15 record-breaking moments you might've missed at the Paris Olympics

Ledecky, 27, won four medals in Paris, bringing her career Olympic medal count to 14. She is the most decorated American woman in Olympic history and is tied for the second-most decorated swimmer, behind only Michael Phelps.

She set the Olympic record for the women's 1500-meter freestyle to win gold. She also won gold in the women's 800-meter freestyle, silver in the women's 4×200-meter freestyle relay, and bronze in the women's 400-meter freestyle.

Julien Alfred, 23, didn't just win Saint Lucia's first-ever Olympic medal — she won gold in the 100-meter dash with a blistering time of 10.72 seconds to beat Team USA favorite Sha'Carri Richardson.

After the race, Alfred told reporters, "I feel honored to just be an ambassador for my country."

She added, "I'm sure they're celebrating right now. I'm just looking forward to the celebration when I go home with them."

Alfred later went on to win a silver medal in the 200-meter dash.

Also reaching the podium was triple jumper Thea LaFond, 30, who represented Dominica to win the country's first Olympic medal.

LaFond won the gold medal after jumping a national record 15.02 meters.

"At this point, every time I step on the track is an honor, bearing the flag is an honor, being Dominican is an honor. Representing a country with only 70,000 people and being out here and getting their first medal, a gold, is an honor. In all things, give thanks," LaFond said after the race, reports the Olympics.

Marchand, 22, set Olympic records in the men's 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter breaststroke, and 200-meter individual medley to win gold in each.

The Arizona State University student isn't new to setting records either. In 2023, he famously smashed Michael Phelps' world record in the 400-meter individual medley by 1.43 seconds at the World Aquatics Championships.

Vernon Norwood, 32, Shamier Little, 29, Bryce Deadmon, 27, and Kaylyn Brown, 19, broke the world record for the 4×400-meter mixed relay in their preliminary heat.

The team finished the race in 3 minutes and 7.41 seconds, over a second faster than the last world record.

Norwood, Little, Deadmon, and Brown went on to win the silver medal in the final, coming second to the Netherlands.

Ruano, 29, brought home Guatemala's first-ever gold medal thanks to her record-breaking performance in the women's trap shooting event, scoring a 45 out of 50.

Representing his mother's native country of Sweden, Mondo Duplantis, 24, secured his second Olympic gold medal and broke his world record, clearing a height of 6.25 meters, equivalent to about 20.5 feet.

He now holds the last nine world records in the event.

"The biggest dream since I was a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics," Duplantis said, per NBC.

"I've been able to do it in front of the most ridiculous crowd I've ever competed in front of," he added.

Swimming has historically been huge for breaking world records, and this Olympics has been no different.

Team USA stars Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, both 21, were members of the world-record-breaking mixed 4×100-meter medley relay and women's 4×100-meter medley relay teams, winning gold medals in both.

Finke, 24, completed the grueling race in a record 14 minutes and 30.67 seconds to give himself back-to-back Olympic wins in the event.

Shockingly, he was the only American man to win gold in an individual swimming race.

Swimming legend Michael Phelps praised Finke in an interview with USA Today. Phelps described Finke's 1500-meter freestyle as "unbelievable" and "one of the greatest swims in the Olympics."

Phelps added, "Being able to break that world record in the matter that he did it. Just taking it out, challenging the other guys just to make a move, he was prepared."

The Olympic dream never died for the Women's Eagles Sevens.

Down 7-12 in the final seconds of the bronze-medal match against Australia, the US mounted an incredible comeback thanks to the efforts of 26-year-old Alex Sedrick.

Her 103-yard try brought the score to 12-12 then she finished the game-winning conversion kick to give the US a 14-12 victory and its first Olympic women's rugby sevens medal in history.

Team star Ilona Maher spoke about the harrowing play on the "Today" show.

"For her to pull off that play and to beat some of the best tacklers in the game, we were all just chasing; it was so exciting," Maher said.

The Women's Artistic Gymnastics floor exercise final was full of action thanks to Simone Biles, 27, Rebeca Andrade, 25, and Jordan Chiles, 23.

The moment marked the first time in Olympic gymnastics history that three Black women made the podium. It was made even more special by an incredible display of sportsmanship: Biles and Chiles both bowed to Andrade, who famously came back from three ACL injuries to compete in Paris.

Biles told Hoda Kotb on the "Today" show, "It's all about sportsmanship, and we don't care whether we win or lose. We're always going to keep a good face and support our competitors because they've worked just as hard as we have for that moment."

While greats like Simone Biles and Suni Lee famously fell off the balance beam during the individual competition, Alice D'Amato, 21, was able to stick her landings to win Italy its first Olympic women's gymnastics medal in individual competition.

She won gold with a score of 14.366, while her teammate, 17-year-old Manila Esposito, won bronze with a score of 14.000.

Nemour was champion of the uneven bars, winning Algeria's first medal in artistic gymnastics and becoming the first African gymnast to medal at the Olympics, NBC reported.

According to Sports Illustrated, uneven bars bronze medalist Suni Lee said she "really wanted Kaylia to get a win just because she's so incredible."

Lee added, "She just flies. She gets up there and just looks like a feather flying over the bar. She's just so beautiful to watch. Everything goes so fast. It's so smooth, and I'm in awe every single time."

More than 9,000 miles from the action in Paris, Olympic surfers gathered at Teahupo'o on the island of Tahiti in France.

One of the most iconic moments of the competition came from 30-year-old Gabriel Medina. The Brazilian surfer broke an Olympic record, scoring a 9.90 in the third round of the men's surfing competition, leading to this incredible image.

Photographer Jerome Brouillet posted the image on Instagram, writing in the caption, "That day, Gabriel was in the water at the right place, at the right time, and so was I."

Medina went on to earn a bronze medal, improving on his fourth-place finish in Tokyo.

On July 31, NBC reported that the United States became the first country to surpass 3,000 total Olympic medals, thanks to the efforts of swimmers Regan Smith, 22, and Katharine Berkoff, 23.

Smith and Berkoff won silver and bronze in the women's 100-meter backstroke to win the US's 2,999th and 3,000th medals.

As of August 8, the US leads the 2024 Olympic medal count in Paris with 103 medals, followed by China with 72 and Australia with 44.

In April 2024, the International Olympic Committee reported that Paris would be the first Olympics where half the athletes competing would be women.

In 1924 — the last time Paris hosted the Games — only 4.4% of the athletes were women, a strong reminder of progress.