Wildcats earn 13 medals at Paris Olympics, set school record
PARIS (Aug. 13, 2024) — The 2024 Paris Olympics have officially concluded, marking the incredible display of athleticism across 32 sports and 45 disciplines.
The world watched athletes break 125 Olympic records and 32 world records across the 19 days of competition.
The University of Kentucky set a school record with 24 student-athletes, alumni and coaches in the Paris Olympics who represented nine countries across six sports in the Games. Eleven Wildcats won 13 medals — nine gold, two silver and two bronze.
UK was in the top 11 colleges with the most American athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympics — tied for 7th place with the University of Virginia.
Team USA finished the Paris Games with 126 medals — the most of any competing country. Of those medals, Team USA earned 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze medals.
Wildcats are credited with earning nine medals for Team USA, including seven golds (team medals count as one medal).
Here’s how those Wildcats finished in the Paris Olympics (by country):
TEAM USA:
3x3 Basketball
- Rhyne Howard (UK 2018-22) — Bronze medal
Men’s Basketball
- Bam Adebayo (UK 2016-17) — Gold medal
- Devin Booker (UK 2014-15) — Gold medal
- Anthony Davis (UK 2011-12) — Gold medal
Women’s Volleyball
- Avery Skinner (UK 2017-21) — Silver medal
Athletics/Track and Field
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (UK 2018) — Gold medal in 400m hurdles (broke her own world record), gold medal in 4x400m relay (broke the American record)
- Alexis Holmes (UK 2019-22) — Gold medal in 4x400m relay (anchor leg and broke American record) and sixth place in 400m final
- Masai Russell (UK 2018-23) — Gold medal in 100m hurdles
- Daniel Roberts (UK 2017-19) — Silver medal in 110m hurdles
- Andrew Evans (UK 2012-14)—17th place, discus qualifying round
- Ashley Kovacs (nee Muffet), USA Throws coach (2007-10) — Coached three medalists
Fencing
- Lee Kiefer (UK College of Medicine/Notre Dame alum) — Gold medal in individual foil and gold medal in team foil
- Gerek Meinhardt (UK College of Medicine/Notre Dame alum) — Fourth place in men’s team foil and table of 16 in men’s individual foil
BAHAMAS:
Athletics/Track and Field
- Devynne Charlton (Volunteer assistant coach/Purdue alum) — Sixth place in 100m hurdles final
CANADA:
Men’s Basketball
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (UK 2017-18) — Quarterfinalist
- Jamal Murray (UK 2015-16) — Quarterfinalist
- Trey Lyles (UK 2014-15) — Quarterfinalist
JAMAICA:
Athletics/Track and Field
- Jelani Walker (UK 2018) — 11th place in 4x100m relay first round
NIGERIA:
Women’s Basketball
- Adebola Adeyeye (2022-23) — Quarterfinalist
PUERTO RICO:
Athletics/Track and Field
- Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (UK 2016-18) — Bronze medal in 100m hurdles
SOUTH AFRICA:
Diving
- Julia Vincent (Assistant coach/South Carolina alum) —11th place in 3m springboard diving
- Ted Hautau, South Africa diving coach —Coached Julia Vincent to 11th place in 3m springboard diving
SOUTH SUDAN:
Men’s Basketball
- Wenyen Gabriel (UK 2016-18) — Ninth place after group stage (Part of the country’s first-ever win in Olympic history in men’s basketball)
ZIMBABWE:
Athletics/Track and Field
- Tapiwanashe Makarawu (Incoming team member) — Sixth place in 200m final
For an in-depth breakdown of the Wildcats’ performance in Paris, you can go to UKAthletics.com for additional notes.
You can find the full medal breakdown for Team USA and the other competing countries online here.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.