PARIS, France — The 2024 Paris Olympics have officially come to an end – and it was an impressive Games for current and former University of Texas at Austin athletes.
Current and former Longhorns won a total of 16 medals during this year's Summer Olympics, including six gold, seven silver and three bronze. That's more medals than some entire countries.
In fact, if these athletes were competing as their own nation, they would have ranked 16th among all nations in the number of total medals won – right between Spain (18) and Uzbekistan (13) – and would have tied Hungary at 14th in the number of gold medals earned.
UT athletes and coaches represented 12 different Longhorns sports programs and 16 different countries during the Paris Olympics.
UT has now had a gold medalist in each of the last 11 Summer Olympics, dating back to the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and a medalist in each of the last 13 Summer Games, dating back to the 1976 Montreal Games. The school has had a current or former athlete compete in every Summer Olympics since the Berlin Games in 1936 (21 straight Summer Olympics) and produced a medalist in 18 of those 21 Games.
Let's break down the medals won by Longhorns this year.
Swimming and Diving
Texas registered a total of eight medals (one gold, four silver and three bronze) from its Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving teams in Paris.
Rising junior Hubert Kós of Hungary claimed the gold medal in the 200 backstroke, while rising sophomore Erin Gemmell anchored Team USA's 4x200 freestyle relay for silver. Former Longhorn Caspar Corbeau earned bronze for the Netherlands in the 200 breaststroke, while the trio of rising senior Luke Hobson and former Longhorns Carson Foster and Drew Kibler won silver for Team USA in the 4x200 freestyle relay. Hobson also won bronze in the 200 freestyle, and Foster won bronze in the 400 individual medley.
Track and Field
Between athletes competing in both the Men's and Women's events, Track and Field registered a combined five medals (three gold and two silver), all in individual events – the most individual medals ever earned by Texas Track and Field.
Former Longhorn Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia claimed gold in the 100 meters and silver in the 200 meters, becoming the first Texas Track and Field athlete to win a pair of individual medals since Juliet Cuthbert of Jamaica won two silver in the same events in 1992.
Meanwhile, former Longhorn Ryan Crouser became the first shot putter in Olympics history to win three gold medals, former Longhorn Tara Davis-Woodhall won gold in the long jump for USA and former Longhorn Leo Neugebauer of Germany took silver in the Men's decathlon.
Former Longhorn Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland finished just off podium with a pair of fourth-place finishes, in the 400m and the 4x400m relay.
USA Men's Basketball
Former Longhorn Kevin Durant helped Team USA earn the gold medal in Men's Basketball with a 98-89 win over France. Durant became the first men's basketball player in Olympic history to win four gold medals, having previously helped lead Team USA to gold in the 2012 London Games, the 2016 Rio Games and the 2020 Tokyo Games.
He is also the first Longhorn ever to win a medal at four Olympic Games.
Men's Golf
Former Longhorn Scottie Scheffler claimed gold in Men's Golf individual stroke play with 19-under 265, becoming the first Texas golfer to earn an Olympic medal since golf was added to the schedule in 2016.
Women's Volleyball
Former Longhorn Chiaka Ogbogu helped Team USA win a silver medal in Women's Indoor Team Volleyball, becoming a two-time Olympic medalist in the process, having previously earned gold in Tokyo in 2020. She is the first Longhorn to earn two Olympic medals in Volleyball.
The Paris Games marked the fourth-straight Olympics where Texas Volleyball had a member of a medal-winning USA team after Destinee Hooker won silver in 2012 London and Rachael Adams won bronze in 2016 Rio.
Full list of Texas medalists
A total of 30 current or former UT student-athletes and seven coaches with ties to Texas Athletics participated in Paris.
Below is a list of all of the 2024 Olympic medalists with ties to UT:
- Julien Alfred – gold for St. Lucia in the Women's 100m with a time of 10.72
- Ryan Crouser – gold for USA in Men's shot put with a distance of 22.90 m
- Tara Davis-Woodhall – gold for USA in Women's long jump with a distance of 7.10 m
- Kevin Durant – gold for USA in Men's Team Basketball after a 98-89 win over France
- Hubert Kos – gold for Hungary in the Men's 200 backstroke with a time of 1:54.26
- Scottie Scheffler – gold in Men's Golf individual stroke play with 19-under 265
- Julien Alfred – silver for St. Lucia in the Women's 200m with a time of 22.08
- Carson Foster – silver for USA in the Men's 4x200 free relay with a time of 7:00.78
- Erin Gemmell – silver for USA in the Women's 4x200 free relay with a time of 7:40.86
- Luke Hobson – silver for USA in the Men's 4x200 free relay with a time of 7:00.78
- Drew Kibler – silver for USA in the Men's 4x200 free relay with a time of 7:00.78
- Leo Neugebauer – silver for Germany in the Men's decathlon with 8,748 points
- Chiaka Ogbogu – silver for USA in Women's Team Indoor Volleyball after a 3-0 loss to Italy
- Caspar Corbeau – bronze for the Netherlands in the Men's 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:07.90
- Carson Foster – bronze for USA in the Men's 400 IM with a time of 4:08.66
- Luke Hobson – bronze for USA in the Men's 200 freestyle with a time of 1:44.79