2024 Olympics: Meet the International Athletes Hoping to Strike Gold in Paris

The world coming together at the 2024 Olympics for more than two weeks of emotional origin stories, cheering families, ecstatic coaches, viral moments and, oh yes, lots and lots of sports?

We'll take it.

The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Games takes place July 26, with athletes from everywhere parading down the River Seine on a series of floats, waving the flags of their respective nations (LeBron James and Coco Gauff are doing the honors for Team USA) and making everyone who isn't made of stone tear up at least a little bit.

And while 592 athletes qualified to compete for the United States in Paris (and Tahiti, where the surfing is taking place), they're just a slice of the roughly 10,500-person-strong pie representing 206 countries and vying for medals in 329 events within 45 sports.

So, there's a ton of gold, silver and bronze to be handed out between now and Aug. 11.

Going up against Team USA for Olympic glory will be... Well, the rest of the world!

And getting to know athletes from all over is invariably what makes this fortnight so special. So while you may be getting pings on your phone to make sure you don't miss a minute of Katie Ledecky, Noah Lyles or Simone Biles and the rest of the U.S. women's gymnastics team, you'll inevitably find yourself watching Great Britain's Tom Daley on the diving board. Or rooting for the longest three-set match possible between Spain's Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia's Novak Djokovic. 

Or bopping along as breaking makes its Olympics debut with the likes of 41-year-old Japanese B-girl Ayumi Fukushima and 17-year-old Dominika Banevic of Lithuania battling it out while a DJ spins tunes and an MC holds court.

Basically, the possibilities to expand your fandom are endless. Meet the international stars ready to make a splash at the 2024 Paris Olympics:

British diver Tom Daley doesn't have to be anywhere near a platform or springboard to make our hearts bounce. But the accomplished knitter and father of two with husband Dustin Lance Black is returning for his fifth Olympics after reaching the top of the podium for the first time in Tokyo with 10-meter synchronized partner Matty Lee.

Daly did effectively retire in 2021, but a subsequent family trip to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado changed all that.

"Lance looked at me, saw me crying and thought, 'Oh no. I know what this means...'" Daly told the BBC. "I said, 'I just really miss diving in the Olympics,' and [now 6-year-old son] Robbie said, 'But Papa, I want to see you dive in the Olympics.' And that was that."

A breakout star in Tokyo after dominating in the women's 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle, Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus is a favorite to repeat—especially after beating American Katie Ledecky and setting a new world record in the 400m at the 2023 World Aquatic Championships.

In fact, their expected head-to-head (plus six other hopefuls) on July 27 is already being billed as "The Race of the Century."

"I know that my best foot forward is the best," Titmus told Reuters, "so I’m just going to do that, put my best foot forward. "

Not so fast: Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh may have something to say about that 400m freestyle. The 17-year-old beat Ledecky in the event at the 2023 U.S. Open Swimming Championships and definitely plans to be in the mix for gold in Paris.

Swimmer Emma McKeon actually made more podiums than anyone in her sport at the Tokyo Olympics, winning four gold medals and snagging three bronzes en route to becoming the most decorated Australian Olympian ever, period, with 11 medals. 

Her victories included the 50 meters and 100 meters, so the super-speedy athlete is the one to beat in those match-ups. 

The men's tennis draw is stacked with superstars and there's a chance for a gold medal showdown between all-time Grand Slam title leader Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Spanish phenom Carlos Alcaraz, coming in ranked 1 and 2 after top seed Jannik Sinner of Italy pulled out of the Games with tonsillitis. 

Plus, there are many emotional narratives to go around, including Paris being the final Olympics for Spain's Rafael Nadal, who skipped Wimbledon so he'd be fresh for his beloved French clay, and Great Britain's Andy Murray.

While the U.S. men's national basketball team always comes to play with Dream Team-caliber expectations, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is repping his home country of Greece in his Olympics debut—and will be the flagbearer in the Parade of Nations at the July 26 Opening Ceremony.

Though first he had to lead Greece to the Olympics for the first time since 2008. "It's an incredible feeling," the two-time league MVP said when they beat Croatia to qualify. "Since I was a kid, I always wanted to play in the Olympic Games."

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic will be leading the Slovenian team in a quest to at least avenge their loss in the bronze medal game against Australia.

"In Tokyo, we really fell a little short, I often remember those moments," the five-time NBA All-Star told Sports Illustrated. "I think we were really unlucky, we struggled all summer, we wanted to win a medal, but in the end it didn't work out. For us, this is just another further motivation."

The NBA's 7-foot-4 runaway pick for league Rookie of the Year is home for the Olympics.

"It's hard to believe it's really the Olympics," San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama told reporters from the French national basketball team's training camp. "I think it will only sink in when I've heard the [national anthem] Marseillaise for the first time, it's still a dream."

The reigning national champ in the 100-meter dash and a silver medalist at the 2023 World Athletic Championships, Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson is looking to surpass her bronze finish in Tokyo with a more precious metal in Paris.

Plus, she and her compatriots will be looking to defend their Olympic gold in the 4x100m relay—though they'll have to do it without Elaine Thompson-Herah, the winner of the 100 meters and 200 meters at the last two Olympics, who had to pull out of the Paris trials with an Achilles tear.

Jamaican sprinting legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce—the 100-meter gold medalist in 2008 and 2012—has said her fifth Olympics will be her last.

