Where are Kentucky’s Olympians from? Use this map and check the latest medal count
The Summer Olympics brought more than 10,000 athletes from across the world to compete for gold in Paris, and in a notable first for this year’s games, there was a 50-50 split between men and women athletes.
The U.S. Olympic team included nearly 600 athletes, and of those, more than 30 have Kentucky connections.
With the Olympics set to hold its closing ceremony Sunday, U.S. athletes have won 97 medals as of Thursday afternoon. Of those, 27 are gold medals.
Historically, U.S. athletes have performed best at track and field, swimming and shooting, with more gold medals in these categories than any other. Here are the top 15 sports for the U.S. at the Summer Olympics since the first modern Olympic games were held in 1896.
This year, U.S. Olympians represent almost every state, and Colorado, Vermont and Hawaii have the most Olympians per capita.
So where in Kentucky are the state’s Olympians from? Click on a dot below to see which Olympian is from your area.
What to know about Kentucky’s Olympians
There are more than 30 Olympians competing in this year’s games with ties to the Bluegrass State.
Among them is Lexington’s own Lee Kiefer, a fencer who previously won gold at the individual foil event during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were held in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. That was the first time a U.S. fencer, male or female, won gold in foil.
In this year’s games, Kiefer set out in hopes of making history yet again, and she’s had remarkable success.
In Paris, Kiefer again won gold at the individual foil event, repeating her success at the Tokyo games three years prior. Kiefer also won gold competing in the women’s team foil event. These victories make her the first American fencer to have won three gold medals.
Kiefer is a 2012 Paul Laurence Dunbar High School graduate, making her Olympics debut that same year. She is a University of Kentucky medical student and won five NCAA fencing championships at Notre Dame University.
Her husband, Gerek Meinhardt, also competed in this year’s Olympic games.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, a track and field competitor and UK star, won gold and set a new world record in Thursday’s 400-meter hurdle event.
Some other notable Olympians with Kentucky ties include Anthony Davis, who joins other former Kentucky basketball players Devin Booker and Bam Adebayo in playing for Team USA in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Former Kentucky Wildcats Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray and Trey Lyles are playing for Team Canada. As of Tuesday, Booker led Team USA with 18 points, Davis added 13 points and eight rebounds and Adebayo had nine points and seven rebounds as the U.S. basketball team defeated Brazil 122-87 in the Olympic quarterfinal. Team USA plays Serbia in the semifinal Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Team France defeated the Canadian team in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 9:56 AM.