News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
PARIS – Texas A&M Athletics claimed a school-record eight medals at the 2024 Olympics, besting its previous record of seven set at the Tokyo Games.
Texas A&M brought home a school-record eight medals at the Games, which included three gold, three silver and two bronze, while also adding a world record and two Olympic records to the list of accolades.
A combination of 20 current and former student-athletes, along with head women’s basketball coach Joni Taylor, made the journey to Paris. The Aggies were representing 11 different countries across five sports, including basketball, diving, swimming, tennis and track & field. The group in its entirety produced 17 finalists and six semifinalists.
The groups eight medals ranked tied for fourth in the SEC and helped propel the league to a second-place finish in the conference medal tally.
Medal-Winning Moments
The first gold medal of the Games for the Aggies came on the track, as Bryce Deadmon and the United States men’s 4x400m relay were looking to win the event for the third-straight Olympics. Deadmon was also a member of the winning relay in Tokyo and was seeking his second gold and fourth total medal of his career. He received the baton third and propelled Team USA to the front of the pack at the final hand off, ultimately setting the team up for victory with an Olympic-record time of 2:54.43.
Shamier Little struck gold for the Red, White and Blue immediately after Deadmon in the women’s 4x400m relay, setting the tone for the group with the fastest lead off leg of all nations in the final (49.48). She provided the United States room to run their race and the remaining three athletes finished the deal, winning the event in an American-record time of 3:15.27.
Coach Taylor and the United States women’s basketball team continued Team USA’s historic dominance in the Games. She and the team went undefeated throughout their six games, outscoring opponents 516-422 during the tournament. The Americans faced the host French National Team in the gold-medal game, and in a back-and-forth battle the United States came out on top in a narrow 67-66 victory to claim Taylor’s first Olympic medal and Team USA’s eighth-straight title.
Texas A&M hall of famer, Austin Krajicek, won the first medal of the Games for the Aggies, as he and partner Rajeev Ram claimed silver for the United States in the men’s tennis doubles event. The pair won their opening three matches, including a spotlight victory over Spain’s standout duo consisting of 24-time major champion Raphael Nadal and four-time major champion and current No. 3 ranked player in the world Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. In the gold-medal match, Krajicek/Ram won the opening set in a tiebreaker (7(8)-6(6)) then dropped the second also in a tiebreaker (6(1)-7(7)). The match came down to the wire and Team USA came up just short in a 10-8 third-set shootout.
Deadmon and Little won their first of two medals as a part of the United States’ mixed 4x400m relay team. The Aggie track & field greats handed off to one another on the second to third leg, as they helped claim silver for Team USA. In the qualifying round of the event the day prior, the group set the world record in the event, crossing the line in a staggering time of 3:07.41.
Lindon Victor competed in his third Olympic Games and became Grenada’s second-ever Olympic medal winner after claiming bronze in the decathlon. He battled through two days of competition, picking up an Olympic decathlon record in the discus with a mark of 53.91m/176-10 and another six season-best showings across the 10 events.
Wrapping up the medal winners was Fred Kerley in the men’s 100m, as he won his second-straight Olympic medal in the event claiming bronze in Paris to pair with his silver in Tokyo. He got off to a flying start in the final, leading the pack from the blocks. He was neck-and-neck with Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in the lane next to him, with fellow countryman Noah Lyles catching the pair four lanes over. The trio dipped for the line in the tightest finish at the Olympic Games in 44 years, with Kerley placing third in 9.81, Thompson second in 9.789 and Lyles first in 9.784.
Full Results
Basketball
- Joni Taylor (United States)
- Gold medal – women’s basketball
Diving
- Jaxon Bowshire (Australia)
- 16th place – men’s 10-meter platform
- Kurtis Mathews (Australia)
- 10th place – men’s 3-meter springboard
- Else Praasterink (Netherlands)
- 12th place – women’s 10-meter platform
Swimming
- Aviv Barzelay (Israel)
- 18th place – women’s 200m backstroke
- Shaine Casas (United States)
- 9th place – men’s 200m individual medley
- McKenna DeBever (Peru)
- 29th place – women’s 200m individual medley
- Beryl Gastaldello (France)
- 4th place – mixed 4x100m medley relay
- 6th place – women’s 4x100m free relay
- 6th place – women’s 4×100 medley relay
- 8th place – women’s 100m backstroke
- 11th place – women’s 50m freestyle
- Sydney Pickrem (Canada)
- 6th place – women’s 200m individual medley
- 9th place – women’s 200m breaststroke
- Jing Wen Quah (Singapore)
- 14th place – women’s 4x100m medley relay
Tennis
- Austin Krajicek (United States)
- Silver medal – men’s doubles
Track & Field
- Bryce Deadmon (United States)
- Gold medal – men’s 4x400m relay
- Silver medal – mixed 4x400m relay
- Lamara Distin (Jamaica)
- 24th place – women’s high jump
- Fred Kerley (United States)
- Bronze medal – men’s 100m
- Finalist (DQ) – men’s 4x100m relay
- Shamier Little (United States)
- Gold medal – women’s 4x400m relay
- Silver medal – mixed 4x400m relay
- Maggie Malone-Hardin (United States)
- 24th place – women’s javelin
- Brandon Miller (United States)
- 17th place – men’s 800m
- Yasser Mohammed Triki (Algeria)
- 9th place – men’s triple jump
- Lindon Victor (Grenada)
- Bronze medal – men’s decathlon
- Jacob Wooten (United States)
- 22nd place – men’s pole vault
- Charokee Young (Jamaica)
- Finalist (DNF) – women’s 4x400m relay