The Paris 2024 Olympic Games has further demonstrated the global reach of athletics, with a record for the most countries winning gold in a single Games having been set.
A total of 27 countries won athletics gold medals, two more than the previous record figure. Dominica, Pakistan and Saint Lucia all featured on the athletics medal table for the first time, with Thea LaFond (women’s triple jump), Arshad Nadeem (men’s javelin) and Julien Alfred (women’s 100m) all gaining historic gold for their respective nations.
Joining Dominica, Pakistan and Saint Lucia, Botswana also got a maiden athletics title through Letsile Tebogo in the men’s 200m – the nation’s first Olympic title in any sport – taking the total number of countries who have ever won an Olympic athletics medal to 105.
The tally of 43 countries on the medal table in Paris matches Tokyo as the biggest in athletics for more than 20 years, while 75 countries finished in the top eight – showcasing the depth of talent in the sport.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe thanked the Paris 2024 organising committee for providing the stage on which the sport and its stars could shine.
“Paris 2024 has been an absolutely spectacular Olympic Games for athletics,” said Coe.
“We are a sport where numbers matter on and off the field of play. Over the course of the last 11 days, our athletes have dazzled audiences in Paris and across the globe with some performances for the ages. We had three world records, 13 Olympic records and countless national and area records – the performances were nothing short of outstanding.
“Our sport is the gift that keeps on giving. This is not a one off,” added Coe. “We saw similar scenes at the World Championships in Budapest last year – and we are already seeing tickets fly off the shelves for Tokyo (2025 World Championships).”
A total of 26 athletes won multiple medals in Paris, including Femke Bol (mixed 4x400m gold, women’s 4x400m silver, women’s 400m hurdles bronze), her Dutch teammate Sifan Hassan (women’s marathon gold, 5000m and 10,000m bronze) and USA’s Gabby Thomas (women’s 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m gold).
Following his run for the US men’s 4x400m team in the heats, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson became the youngest ever men’s Olympic gold medallist in athletics.
Paris 2024 was also the highest quality Olympic Games in history, according to competition performance rankings:
Edition Score
Paris 2024 198,320
Tokyo 2020 197,115
Rio 2016 195,953
London 2012 192,456
Beijing 2008 191,749
Athens 2004 190,871
Records set
3 world records: Mondo Duplantis (SWE), 6.25m in the pole vault; Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA), 50.37 in the 400m hurdles; USA, 3:07.41 in the mixed 4x400m.
13 Olympic records, 2 Olympic decathlon best performances, 21 area records, 99 national records, 311 personal bests.