"My son [Zyon, born in August 2017] needs me," the 37-year-old, who has eight Olympic medals overall and will serve as a captain of Team Jamaica in Paris, told Essence.com. "My husband [Jason Pryce] and I have been together since before I won in 2008. He has sacrificed for me. We're a partnership, a team. And it's because of that support that I'm able to do the things that I have been doing for all these years. And I think I now owe it to them to do something else."

Midfielder Aitana Bonmatí, the reigning Ballon d'Or Féminin winner who helped FC Barcelona secure its fifth consecutive league title win May, will be leading Spain's top-ranked women's national soccer team in Paris. 

Bonmatí was one of the players who publicly supported teammate Jenni Hermoso after she was the recipient of an unwanted kiss by Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales following the team's otherwise-glorious 2023 World Cup victory. 

"As a society, we cannot allow the abuse of power in a working environment or disrespect," Bonmati said on stage while accepting the European Women's Player of the Year honor at the UEFA Club Football Awards. "To all women who are suffering the same thing as Jenni, we're with you."

To every generation of Jamaican sprinters, a number of champions are born. And while Usain Bolt's record (8-0 at the Olympics) is a tough act to follow, Kishane Thompson is heading to Paris as the betting favorite in his seemingly inevitable showdown in the 100 meters with U.S. track and field star Noah Lyles.

Whoever wins gold will be just be considered the fastest man in the world, no big deal.

One of the more seasoned athletes competing in Paris overall, 41-year-old Ayumi Fukushima—aka, B-girl Ayumi—didn't get into breaking until she was 21, meaning there was a lot of battling literal kids on her road to self-sufficiently becoming one of the best breakers in the world. 

"With breaking, there's no coach," Fukushima, who won the 2021 world title when she was 39, told Number Web, "so it's like I was trained by the people who were around where I practiced. More experienced dancers and friends I usually train with showed me how to do the moves, and I practiced them. It was like that all along."

Explaining her affinity for the sport, which is making its Olympics debut in Paris, she added, "There’s music, and you dance along. I began dancing like that. I really love that feeling, which I guess is the reason I've been doing it for so long."

Besting B-girl Ayumi at the 2023 WDSF World and European Breaking Championships was 17-year-old Dominika Banevic, the youngest breaker in the 32-athlete field competing in Paris.

Not that it makes any difference.

"The age doesn't matter in breaking," Banevic told Olympics.com. "Some people think that it's hard to battle athletes that are much more experienced than you, but when you battle, you don't think that that dancer [has danced for] 20 years and you seven years. You're in the present moment and it's just you and your opponent."

PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy has had a bit of a rough go lately, barely losing the U.S. Open in a last-hole collapse and then not making the cut at the British Open, outcomes that are hardly par for the course for the four-time major champion.

So he'll be looking to right the ship in Paris when he tees off at the Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

And though born in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, he turned down an invitation to play for Great Britain back in 2016.

"Thinking about all the times that I played as an amateur for Ireland and as a boy and everything," he said at the time. "I think for me it’s the right decision to play for Ireland in 2016." Though he ended up skipping the Rio Olympics due to concerns about the Zika virus, he played for Ireland in Tokyo. 

Ma Long, considered to be the greatest table tennis player of all time, was left off China's singles roster, meaning he won't be in the running for his third straight gold medal. But the athlete known as "The Dragon" will still be on hand to lead his compatriots in their quest for a fourth straight team gold.

Heading into his second Olympics, swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook is looking to defend his 200 meter breaststroke gold from Tokyo, as well as his perennial first-place finish in the great names competition.

"You continue to pursue swimming because you believe there is more in it," the athlete, who also left Tokyo with a bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley, said on the SwimSwam Podcast in January, explaining what keeps him motivated. "And ultimately that's probably the conclusion I came to and why I'm still swimming today. Like if I didn't think there was more in the [breaststroke] for me, if I believed I'd swum my perfect race, then I guess that would be the day I retire."

High jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh earned bronze in Tokyo and will be going for gold after breaking the event's 37-year-old world record in early July at a Diamond League event by clearing the bar at 2.10 meters (6.88 feet). The previous mark was 2.09.

Like many of her compatriots, Mahuchikh has used her platform to speak out on behalf of her war-torn nation. "We all are fighting for our people, for our soldiers," she said in June, per ESPN, after defending her European title. "We want to show every person in the world that we will continue fighting, that war in Ukraine it's not finished, unfortunately. We should fight in every field to show that Ukraine is strongest."

If at feels to you as if Marta has been the starring forward on the Brazilian women's soccer team forever... you're close.

After taking home silver with the As Canarinhas in 2004 and 2008, the athlete often referred to as Queen Marta (born Marta Vieira da Silva) is playing in her sixth and final Olympics, having announced she'll be retiring from international competition after Paris.

Eliud Kipchoge, the winner of the last two Olympic marathons, will try to become the only man to win three.

"Everything that has a beginning, has an end," the champion, who will be a few months shy of 40 when he competes in Paris, told GQ of being closer to the finish line of his career than the starting block. "But even if you leave the sports arena when you are not performing the way you have been performing, inspiration is what we need. If you can still inspire a woman or a kid somewhere in Saudi Arabia or in Jamaica or in Haiti or in America or somewhere in Maldives, that's what you want. Or somebody can still follow you from India or from China, from Japan, from a small country somewhere? That's what we need."