Penn State athletes finished the Paris Olympics with a school record 13 medals and two golds

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games came to a thrilling conclusion on Sunday with Team USA women’s basketball’s last-second victory over France for the gold medal and a fantastic closing ceremony. Team USA won the official medal count with 126 total medals and 40 golds, equalling China for the most, and former Penn State Nittany Lions racked up their fair share of hardware as well. 

In total, 12 different Penn State athletes took home 13 medals from the Olympic Games, and one even became a household name with his performances. Stephen Nedoroscik clinched the bronze medal for Team USA men’s gymnastics with his performance on the pommel horse, which also earned him the moniker of “pommel horse guy” on social media as he became an American hero. Nedoroscik returned to the pommel horse a few days later to win another bronze in the individual competition and was Penn State’s only two-medal winner at the Games.  

Both of Penn State’s gold medal efforts came from women’s soccer as Alyssa Naeher and Sam Coffey helped Team USA defeat Brazil 1-0 in the gold medal match. It was Team USA’s first women’s soccer gold since the London Games in 2012. Naeher, the goalkeeper, clinched the shutout win with a crucial save in stoppage time. 

In other team events, Micah Hancock and Haleigh Washington helped lead Team USA women’s volleyball to a silver medal, while Matt Anderson, Max Holt, and Aaron Russell all took home bronze medals with Team USA men’s volleyball. Kayla Cannett was a part of the Team USA women’s rugby sevens team that won bronze and Laura Freigang won a bronze medal with Germany women’s soccer. 

Individually, Aaron Brooks won a wrestling bronze and Joe Kovacs won his third consecutive Olympic silver medal in the shot put. 

Penn State athletes have now produced a total of 56 Olympic medals all-time and with 30 Olympic athletes in 2024, 143 Nittany Lions have competed in the Olympic games.