10 athletes to watch from Team USA at the Summer Olympics
By Kyle Feldscher, CNN
Paris (CNN) — Competition is already underway in Paris for the 2024 edition of the Summer Olympics and Team USA is set to take to the River Seine Friday for the Opening Ceremonies.
Here are 10 athletes from the nearly 600 Americans heading to France to compete in this year’s Olympics that you need to watch:
Simone Biles
It’s hard to imagine that the greatest of all time has something to prove. But Biles – the oldest Olympian gymnast in decades at 27 – isn’t returning to the Olympics for a farewell tour.
The taste of her stunning experience in Tokyo three years ago, suffering a case of the twisties – a sensation that gymnasts describe as a loss of rhythm and control during complex maneuvers – forced her to withdraw from multiple events. It was the biggest shock of the Tokyo Games and left many observers wondering if the career of one of the most incredible athletes of all time had just ended in a flash.
Now that she is in Paris, Biles is aiming to cement her place atop the gymnastics mountain. She has been on a tear of late, dominating at the US Championships and looking toward Paris with an eye on repeating her historic run in Rio de Janeiro eight years ago.
LeBron James
It’s the return of the King to the Olympic stage. Having skipped the competitions in 2016 and 2021, James – who is 39 – is likely playing in his final Olympics as the leader of the US men’s basketball team.
James has been a part of incredible US Olympic teams – 2008’s Redeem Team comes to mind – but made his Olympic debut at the disastrous Athens Games in 2004. Two full decades later, the Los Angeles Laker will be saying farewell to the international stage looking to drape gold around his neck one last time.
James’ return to the team is a harbinger of where the US men’s basketball team finds itself in world competition. Americans may expect the men’s team to run roughshod over the competition but – as two nail-biting wins ahead of the Games proved – the rest of the world is catching up. The return of the game’s greatest player over the last two decades is proof that the Americans are not messing around in their quest for gold and to assert dominance over the game worldwide.
James will serve as one of Team USA’s flag carriers on Friday along with tennis star Coco Gauff.
Katie Ledecky
The seven-time Olympic gold medalist is aiming to create more iconic scenes in Paris. Fans will long remember the races in which Ledecky embarrassed her competition with sizable freestyle victories in 2016, and the much closer contests in 2021 as her competition began to close the gap.
Her Olympic success – 10 medals in total – has made her one of the faces of Team USA coming into Paris.
In the lead-up to the Games, the 21-time world champion has again been putting on impressive displays and is aiming to prove in her fourth Olympics that there is no one better in the pool.
Noah Lyles
He’s the fastest man in the world and he enters the Olympics’ signature race as an underdog.
Lyles, 27, is the world champion in the 100-meter dash but enters Paris as an underdog to Jamacia’s Kishane Thompson, setting up one of the most dramatic editions of the race in years – especially as the American has frequently talked about beating the world record set by Thompson’s countryman, Usain Bolt back in 2009.
Lyles aims this year for four gold medals, competing in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 4X100 relay and 4×400 relay. It’s a full plate for Lyles, who is trying to bounce back from a disappointing Tokyo Games three years ago in which he finished third in the 200-meter dash – his signature race.
Sha’carri Richardson
It’s redemption time for Richardson.
Suspended from the Tokyo Games due to a positive test for THC – the active ingredient in marijuana – ahead of her departure, Richardson comes into Paris looking to prove she is the fastest woman in the world. She has run well in the build-up to Paris, including setting multiple personal bests in 2023, but she’ll face an uphill challenge taking on her Jamaican rivals who have traditionally dominated sprint races.
Richardson will be racing in the 100 meters, but did not qualify in the 200-meter race.
Caeleb Dressel
Competing in his third Olympic Games, Dressel is the standout men’s swimmer on Team USA and is looking to cement his place in American swimming lore with another medal haul.
Having already won seven gold medals in his Olympic career, Dressel will compete in fewer races in these Games. He’ll focus on the 100-meter butterfly, the 50-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter relay team.
Dressel has won gold in every Olympic event he’s entered so far in his career. It’s a sterling record that he’ll look to keep as he aims for double-digit gold medals over the course of his three Olympic Games.
Sophia Smith
Heading to her first Olympics, Smith is the leading light of a new generation of stars for the US Women’s National Team.
The forward, who plays her professional football for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL, is looking to make a major impact in her first time competing in the Olympics. With the US women struggling to find the crucial final touch in the matches leading up to their departure from Paris, it’ll be up to Smith to provide a spark at the front of the US’ attack.
Smith leads a team looking for redemption after getting knocked out in the Round of 16 in last year’s World Cup and failing to take home the gold in Tokyo three years ago, settling for bronze after a triumphant stretch of major tournaments. With a new-look team, Smith looking to stake her claim as the next great American women’s striker as the rising generation of American soccer players comes into focus.
Sunisa Lee
The returning all-around women’s gymnastics gold medalist is looking to show that her victory in Tokyo was no fluke. Lee grabbed the gold in 2021 after Biles’ shocking exit and Lee’s victory can sometimes get lost in the memories of her teammate dressed in her warm-up gear, cheering from the sidelines instead of competing.
But Lee remains one of the top performers in the world and is now attempting to do something that’s not been done since 1968: Win back-to-back gold medals in the all-around competition.
Lee and Biles will also be looking to reclaim the American team’s gold medal in the team competition. While Biles was a part of the victorious 2016 team, Lee has yet to win a team gold medal and will be looking to get the taste of defeat to the Russian team in 2021 washed away.
A’ja Wilson
Wilson heads to Paris looking to prove to the world that she is the leading American basketball talent in the women’s game, even as newcomers like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese threaten to take that spot.
With the talented rookies left at home by USA basketball decision makers, Wilson – a multiple time WNBA MVP and the top player on the back-to-back WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces – is looking to repeat the success she had in Tokyo, helping to win the gold medal for Team USA.
It’s a massive moment for women’s basketball as Clark and Reese’s rise – and rivalry, both in college and in the pros – has driven new interest in the game. But Wilson has been leading the charge as the league’s best player for years now and she’ll use Paris’ grand stage to try and prove that she is the top American player at a time of great growth for the women’s game.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Competing in the 400-meter hurdles individually and on the relay team, McLaughlin-Levrone is looking to go back-to-back in both races.
One of the most electric athletes on Team USA’s track squad, McLaughlin-Levrone is entering her third Olympic Games. She’s the current world-record holder in the 400-meter hurdles and is looking forward to a massive showdown with Femke Bol, the Dutch hurdler who is the current world champion in the 400-meter hurdles.
Bol and McLaughlin-Levrone have competed around the world in recent years, and their showdown in Paris is likely to be one of the most anticipated moments of the Games.
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