Harvard Athletes Won 13 Medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Shattering a 128-Year-Old Record

Updated August 10, 2024, at 5:07 p.m.

Harvard athletes won 13 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, smashing a school record that had stood for 128 years.

Gabby Thomas ’19 broke the record for Harvard after she secured her third gold medal in Paris as Team USA soared to victory in the 4x400 meter relay on Saturday. Thomas’ performance cemented the Paris Games as the best-ever Olympics for Harvard.

Thomas had tied the 2024 Paris Olympics with the 1896 Olympics in Athens — the inaugural modern Games — when she won the 12th medal by a Harvard Olympian in the 4x100 meter relay on Friday. Thomas is also the most decorated Olympian in Harvard history and is tied for the most gold medals of any Harvard alumnus.

With the additional medals, Harvard ranks third of all American universities in medal count for Team USA behind Stanford and the University of Virginia. If the Crimson were its own nation, it’d currently be tied for 12th place in the gold medal count and in 16th in the overall medal count.

The Team USA squad for the 4x400 meter final — composed of Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Thomas, and Alexis Holmes — delivered a stellar performance, finishing far away from the rest of the field and only a tenth of a second off the 1988 world record with a time of 3:15.27.

Other than Little, none of the U.S. athletes in the final ran in qualifying the day before where the U.S. cruised to the fastest times in the heats.

Thomas also ran the third leg of the 4x100 meter relay on Friday— after Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry — before handing the baton off to Sha’Carri Richardson, the silver medalist in the 100 meters.

The American team got off to a strong start with Jefferson executing a smooth handoff to Terry in the midst of the pouring rain in Paris.

With the next two handoffs the U.S. team lost time, but Richardson ran a brilliant anchor leg to bring Team USA the gold in a time of 41.78 with Great Britain and Germany behind her.

The four Americans also dominated the qualifying round, winning their heat and posting the fastest time overall.

Thomas’ golds — the last medals for a Harvard athlete in Paris — end a historic Olympic Games for Harvard that featured several notable victories for current and former students.

The first Harvard medal came just two days into the game, when 11th-seeded fencer Lauren Scruggs ’25 willed her way to a silver medal in the women’s individual foil competition. She later won a gold with team USA in the women’s foil team event.

Liam Corrigan ’19 was next to medal, rowing in men’s coxless four and securing Harvard’s first gold at the Paris games. The Connecticut native was in a dominant team USA boat that took an early lead and stuck with it for the entirety of the race.

In the same event, David F. Ambler ’20 earned a bronze medal for his efforts in the British boat. After a slow start, the boat was able to surpass Italy and secure their podium spot to the left of Corrigan and Team USA.

Three Harvard alumni — Clark A. Dean ’23, Pieter Quinton ’20, and Christian B. Tabash ’22 — picked up bronze medals in the U.S. men’s eight boat a few days later.

The Crimson’s impressive games continued as Kristen T. Faulkner ’16 shocked the world by nabbing gold in the cycling road race after she was substituted into the race.

Faulkner added another gold to her collection three days later in the cycling team pursuit event — cementing her legacy in cycling after only starting the sport in 2017.

Representing Germany, Lisa Tertsch ’21 captured gold in the mixed relay triathlon in a race that went down to the wire and saw less than a second of separation between the top three finishers.

And on Tuesday, Thomas cruised to a convincing gold medal in the 200-meter race, finishing with a time of 21.82 seconds. Thomas, who got off to a quick start and extended her lead in the last 100 meters, outran Julien Alfred of St. Lucia and teammate Brittany Brown.

The 2024 Summer Olympics were held in Paris. By Paton D. Roberts

Despite the historic strong showing, the Games were not without some disappointment for Harvard.

The men’s saber team — the first fencing squad ever to be made up entirely of athletes from a single school — underperformed in their Olympic appearance, placing seventh of eight countries in the team competition.

Eli Dershwitz ’19, the reigning champion in men’s saber, was upset days earlier in the individual medal competition in the round of 32.

Jade E. Rose ’25, a defender for Canada’s women’s soccer team, also left Paris with disappointment. Canada was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Germany on a penalty shootout despite entering the tournament as favorites for the gold.

But their rough time in Paris had started before the opening ceremony of the Olympics. The team was docked six points in the group stage of the competition after a member of Canada’s coaching staff was caught spying on another team’s practice with a drone.

K. Graham Blanks ’25, a star long-distance runner for the Crimson, failed to medal despite reaching the finals of the 5000-meter race. Blanks placed ninth in the final on Saturday.

The performance by Harvard athletes in Paris marked a major shift from recent summer Olympics.

In the Tokyo Games, the Crimson won just three Olympic medals and one Paralymic medal, of which Thomas accounted for two. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Harvard failed to medal in both the Olympics and Paralympics.

But in the 2024 Paris Games, Harvard made history.

—Staff writer Jo B. Lemann can be reached at jo.lemann@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @Jo_Lemann.

—Staff writer Thomas Harris can be reached at thomas.harris@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Praveen Kumar can be reached at praveen.kumar@thecrimson.com.