Names You Need To Know Before The 2024 Olympics

All eyes are on Paris in the coming weeks as the world prepares to watch the long-awaited 2024 Olympic Games. This year's Games will host familiar faces and new prospects with one common goal — clinching gold medals. Nearly 11,000 athletes from 206 countries and territories across the globe hope to return home more decorated than when they left, some with only one more chance to compete. 

While the United States will once again send a plethora of athletes (around 500) to Paris, several athletes from across the world are set to challenge the country's reputation of having the most Olympic medalists of all time. With over 300 events to watch after the torch is lit, from swimming and gymnastics to table tennis and dressage, there's a sport for every spectator. The world will come together to witness history once again on July 26, 2024, and we're breaking down all the names you need to know before the 2024 Olympics. 

On the list of must-see athletes ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games is American track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The New Jersey native, who comes from a long line of exceptional runners, started turning heads when she was just 16 years old. While still in high school, Levrone set a new world junior record of 54.15 in the 400m hurdles, finishing in third in that year's U.S. Olympic Trials. Unfortunately, she was eliminated in the final round before the 2016 Olympic Games, but she came back stronger in 2020. The athlete won her first gold medals in Tokyo for the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay.

Now, with Paris on her mind, McLaughlin-Levrone hopes to return stronger than ever before. After suffering a minor knee injury in 2023 that forced her to sit out that year's world championships, she feels rested and ready to hit the track at this year's Olympic Games. While she's already set five world records in her career at just 24 years old, the Olympian hopes to beat her best time of 50.65 in the 400m hurdles.

As for McLaughlin-Levrone's secret to preparing for the Olympics, she's running on faith. "It's using the gift I've been given to point all of the attention back to Him and show that He's worth it, win, lose, or draw. It brings so much peace to know that if I lose this race, I did not lose any value," she told Women's Health, admitting that her religion has been her "saving grace."

Those unfamiliar with the incredible force to be reckoned with that is Simone Biles may be living under a rock. Rest assured, we're more than happy to catch you up on the seven-time Olympic champion and fan favorite who hails from Houston, Texas. 

Biles rose to fame in artistic gymnastics at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, where she became the first female American gymnast to win four gold medals in a single Olympics. She's since dominated on the vault, floor, balance beam, and the all-around, securing the title of being the most decorated gymnast of all time with 34 total medals in World Championships and Olympics throughout her career. 

The 2020 Olympic Games proved a disappointment for Biles, however, who dropped out of the competition after winning a bronze medal on the balance beam. At the time, she was struggling with the "twisties," a term gymnastics described by Health.com as a "mental block" that leads a competitor to lose control of their body in the air.

The astonishing athlete seeks to redeem herself in 2024, despite many fans believing she would give up the sport after her performance in Tokyo in 2021. "I think everything I've been through, I want to push the limits," she told the Associated Press. "I want to see how far I can go. I want to see what I'm still capable of so once I step away from this sport, I can truly be happy with my career and say I gave it my all."

Leon Marchand has a lot resting on the upcoming Olympic Games, as the French athlete hopes to secure a gold medal on his home turf. The Toulouse native reigns from a long line of Olympic swimmers, with his parents and uncle being former competitors in the '80s and '90s. 

Marchand made his Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, competing in the men's 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 4x100m medley relay, and 400m individual medley, taking home sixth place in the latter. Under the watchful eye of Michael Phelps' former coach, Bob Bowman, the French athlete broke Phelps' world record in the 400m individual medley in 2023, earning him a reputation as one to watch in 2024. Spectators will have to watch and see if the Arizona State swimmer will have what it takes to bring home France's first gold medal in the event in over 12 years. 

"I'm 21 years old, I'm reaching my peak in my sport and the Games are at home. What more could you ask for?" Marchand said in an interview with French media (per France24). The swimmer recognized his chance at making history in Paris the moment he swam past Phelps' world record, and he hopes to keep the momentum going into his second Olympics. "I understood it when I beat Michael (Phelps') record. Immediately in my head, I said to myself: 'Well, the Paris Games, it's going to be different from what I had imagined!" he recalled.

Eliud Kipchoge has long been considered the world's greatest marathon runner, and he's not about to let that title slip through his hands during the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Kenyan Olympian has been a stand-out competitor in distance running over his lengthy career, winning a bronze medal in the 5,000m race at the 2004 Athens Olympics and a silver medal in the same event in Beijing in 2008. Kipchoge later competed in the marathon event during the Rio and Tokyo Games, taking home the gold medal both times.

