Olympic Obscure Sports Recap

Now that the 2024 Summer Olympic Games have concluded in Paris, let's take a look at some of the more obscure Olympic sports results:

Badminton

Men:  Denmark's Viktor Axelsen defeated Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, 21-11, 21-11, to successfully defend his gold medal in men's singles badminton.

Women:  South Korea's An Se-Young entered the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as the favorite to take home the gold in women's badminton singles and she has done just that.  The defending world champion defeated China's He Bing Jiao in consecutive games, 21-13, 21-16. The match was never close as An cemented herself as the best in the world by following up her world championship win with the ultimate prize.

Basketball 3x3

Men:  Netherlands 18, France 17  (ot)

Worthy de Jong is a bad, bad man. The Netherlands' leader struggled with his outside shot throughout the gold medal game, missing each of his first six attempts. But with his team's back to the wall, he delivered, scoring the game-tying basket with a second left and then finally getting a two-pointer to fall to win the game in overtime. After upsetting reigning gold medalist Latvia in the semifinals and with a wild La Concorde crowd at their backs, it felt like France was about to complete a magical run to a gold medal. But the Netherlands would not wilt, answering back every time Les Bleus edged ahead. Franck Seguela's basket made it 16-14 France with less than 30 seconds left, but de Jong would not be denied, scoring two straight baskets — including the game-tying layup with just a second to go.
  3x3 overtime rules stipulate that the first to two points wins, so while Timothe Vergiat put France back ahead, the Dutch had another chance. De Jong took full advantage, bringing his country its first men's 3x3 medal after a fifth-place finish in Tokyo.

Women: Germany 17, Spain 16

Sonja Greinacher brought Germany here, but with a gold medal on the line, it was a little bit from everyone that got the job done. With basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki looking on, the Germans held off Spain by a single point to capture women's 3x3 gold on Monday night, not just the country's first-ever medal in this event — it didn't even qualify for Tokyo — but its first-ever medal in any basketball discipline.  Spain led for much of this game, building leads of 12-8 and 15-13. But in winning time, Germany made all the plays: Stella Reichert and Elisa Mevius scored consecutive baskets to tie the game, and after a tense series of empty possessions, it was Greinacher's two-pointer with 30 seconds left that sealed the deal. Spain had multiple chances to tie at the end, but Gracia Alonso's shot at the buzzer went begging. All four players scored at least four points for Germany, which didn't shoot as well as it has throughout the tournament but compensated by winning the turnover battle 11-4. That created a 29-21 shot advantage, tilting the math in Germany's favor just enough. Juana Camilion led the way for Spain with six points, while Gracia added five.

Field Hockey

Men:  Netherlands 3, Germany 2 (SO)

Entering the gold medal match, it's safe to say the Netherlands had a point to prove. The Oranje placed sixth in Tokyo — their worst finish in over three decades. The Germans won the four previous Olympic meetings between the two, including a gold medal-clinching victory in 2012 and a tight one-goal win in the pool round just eight days earlier. A gold medal in Paris would mark their first in 24 years.  That motivation carried the Dutch to a 3-2 shootout win for the top prize, punctuated by a heroic deciding tally from Duco Telgenkamp in front of a crowd dripping in Netherlands orange.

Women:  Netherlands 2, China 1 (SO)

In a match made for the history books — a rematch of the 2008 Olympic final in Beijing — the Netherlands rallied late from a one-goal deficit to defeat China in a shootout to win its second straight gold. The Netherlands was also victorious in the 2008 final.

 

Handball

Men:  Denmark 39, Germany 26

Denmark clinched its second men's Olympic handball gold medal when it beat Germany 39-26 in the final as one of the sport's greatest, Mikkel Hansen, retired on a high. It was Denmark's second title in the last three Games, having played all three finals in Rio, Tokyo and Paris. Germany, who knocked out defending champions France in the quarterfinals, were never in the mix and trailed throughout after leveling for 1-1. Denmark put its stamp on the match after leading 21-12 in the first half. The dominance continued in the next 30 minutes as Denmark scored another 18 to keep its heavy lead intact against Germany.  The Danish attack converted 75% of its shots and Mathias Gidsel led the team's scoring with 11 goals.

