World beaters: Women athletes ruled the Olympics

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The 2024 Paris Olympics belonged to women. These were the first Games in history to achieve gender parity in terms of having an equal number of women and men compete. Women shone on the world stage, beating many records along the way. Katie Ledecky of the U.S. celebrates after winning gold in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle on July 31. Sarah Stier / Getty Images file Perhaps most impressive is the sheer number of medals won by U.S. women. They took 67 out of Team USA’s 126 total — outdoing the men by seven medals (though one of those medals, Jordan Chiles’ bronze, has been called into question after the IOC asked her to cede it to Romania). Gold medalist Simone Biles of the U.S. and bronze medalist Suni Lee of the U.S. celebrate on the podium for the women's all-around on Aug. 1. Jamie Squire / Getty Images If American women were their own nation, they would have won the third-most medals, only behind the U.S. and China — and that would be true even without Chiles’ bronze. The country in fourth place, with the closest number of medals to the American women, is Great Britain, with 65 medals. Sixty-seven medals is a record for U.S. women and a record for any country’s women in general, beating the U.S. total of 66 in Tokyo. The American men did well for themselves too — their 60 medals would be the fifth most if they were a country. Lauren Scruggs of the U.S. celebrates winning against Amita Berthier of Singapore in the women's foil individual table of 32 on July 28. Al Bello / Getty Images file Katie Ledecky won her ninth gold medal and 14th overall these Games, becoming the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time. Simone Biles and the women’s gymnastics team — the so-called “Golden Girls” — had a successful redemption tour, bringing home gold in the team competition. Biles and Suni Lee went 1-2 on the all-around and became the first two all-around women gold medalists to go head-to-head in an all-around final. Meanwhile, Chiles and Biles bowed down to Brazil’s floor gold medalist Rebeca Andrade in a heartwarming moment on the podium. Amit Elor became the United States’ youngest wrestler to compete and win a gold medal, and Lauren Scruggs made history as the first openly out and Black woman to medal in fencing, bringing home an individual silver and a team gold. The women’s U.S. basketball team won its eighth Olympic gold in a row, earning a shoutout from former President Barack Obama on X. The star-studded women’s 4x400-meter relay team rushed to gold yesterday, closing the track and field events for the Games and beating all its competitors by almost four whole seconds. Imane Khelif of Algeria celebrates boxing gold at the Olympic Games on Friday. Ulrik Pedersen / DeFodi Images via Getty Images Although there were a lot of triumphs for women, there was also backlash against two athletes whose gender was wrongly called into question. Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who won a gold medal in the women’s welterweight division, and featherweight Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei have had a cloud cast over them after Khelif’s opening victory against Italian Angela Carini. Khelif defeated Carini in only 46 seconds. Carini refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the bout and fell to the floor crying. Her rapid defeat brought to light allegations from 2023 by the Russian-led International Boxing Association, which removed Khelif and Lin from a competition in New Delhi last year for failing to pass a “gender eligibility test.” False claims about Khelif's gender erupted online, triggering a storm of online harassment which is now the source of a legal battle. Khelif filed a legal complaint Sunday alleging she was the target of “aggravated cyber-harassment.” Her lawyer described it as a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer. The International Olympic Committee defended her and denounced those peddling misinformation. Khelif said that the spread of misconceptions about her “harms human dignity.” Khelif’s home country rallied around her, defending her from the misconceptions about her gender and celebrating her as she boxed her way to a gold medal in a decisive win Tuesday. She was named Algeria’s flag bearer Sunday, and will be leading the delegation during the closing ceremony.