Kipchoge held the world record time for the men's marathon from 2018 to 2023 until it was finally broken by Kenyan runner Kelvin Kiptum. Now, at 39 years old, Kipchoge enters the 2024 Olympic Games fighting personal demons, especially since his competitor Kiptum shockingly died in a car crash just months before the start of the games. The Olympic gold medalist revealed that in the weeks following Kiptum's death, he received intense harassment online from spectators who accused him of potentially being involved. 

"What happened has [made] me not trust anybody. Even my own shadow, I will not trust," Kipchoge told BBC. "I received a lot of bad things; that they will burn the (training) camp, they will burn my investments in town, they will burn my house, they will burn my family," he added. If Kipchoge can take home the gold medal for the marathon in Paris, he will become the first person to ever do so for the third time in a row.

Sun Yingsha has a huge reputation to uphold going into the 2024 Olympic Games. The Chinese competitor, whose nickname "Little Devil" originated from table tennis Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yining (otherwise known as "Big Devil"), seeks to continue the People's Republic of China's reign as having the undefeated record in women's singles tabletop tennis. 

Yingsha made her Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021 at just 21 years old, taking home silver in women's singles after losing to Chen Ming. The world champion athlete did take home a gold medal in the women's team event, however, and hopes to redeem herself at this year's competition in Paris. As the current No. 1 woman's tabletop player, Yingsha is hopeful that she can take home her first gold medal for the singles event. To do so, she will face off against her teammate and rival Chen Ming, as well as 2021 world champion Wang Manyu.

The Olympic gold medalist is grateful to be a huge role model at such a young age, something that still surprises her to this day. "I come across students my age being asked who their idol is or who inspires them and they say 'Sun Yingsha,'" she said in an interview with Olympics.com. "They may say that I motivate them and things like that, and I'm very happy that within my peers and those younger than me, I'm inspiring them, and at the same time encouraging myself more and more."

Rayssa Leal, otherwise known to fans as the "Little Fairy," became an Internet sensation in 2015 after a clip of herself landing an impressive heel flip decked out in a fairy costume went viral. The Brazilian skateboarder was just 7 years old at the time and had no idea she would become one of the best professional skaters of her generation.

Leal's professional career kicked off in 2019 when she competed at the Street League Skateboarding Championship in London that year and took third place. Not long after, she cinched a first-place win in the Los Angeles Street League Skateboarding Championship, which set her up to start preparing for the Olympic Games. She first competed as an Olympian at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, earning the title of the youngest Brazilian to win an Olympic medal after taking home silver in the women's street event at 13 years old. 

The young athlete hopes to shine in Paris, this time much taller, stronger, and more adept than she was at her last Olympic Games. "I see it as a much greater evolution of Tokyo," she shared in an interview with Olympics.com. "Because a lot has happened since Tokyo ... Just seeing my evolution as a person; how much I've grown." Still, Leal will have to break out all her tricks if she wants to win gold. "The level of skateboarding has increased on an absurd level, for both men and women," she shared on the Olympics.com Portuguese podcast.

Another young skater to watch in Paris is Sky Brown, a Great Britain skateboarder and surfer just a few months younger than the Brazilian Olympian. Brown currently holds the rank of Great Britain's youngest summer Olympian and is set to have a promising performance at the 2024 Olympic Games as she takes to the skate park.

Brown, who was born in Japan and has dual citizenship in Great Britain, had the option to represent either country at the Olympics. The young athlete chose to represent her English roots, however, due to their more relaxed training style that allowed her to let loose without so much added pressure. She has a similar story to Rayssa Leal as she also went viral at a young age after her father posted a video of her overjoyed, decked out in skate gear, and exhibiting impressive skills. Brown went on to snag a World Skate Park Championship medal at age 15, as well as a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in the women's park category. 

But Brown had hoped to come home as not only a gold-medalist skater but a surfer as well. She narrowly missed her shot at becoming the first athlete to qualify for the Olympics in both surfing and skating after she was named alternate on Great Britain's surf team for the Paris Games. Still, it's a huge honor for the teenager to come so close, especially after recently recuperating from a torn MCL injury just months before the Olympics start date.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, known to many as the "Pocket Rocket," is another incredible athlete to watch during the 2024 Olympics. But not just because of her incredible changing hairstyles and colorful nails, although one can't help but admire her vivacious style. At 37 years old, the Jamaican track star is known as one of the world's best sprinters, and she continues to prove her age won't stand in the way of another show-stopping performance in Paris.