Women:  Norway 29, France 21

Norway overcame an electric home crowd to beat France 29-21 in the gold medal match.  The final was fast-paced from the start, with nearly a goal per minute as Norway ended the first half up 15-13. That lead grew to 27-20 in the second half but defending champions France surged in energy, with France's Orlane Kanor and Tamara Kovacek combining for nine points overall.  As the clock ran down, the Tokyo gold medalists ultimately failed to convert enough attempted shots into goals. Norwegian goalkeeper Katrine Lunde made 12 saves by the time the final whistle blew.

 

Rowing

Men:

Great Britain won the gold medal in the men's eight final. Netherlands took the silver medal, and the United States won bronze. That bronze was the United States' first medal in the men's eight event since 2008.

Women:  

Romania won the Olympic gold medal in the women's eights. Canada took silver, while Britain secured the bronze medal. Romania earned its 10th Olympic medal in the women's eight event, which is the most of any nation. Romania also tied the U.S. for the most gold medals in the event with four.

Rugby Sevens

Men: France 28, Fiji 7

A storybook gold medal match played out at Stade de France as host nation France took on two-time Olympic champion Fiji. The French defeated the reigning champions with a 28-7 win behind rugby star Antoine Dupont's two tries.

Women:  New Zealand 19, Canada 12

Facing surprise opponent Canada, New Zealand defended their Olympic gold medal in women's rugby. The Canadians were fresh off an upset over Australia in the semifinals, but New Zealand would not suffer the same fate as their neighbors. Star Michaela Blyde led the offensive effort for New Zealand, scoring the go-ahead try before Stacey Waaka sealed the 19-12 win.  The gold medal is New Zealand's first medal of the games. The Black Ferns also became the first team to score over 200 points in a single Olympics, scoring 212 across their six matches in Paris — a dominant performance.

 

Sailing

Men:

Olympic sailing at the Paris Olympics came to a close on Friday with the men’s kiteboarding competition completing its series. After light winds early resulted in postponed races for the 12th time in 13 days, it was 23-year-old Austrian Valentin Bontus who claimed the first gold medal in men's Olympic kiteboarding. Slovenia's Toni Vodisek won silver and Singapore's Max Maeder took bronze.

Women:

Great Britain's Eleanor Aldridge won Olympic kiteboarding's first ever gold on Thursday, with France's Lauriane Nolot securing silver and Annelous Lammerts of the Netherlands taking bronze in the women's event.  American Daniela Moroz finished fourth in the first-to-three final, as the medal favorite was surprisingly kept off the podium.

Shooting

Men:  The Vincent Hancock era of men’s skeet shooting lives on.  The 35-year-old American gunslinger nailed 58 of 60 targets to win his fourth Olympic gold medal in men’s skeet Saturday, becoming the first shooter and just the sixth Olympian ever to win the same individual event at four separate Games.

Women:  Francisca Crovetto of Chile won gold in women's skeet at the 2024 Paris Olympics, beating Great Britain's Amber Rutter in a shoot-off

Surfing

Men:  The men's event was up first and the top story was none other than the Tahitian, Kauli Vaast, looking to win gold in front of his home crowd. After scraping through a low-scoring contest in the semifinals, the hometown hero finished the competition with an exclamation point, showcasing his native knowledge to become an Olympic champion in epic fashion.

Women:  It was going to be difficult to follow up Kauli Vaast's electric performance to win the gold at his home surf break, but 22-year-old U.S. surfer Caroline Marks delivered a dazzling display of her own.  In a matchup with an esteemed barrel rider in Tatiana Weston-Webb, the American flaunted her superior instinct and ability, making the most out of the best waves in a barren heat to edge out her opponent and etch her name in Olympic lore with a gold medal.

Table Tennis

Men: China shut out Sweden 3-0 in the final.  Sweden may not have won any points, but the score doesn't paint the full picture of just how tremendous of a smashing saga the men's match was. The three nail-biting matches were all shoved to five games, as each team desperately rallied to win. The greatest table tennis player of all time, Ma Long, opened the match with a 3-2 in his doubles match alongside partner Wang Chuqin.  Sweden's men's singles silver medalist Truls Moregard attempted to turn the tide in the next match, but fell to gold medalist Fan Zhendong in a rematch of their singles final.  Wang stole the final point over Sweden, and with that, China claimed its fifth straight gold medal in the men's team event — and every gold medal in the event since the teams competition was added to the program in 2008.

