CHICAGO — The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are in the books, and Chicago athletes helped Team USA bring home more medals than any other country.
The Olympics concluded Sunday, with the United States winning a total 126 medals, with China in second place at 91 medals.
Multiple athletes with ties to Chicago are among the medal earners. That includes Shamier Little, who ran in the women’s 4×400 meter relay race on Saturday and won gold, with the team setting an American record at the Olympics.
Little, a Far South Side native and graduate of Lindblom Math and Science Academy, also ran in the 4×400 meter mixed relay, which features two men and two women. Team USA took silver in that meet.
Chicagoan Kennedy Blades won a silver medal in women’s freestyle wrestling Sunday. It was the first Olympics for Blades, 20, who wrestles for the University of Iowa.
A daughter of a Chicago police sergeant and an Illinois Department of Corrections employee, Blades blazed a trail for female wrestlers in Illinois, with the state’s wrestling federation creating a girl’s division after Blades won a state title competing against boys, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The #ChicagoPolice Department congratulates Kennedy Blades on her upcoming Olympics match in Women’s Freestyle Wrestling – 76kg on Saturday, August 10. Kennedy is the daughter of 7th District Sergeant Cindy Ramos, and is competing in her first Olympics. pic.twitter.com/AW7z4Gulnx
— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) August 9, 2024
Two athletes who play for the Chicago Red Stars led the way for the United States’ women’s soccer team, which won a gold medal Saturday.
Team USA beat Brazil 1-0, with Mallory Swanson of the Red Stars scoring the game’s lone goal. Alyssa Naeher, goalkeeper for the Red Stars and the women’s national team, preserved the win with a one-handed save in the final minutes of the gold-medal game, according to the Associated Press.
Mallory Swanson is the wife of Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, who could not be in Paris for his wife’s game because of his own matchup Saturday against the White Sox.
Anthony Davis, the Chicago-born star of the Los Angeles Lakers, scored eight points and grabbed ten rebounds in Team USA’s win over France to secure a men’s basketball gold medal, according to Sports Illustrated.
Honorary Chicagoan Simone Biles, one of the most decorated Olympic gymnasts of all time, won three gold medals and one silver medal in Paris. Her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, was frequently seen on broadcasts cheering on his wife and taking diligent notes.
Owens is back at Bears’ training camp following his trip to Paris. Biles, who has already gone to a White Sox game with her husband, will likely be a staple at Bears games this season at Soldier Field.
“It was amazing to watch,” Owens said, according to the Associated Press. “My wife is a warrior. That’s the one thing I tell people because I equate it to how we are in football.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 12:17:00
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