Fraser-Pryce is especially known for her talent in the 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m relay. The sprinter has competed in four Olympics to date, earning three gold medals, four silver medals, and one bronze since the start of her career. This year, she puts it all on the line as she competes in her final Olympic Games, hoping to add another gold medal to her collection. If she can hang on to her astonishing momentum from her 2022 season, she could very well be on her way, as Fraser-Pryce landed the record for the first female to run under 10.70 seconds for the 100m race seven times in a single year.

With one more Olympic Games left in her, the sprinter believes her best race is still yet to come. "To be able to run 10.6 consistently last year definitely means that there's a drop to come," she told Athletics Weekly in 2023. "When it comes, I don't know but that's what I'm working towards ... I still feel good, I still feel hungry."

Another track star set to give spectators a run for their money (literally) at the 2024 Olympic Games is Sha'Carri Richardson. The American runner snagged the title of the fastest woman on earth ahead of her Olympic debut after she ran a 100m race in 10.65 seconds at the 2023 track and field world championships. 

The victory was made sweeter for the athlete after her dreams of a 2020 Tokyo Olympics were dashed. Richardson was left off the roster for the Olympic team that year after testing positive for THC shortly after she took first place in the 100m race at the Olympic Trials that year. The athlete issued an apology for the test, admitting that she had been grappling with the news of her biological mother's death, which she had found out just days before the trials began. "I want to take responsibility for my actions," she admitted in an interview with Today. "[I'm] not making an excuse or looking for any empathy in my case, but, however, being in that position in my life, finding out something like that, something that I would say is probably one of the biggest things that have impacted me ..." she explained.

Richardson is set to redeem herself after the difficult blows from 2021, hoping to secure a gold medal while competing in the 100m dash. To do so, she'll have to face off against Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson, both Jamaican powerhouses who will make the race an exciting match-up.

Adam Peaty could compete in his last Olympic Games in Paris if his mother gets her wish. While the Great Britain powerhouse swimmer enters the competition as what many consider the world's greatest breaststroker in the sport's history, his lengthy career has taken a toll on his mental health. 

Peaty launched onto the scene in 2015 after taking home first place in the 50m and 100m breaststroke events at the World Championships in Russia. He was the first from the U.K. to score three gold medals at once during the competition, and he also broke that year's world record time for the 100m breaststroke. He continued to break records at his first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where he was the first Brit to win a gold medal in swimming since 1988 after securing first place in the 100m breaststroke. He also won big in Tokyo in 2021, winning gold again in the 100m Breaststroke as well as in the Mixed 4x100 individual medley.

Victory came with a price, however, as he pulled out of the 2023 Britain championships after dealing with bouts of depression and alcoholism. After some time off, Peaty's mother, Caroline, says he's ready to dive in. "... He's in the place he wants to be now and he's more secure. He's ready as he'll ever be," Caroline told BBC. "He has an open mind on whether this is his last Olympics. I hopefully want him to finish swimming and to have some kind of normality now."

At just 16 years old, Quincy Wilson is on his way to becoming a legendary athlete. The Virginia native started his track and field career at the early age of eight, and he's gone on to earn himself quite the reputation. Wilson's career highlights include five AAU Junior Olympic Games titles, three national titles, and several first-place wins in relay races, including the Virginia Showcase, the Florida Relays, and the Millrose Games. 

Now, the teenager sets his sights on Paris, entering the Olympic Games as the youngest American Olympic competitor in history with his spot on the 4x400 relay team. Wilson was automatically added to the roster after smashing Darrell Robinson's under-18 record (which went undefeated for 42 years) for the individual 400m race not once but twice. The athlete crossed the finish line in 44.66 seconds in the first round, only to come in .7 seconds faster during the semifinals.

As he anxiously awaits his Olympic debut, Wilson is adjusting to newfound fame. Legendary athletes like Deion Sanders and Magic Johnson have called the young track star, wishing him well on his road to Paris. In an interview with FOX45 Baltimore, he admitted he was "starstruck" about his celebrity status, admitting, "It's just like dang I'm really ... in this position and I'm so grateful [because] it couldn't be anybody and I'm glad that it's me."