Paris will be a focus this summer as the Summer Olympics return from July 26-August 11. This Olympics will celebrate the centenary of the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
The majority of the games will be held in Paris and 5 cities surrounding. Paris is 5 hours ahead of EST here in the states, so a lot of the night competitions will happen during the afternoon here.
Of interest will be the soccer competition, as it will be a preview of the 2026 World Cup coming here to the States. Surfing returns. Break Dancing and kite sailing debut. Karate, Baseball and softball all have been dropped.
The U.S. is expected to be strong on a few levels, including women’s gymnastics, swimming, surfing, men’s and women’s basketball, track and field and soccer.
Here are some of the athletes we will be watching this Olympics:
U.S. Men’s Volleyball team – A Bronze and a Gold in 2 of the last 4 Olympics, give this team a legitimate look this year after a disappointing run in 2020 in Tokyo. A mix of young players and veterans allows this team to be very competitive in Paris. 4 players on the qualifier are from Hawaii: Erik Shoji (Punahou), setters Micah Ma’a (Punahou) and Micah Christenson (Kamehameha), and middle blocker Taylor Averill (University of Hawaii).
Carissa Moore- Surfing This 5 time World Champ won the Gold on the short board in 2020 and will return to defend before she steps away from competition at the age of 31. Moore is stepping back from competition to build a family with her husband in Honolulu.
Asher Hong – Men’s Gymnastics This young man is building quite the resume coming into the 2024 Olympics:
- 2023 World team bronze medalist. Advanced to the all-around & parallel bars finals
- 2023 U.S. all-around champion and still rings silver medalist
- 2023 NCAA team & vault champion and all-around bronze medalist (Stanford)
- 2023 Winter Cup all-around bronze medalist
Katie Ledecky – Swimming – Ledecky’s six individual gold medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women’s swimming‌. Expect her to add to that total in what could be her last Olympics.
U.S. Men’s Soccer Team – First trip to the Olympics in 16 years, this team is expected to compete for a medal. Some big names won’t make the trip, but, the team is talented and deep.
Many Olympic Qualifiers, including Simone Biles and the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team, are still to happen. And an interesting side note to this is the return of former 2012 gold medalist Gabby Douglas, who will try and make the team. Also, not quite set are the Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams whose qualifiers are in late June.
