Stanford Athletes Win a School Record 39 Medals in Paris Games

Jason Burke | Aug 12, 2024

Aug 3, 2024; Nanterre, France; Katie Ledecky (USA) in the women’s 800-meter freestyle final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Paris La Défense Arena. Mandatory Credit: Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports / Grace Hollars-USA TODAY Sports

The Paris Olympics are over, and the final medal tally includes Stanford athletes shattering the previous school record for medals won by bringing home a total of 39 from these Games. The previous high had been 27, which was set in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.

Stanford’s haul of 39 medals (12 gold, 14 silver, 13 bronze) is the most by any school at one Olympics. Counting medals won as part of the same relay, boat or team as one collective medal, Cardinal athletes accounted for 27 event medals at the 2024 Paris Games. If Stanford was a country, it would have finished tied with Canada for 11th place. In the scenario where Stanford is its own country, if you take away the 36 medals from the U.S. count (126), they would have finished second overall to China's 91.

Cardinal student-athletes medaled in 13 of the department’s 36 varsity sports: artistic swimming, women’s basketball, women’s fencing, men’s gymnastics, sailing, men’s rowing, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s track and field, men’s volleyball, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo, women’s water polo.

Katie Ledecky's four medals (two gold, one silver, one bronze) vaulted her to being the most decorated American female Olympian with 14 total medals. Swimmers Torri Huske and Regan Smith also won five medals apiece, with Huske taking home three golds and two silvers, and Smith finishing with two golds and three silvers.

19 Cardinal athletes secured their first career medal, a total that ranks second in school history behind the 21 first-time medalists at the 2008 Beijing Games. Perhaps the most impressive debut was turned in by track and field’s Grant Fisher, who became the first male distance runner in U.S. history to medal in both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

The press release that the school sent out also included this nifty table which lists the gold, silver and bronze medals won, who won them, and which events they came in.

Stanford Cardinal Paris Olympics gold medal winners /

Stanford Cardinal silver medal winners from Paris Olympics /

Stanford Cardinal bronze medal winners from Paris Olympics /

In addition to the 59 qualifiers, Stanford’s Olympic representation also included five alternates, one national team head coach and three national team assistant coaches. Cameron Brink (3x3 women’s basketball), Catarina Macario (women’s soccer), and Ali Riley (women's soccer) were originally named to their respective teams but withdrew due to injury. Non-varsity sport student Nayel Nassar (equestrian) withdrew from competition after his horse, Coronado, sustained an injury.

With Stanford joining the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), their new home ended up with 98 total medals won during the Paris Olympics. They also finished with the most medals of any conference, and the most gold medals. Stanford led the way in the ACC, with rival and fellow newcomer Cal ranking second with 18 medals won.

The Paris Olympics set the bar pretty high for future events, and not just because Stanford athletes brought home so much hardware. The games themselves were put in beautiful locations for seemingly every outdoor event, with beach volleyball being played at the Eiffel Tower, and the marathon being run through the streets of Paris, passing numerous landmarks along the way. Every event seemed to have just a touch of French history attached, and that level of thought and planning was felt throughout the games.