The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are here. After an irregular Olympic cycle – due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Games were held in 2021 – the biggest sporting event on the planet begins this Friday with a spectacular opening party on the River Seine.
But among the nearly 10,500 athletes from all over the world – including a flag for refugees – there is a small list of those who are considered the stars of these games.
Just as Nadia Comaneci stole the applause in Montreal 76 with her perfect ten in artistic gymnastics or Michael Phelps smashed all swimming records in Beijing 2008, Paris 2024 has several athletes in its list of participants who could elevate their names to the category of legend.
Or in the case of athletes like the American gymnast Simone Biles or the Cuban wrestler Mijaín López, to raise the records of their legend even higher.
That’s why we at BBC Mundo wanted to make a list of the seven athletes who could make history.
Simone Biles (USA)
Simone Biles has achieved many stunts that were considered impossible in artistic gymnastics.
The extraordinary gymnast born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1997 has won it all.
Not only is she the most successful gymnast in history – among other things, she has won seven Olympic medals, four of them gold – but she is also the owner of incredible feats.
At least four gymnastics movements bear her name. And although her participation in Tokyo 2020 was full of ups and downs – she withdrew from several events – it is hoped that Paris will end up elevating her legend beyond the records.
And she could make history by becoming the first woman to win five gold medals in artistic gymnastics at a single Games.
Although Russia’s Larisa Latynina has nine gold medals to her name, she has never achieved the feat of winning more than four in a single competition.
Mijain Lopez (Cuba)
If Latin America has any Olympic legend, it is the Cuban Mijaín López in Greco-Roman wrestling.
López, 41 years old, weighs 130 kilos and is participating in the Olympic Games for the sixth time. He is one of only six athletes in history to win four consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same discipline.
The first in Beijing 2008 and the last in Tokyo 2020, at 38 years old.
His achievements have made him a leading figure in Cuban and regional sport.
The “Horseshoe Giant”, as he is known, announced that once his participation in Paris 2024 ends, he will retire from active sport.
And if he wins the gold medal, he will be the only wrestler in history to win five gold medals and the first Latin American to do so in any discipline of the Games.
Faith Kipyegon (Kenya)
The 1,500-meter queen began running barefoot in her native Kenya.
But soon his talent for middle distance became evident when he began to win every race there was in his country.
Her crowning moment came at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics when she won her first gold medal. She repeated the feat at Tokyo 2020.
Not only does Kipyegon have the milestone of two gold medals, but in just one year she managed to break three world records: in 2023 she broke the records for the 1,500 metres, the mile (1,602 metres) and the 5,000 metres (although this was recently surpassed by Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay).
Now 30, she hopes to add another feat to her resume: a third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 1,500 metres, something that no woman has ever achieved in this discipline.
Noah Lyles (USA)
Four years of waiting. Two weeks of activities. 10,500 athletes.
Everything is done to reduce the central event to less than 10 seconds: the final of the 100 metres, the central event of the Olympic Games.
And that could be the day American Noah Lyles becomes the fastest man in history.
He is also the favourite to win gold in two other speed events: the 200 metres and the 4x100m relay.
Lyles is currently the world champion in these disciplines and was in fact the first man to win these medals since an Olympic legend achieved the feat at the 2015 World Championships.
His name: Usain Bolt.
Mariana Pajon (Colombia)
The BMX queen was the first Colombian to win two consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games in London 2012 and Rio 2016.
It was also the first Latin American woman in achieving a similar feat in individual sports.
And she came close to outdoing herself by claiming a third consecutive gold medal at Tokyo 2020, but was overtaken by Britain’s Gudaf Tsegay.
Although the road to Paris has not been as sweet as on other occasions, the 32-year-old Colombian hopes to be crowned BMX champion for the third time and thus end up on the top pages of sports books.
Teddy Riner (France)
When we talk about kings of a sport like Michael Jordan in basketball or Pelé in football, perhaps we should also include the Frenchman Teddy Reine, an absolute judo legend.
Riner, now 36, holds the record for winning three gold medals in the +100kg category (two individual and one group).
He is also the person who has won the most judo world championships in history, with eleven gold medals.
Now she hopes to end her splendid career in her home country with a milestone: a third gold medal in judo and reverse the bad moment she had in Tokyo 2020, where she could only win bronze.
But whatever, Riner’s name is already historic in the sport and Paris would only be the final touch to his career.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica)
No woman has been as fast as Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce for as long.
She was the queen of the 100 metres in London 2012 and Rio 2016, and won the gold medal in the 4×100 relay in Tokyo 2020.
But just when it was thought that she was close to retirement, the Jamaican won bronze in the 100 metres at the world athletics championships held in Budapest the previous year.
Although standing in the way is American prodigy Sha’Carri Richardson, who took gold in Budapest,
But Fraser Pryce hopes to use her experience to her advantage and win three gold medals in the 100 metres, something no woman has ever achieved.
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