For the medal ranking, we will still have to wait. Count and wait. But two weeks and a few hours before the opening of the Paris 2024 Games, the leading trio of the largest delegations for the Olympic event is known. It is a new one.
With a contingent of 571 athletes, and a presence in the 32 sports in the program, France could have won. And show up at the opening ceremony, Friday July 26 on the Seine, with the air of top of the class. But for a few handfuls of competitors, the prize of numbers eludes France. It returns to the United States. A habit.
The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has announced the composition of Team USA. It has 592 athletes. Strong. But the Paris 2024 promotion is not the most important in history. Despite the health crisis, the United States sent 613 athletes to the Tokyo 2020 Games. At Rio 2016, the delegation numbered 554.
Unlike the French, the Americans will not be present on all sports. Team USA will be represented in 31 of the 32 sports on the program. Not bad. The only one missing: handball. The United States has never shone there. They know almost nothing about it, and even its existence.
In two sports, modern pentathlon and rhythmic gymnastics, the United States will keep a low profile, with only one entry. At athletics, we will only see them, or almost. The American team announces 120 athletes.
Very trendy: Team USA leans towards women. There will be 314 athletes (53%) to board the plane for Paris, compared to 278 men (47%).
For the rest, Team USA will display a strong Californian accent, with almost one in five athletes coming from it. Its youngest, gymnast Hezly Rivera, celebrated her 16th birthday last month. In contrast, rider Steffen Peters, the oldest member of the selection, will be in his sixties a few weeks after the end of the Games.
Never shy of statistics, the USOPC also specifies that more than half of those selected (57%) will make their Olympic debut in the French capital. But there will be three of them – rider Steffen Peters, basketball player Diana Taurasi and rider McLain Ward – to experience their sixth Olympic adventure.
Finally, always good to know, swimmer Katie Ledecky has no competitors in the medal game. In three Olympic participations, she has already collected 10, including seven gold.
Australia now. In third place by the size of the delegation, behind the United States and France. A performance, a real one, for a country of 26 million inhabitants.
At the 2024 Paris Games, Team Australia will have 460 athletes. It will be the third largest in history for a Games organized abroad, behind Tokyo 2020 (486) and Athens 2004 (482). The record still dates from the Sydney 2000 Games, where the Australian team had 632 athletes.
Around half of the delegation will make their Olympic debut at Paris 2024, compared to 62% at Tokyo 2020 and 64% at Rio 2016. The team is therefore gaining experience. Always good to take eight years from the Brisbane 2032 Games.
Like the United States or Spain, for example (but not France), Team Australia is predominantly female. Women represent 55,6% of the delegation. A record. The Australian Olympic Committee reminds us: at the Paris Games in 1924, the Australian team did not include a single female athlete.
Very usual: the oldest member of the selection is a rider, Shane Rose, 51 years old. The youngest, Arisa Trew, a skateboard specialist, admits to only 14 years old.
In Paris, the Australians will not only be numerous on the competition field. The stands could also be colored green and yellow. According to the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), 740 families of athletes have registered for the program offered by the body for the relatives of those selected. There are 643 of them who have announced their intention to go to the Paris 2024 Games.
United States, France, Australia. The trifecta of numbers, but also the three host countries of the Games, in 2024, 2028 and 2032. Surely not a coincidence.
