Athletes With U.S. Collegiate Ties Shine At 2024 Paris Olympics

Were you not entertained?

Athletes with U.S. collegiate ties starred at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Former Stanford star Grant Fisher started the party on Day 2 when he won bronze in the final of the 10,000 meters – just the fourth time in Olympic history that an American man has earned a medal in that event. Fisher doubled back eight days later in the 5000 meters and – you guessed it – took bronze once again. He finished just 0.09 seconds away from silver medal position.

Between Fisher’s first and second medals – and in the three events after – athletes with U.S. collegiate ties racked up 78 total medals in the City of Light. That included 34 gold medals (15 individual titles), 23 silver medals (18 individual runners-up) and 21 bronze medals.

Athletes who competed in the U.S. collegiate system in 2024 snagged 12 of those medals. Nine medals were in relay events, but three collegians ended up on the podium at the conclusion of their respective individual events: Arkansas star Rojé Stona set an Olympic record of 70.00m (229-9) en route to winning the discus; Texas star Leo Neugebauer finished runner-up in the decathlon to become the first collegian since 1960 to collect an Olympic decathlon medal (Neugebauer amassed 8748 points over ten events); and Arkansas star Wayne Pinnock soared to silver in the long jump with a mark of 8.36m (27-5¼).

You better believe we kept tabs on The Bowerman Family, too.