Four National Olympic Committees (NOC) won their first-ever gold medals at Paris 2024: Botswana, Dominica, Guatemala and Saint Lucia.
Athletics was a common theme among those making history by achieving their NOC’s first Olympic gold medal, with Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred storming to victory the women’s 100m, Dominica’s Thea LaFond leaping to history in the women’s triple jump and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo sprinting to gold in the men’s 200m.
However, shooting also delivered historic gold medals, with Adriana Ruano winning Guatemala’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s trap, and Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid becoming the first female Olympic champion from her NOC in the women’s skeet.
African athletes also produced many historic medals during Paris 2024, with Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy winning his NOC’s first gold medal in modern pentathlon, Tunisia’s Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi making history as the first taekwondo gold medalist from his NOC and Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour becoming the first African gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal.
Asia joined the conversation as well, with the Republic of Korea’s Kim Woojin becoming the first male archer to win three gold medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games, Japan’s Horigome Yuto making history as the first skateboarder to win back-to-back Olympic titles and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem winning his NOC’s first-ever medal in athletics, adding extra meaning to his victory in the men’s javelin.
Athletes from Asia were also in history-making form, with Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova winning her NOC’s first gold medal in judo and Hong Kong, China’s Vivian Kong becoming her NOC’s first-ever female Olympic champion in fencing.
Historic firsts knew no boundaries as Cindy Ngamba made history as the first refugee athlete to win a medal at an Olympic Games, while Belgium's Remco Evenepoel became the first man to win both the time trial and road race in road cycling at the same edition of the Olympic Games.
Of course, any list of firsts wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the bronze medals won by Albania’s Chermen Valiev and Cabo Verde’s David de Pina - the first for each of their NOCs.