The closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on Sunday. Team USA won 126 medals – more than any other country competing in the games this year. Of those long-awaited victories, 15 medals went to athletes from Georgia.
Gold medalist Grant Holloway of the U.S., right, celebrates with silver medalist Daniel Roberts of the U.S. at the end of the men’s 110-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The medalists excel in sports ranging from track and field to basketball to weightlifting. Some are winning medals for the first time. One is returning to the U.S. after making Olympic history.
Here are the 12 medalists who were either born or live in the Peach State.
Austen Jewell Smith (right) and teammate Vincent Hancock of the U.S. celebrate winning the silver medal in the skeet mixed team final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
CHRIS BAILEY
sport: Rail
Hometown: Atlanta
At his first Olympic Games, the 24-year-old athlete from Atlanta won a gold medal in the men’s 4×400-meter relay.
Bailey ran the first leg of the competition and finished in 44.45 seconds, followed by his teammates Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin, who set an Olympic record of 2 minutes and 54.43 seconds.
Individually, Bailey competed in the men’s 400-meter final, where he finished sixth.
JANE CAMPBELL
Sport: football
Hometown: Kennesaw
The Kennesaw native and Houston Dash goalkeeper took home the gold medal as a member of the U.S. women’s soccer team.
Campbell was originally selected as an alternate for the team in June before being named to the team’s 18-player roster.
In 2020, the soccer star won bronze as part of the women’s soccer team at the Tokyo Games.
BROOKS CURRY
Sport: Bathe
Hometown: Dunwoody
The graduate of the Dynamo Swim Club from Atlanta won a silver medal in the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Although Curry did not participate in the actual race, he and his team still won a medal due to their strong performance in the early heats of the event.
Curry won a gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
ANTHONY EDWARDS
sport: Basketball
Hometown: Atlanta
The 22-year-old Holy Spirit Prep graduate and Minnesota Timberwolves player won his first gold medal as a member of the U.S. national basketball team, which also included LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant among the star-studded NBA players.
“He and Bron are the best two people,” Edwards, the youngest on the team, told the Associated Press. “Team players always want their counterparts to shine. It’s the same with me. So it’s perfect.”
VINCENT HANCOCK
Sport: Skeet
Hometown: Eatonton
The 35-year-old Putnam County native brought home two medals in skeet shooting, a silver medal in the mixed skeet team and his fourth gold medal in the men’s individual event.
Competing in his fifth consecutive Olympic Games, Hancock was one of only eight athletes in history to win four Olympic gold medals in the same individual event.
“It never gets old. For me, it’s something I’ve been working towards for four years,” Hancock told the Associated Press. “At this point, it just seems like luck for me. I’m doing my best and just hoping and praying for the best.”
DEARICA HAMBY
sport: Basketball
Hometown: Marietta
In her first Olympic Games, the Los Angeles Sparks forward took home a bronze medal for her performance in the women’s 3×3 basketball tournament.
Hamby replaced her Sparks teammate Cameron Brink at the event after he was forced to withdraw following an injury in a WNBA game on June 18.
HAMPTON-MORRIS
sport: Weightlifting
Hometown: Marietta
From training in his family’s garage to performing on the big stage in Paris, the 20-year-old athlete became the first male weightlifter since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to take home a medal of any color for the U.S. team.
Morris took home a bronze medal in the men’s 61 kg weightlifting event.
“I knew I had it in me,” Morris told The Associated Press. “On any other day, I definitely would have had a chance to do it. Today, I had a chance to do it.”
BRODY MALONE
sport: Gymnastics
Hometown: Summerville
The 24-year-old athlete played a major role in the US gymnastics team winning the bronze medal. It was the first team medal won by the US men since the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
These were Malone’s first Olympic Games.
KATIE MOON
Sport: Pole vaulter
residence: Powder sources
The athlete from Ohio won a silver medal in the women’s pole vault at the Games.
Moon also competed in this competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won the gold medal.
DANIEL ROBERTS
sport: Hurdles
Hometown: Hampton
Two-time Olympian Roberts won his first Olympic medal in Paris.
The Atlanta-area native won silver in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
EMILY SONNETT
sport: Football
Hometown: Marietta
Sonnett won gold against Brazil as a member of the U.S. women’s soccer team.
The 30-year-old, who has played for the North Atlanta Soccer Association since she was 10, also won a bronze medal at the same event in Tokyo in 2020.
GABBY THOMAS
sport: Athletics
Hometown: Atlanta
Thomas took home three gold medals at these games in Paris.
The 27-year-old Harvard graduate competed in the women’s 200-meter individual race and in relay races in the highly anticipated 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter races.
“I’m truly at a loss for words. There’s nothing better than finishing the Olympics with these incredible women and winning another Olympic gold medal,” Thomas wrote on Instagram after winning the 4×400 relay. “We did it.”
