Olympics 2024 scandals, medals, and stats to remember

The Olympic Games is an event that takes place every four years, during which athletes from across the globe compete. It unifies the world while simultaneously pitting countries against each other, with all teams hoping to win the gold.

The Olympic Games 2024 was quite a trendy topic. However, this wasn’t just because of the sports itself but rather a number of aspects, including a couple of scandals. Here’s a quick look at the Olympic Games 2024 and all the hot topics around it.

Australian coach uproar

One very upsetting event for the Australian swimming team was finding out their coach, Michael Palfrey, had been training one of their top South Korean rivals, which is against team rules.

On top of that, Palfrey had told the Korean media that he was hoping the South Korean would win gold in Paris. While Palfrey was labelled un-Australian for this, he was able to stay at the Olympics.

Promising equestrian forced to withdraw

Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin was in line to become the country’s most successful Olympian ever. There were rumours of a Damehood in her future after the Paris Games. However, the rider never got to enter or take part in the Olympics after a four-year-old video of her whipping a horse repeatedly was released.

The video shows the rider whipping the horse 24 times. Some questioned the time of the video's release, but Dujardin quickly withdrew from the events after the hit on her reputation.

Not-so-friendly Canada

Canadians have always been considered a kind and friendly bunch, but that might change after the Olympics. It was revealed that Canada used a drone to spy on New Zealand’s training drills before the women’s football competition. After it was found out, the two officials behind it were sent home. An investigation revealed that head coach Beverly Priestman has been using spy drones for several years.

The boxing gender war

It was soon found that Khelif simply has elevated levels of testosterone (found in many women, including those with PCOS) and that the competition was fair. However, this was not before many controversial figures on the internet attempted to say that Khelif was transgender—which isn’t true.

Controversy surrounding China’s swim team

The Chinese swim team just can’t seem to catch a break. Back in 2020 and 2021, about 23 elite Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine, also known as TMZ – a heart medication which falls into one of the most serious categories of performance-enhancing drugs.

They still managed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics after the China Anti-Doping Agency determined that they all ate contaminated food during their hotel stay.

Zanhle was not among the 23 swimmers mentioned in the test report. Australian coach Brett Hawke, however, believes that the win is not humanly possible and suggests doping.

Medals and statistics

The United States again walked away with the most medals but drew even with China in terms of gold.

Here’s a quick overview of the total medals for the top 10 teams:

Closing ceremonies

The opening night had mixed reviews, with the general opinion being that it was too long and it could’ve catered to a more global audience. There was also an uproar in terms of the opening ceremony, ‘The Last Supper’ featuring drag queens and dancers. For many Christians, this came across as a mockery of one of the significant biblical scenes.

Organisers quickly clarified the scene was inspired by the Greek god Dionysus and was not intended to offend any religious groups. The incident has put a greater focus on balancing artistic expression with any cultural and religious sensitivity.

During closing night, scandals and contradictory beliefs were much less subdued. However, many fans feel that the focus was more on creating a Hollywood spectacle than on the traditional Olympic spirit.

A record breaker

Despite the many scandals and differences in opinions regarding the 2024 Olympic Games, there’s no denying that it was another successful Olympic event held in Paris.

In fact, it will go down in history thanks to the focus on sustainability and legacy and the massive attendance list. Over 9.5 million of the 10 million tickets sold for the Paris Olympics, and fans were packed in all the competition venues and celebration sites.

Whether it was water sports, cycling, or other sports, a massive number of spectators were always in attendance. In fact, basketball had nearly 1.08 million spectators, handball had 500,000 spectators, and Rugby 7s had 530,000 spectators.