medal table as the first Carmel girls swimmer to compete in the Olympics.
- She won a gold medal as a part of the mixed 4x100 team that included Evansville native Lilly King. The team set a world record of 3:49.63 in the final event.
- She also earned a silver medal as part of the women's 4x200 freestyle team.
🚴 Cyclist Chloé Dygert endured crashes and the rain to return to Brownsburg with two more medals.
- The three-time Olympian won a gold medal in team pursuit, and a bronze medal in the individual time trial cycling event.
- "There's just a lot of support in this program," Dygert said. "With the success that we have had, we were able to bring in the strongest riders."
What's next: Counting how many Hoosiers collect medals during the 2024 Paralympics. The full U.S. Paralympic Team will be announced Monday.
- It already includes athletes like Greenwood swimmer Grace Nuhfer and Fishers track and field athlete Noah Malone.
- The Paralympics begin on Aug. 28.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Paralympics begin on Aug. 28 (not Aug. 24).