Women:

Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Manyu, all members of China's Tokyo team, easily took home the title over Japan, 3-0.  Chen and Wang teamed up in a challenging first match to prevail over women's singles bronze medalist Hina Hayata and partner Miwa Harimoto, 3-2.  Japan's Miu Hirano failed to take any game from Sun, and lost in straight games.  It took Wang four games, but she managed to top Miwa Harimoto in the last match, who nabbed the final point to take the match.  The final win for China in Paris compensated for the disappointment of missing out on the gold medal sweep in Tokyo, and historically, is the 300th medal the country has captured since the country's participation in the Summer Games.

Trampoline

Men:  Defending champ Ivan Litvinovich, who is competing in Paris as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), will defend his all-around title from Tokyo (63.090), becoming the only male trampolinist in history to win two Olympic gold medals.

Women:  Great Britain's Bryony Page only had one Olympic trampoline medal missing from her collection. This week in Paris, she got it.  After winning silver in Rio and a bronze in Tokyo, Page, at the age of 33, will leave Paris with a gold medal as an Olympic champion (56.480).

Volleyball

Men: There was always going to be just one outcome in front of the kind of crowd that came out to South Paris Arena, and it turned up blue. The men's volleyball tournament concluded in Paris as the French cruised to an incredible three-set win over Poland — the top-ranked team in the world — to earn the country's second straight Olympic gold medal.

Women: This was the Olympic final that dreams are made of: The defending Olympic champions against the top-ranked team in the world. The defending champs from the U.S. were guaranteed their seventh all-time medal coming in, even with the Soviet Union for the most all-time. Top-ranked Italy was guaranteed its first ever medal, and was hoping to start the count with a gold that would cement it as the current power in women's international volleyball. The Italians did just that. They left no doubt about who the best team in the world is right now, rolling the United States in straight sets on their way to the gold. The Americans have been fantastic this tournament, but the Italians were just better. They took everything that has made the United States successful away and used their high-powered offense to run away from the Americans. The Italians dropped their first set of the tournament, then never dropped another, winning 15 straight on the way to gold.

Water Polo

Men:  With a 13-11 win over Croatia, Serbia won its third straight Olympic gold medal. Even though they came to this year’s Olympics as the two-time defending champs, Serbia was not expected to get back to the top in Paris. Since Tokyo they finished ninth and eighth at two world championship. Their previous coach left, and Dusan Mandic – the team’s leading goal scorer in Paris – was briefly kicked off the team.  Even in pool play Serbia did not look like the best team in Paris, but they got hot at the right time. They started the tournament playoffs with a 12-11 win over Greece that was won on a buzzer beater, and followed with a 10-6 win over the U.S. in the semifinals to advance to the gold medal game.  This is the sixth men's water polo gold medal all-time for Serbia, and 14th Olympic medal.

Women:  Spain’s perfect run through Paris ended with an 11-9 victory over Australia on Saturday in the tournament finals for the country’s first Olympic women’s water polo gold medal. Four members of Spain's team this summer are playing in their fourth Olympics and had two Olympic silver medals to their names. Even with that success, every player on the roster — the veterans and those making their debuts — came to Paris this summer looking for history. And not only did they win gold, they rolled the entire tournament. Spain was a perfect 7-0 in Paris, with a goal differential of +28. They scored 99 goals (14.1 per game) while allowing 71 (10.1 per game).  The only time Spain trailed on Saturday was after Australia scored the first goal in the second minute. The two teams were tied 2-2 at the end of the first, and Spain responded with three unanswered goals going into the third quarter. The Spanish went on to outscore the Aussies, 4-3, in the third and were up 7-5 going into the final frame.

Sports to be added in 2028:

The next Olympic Summer games will be held in Los Angeles in four years.  Six new sports will be added to the list of sports.  The new sports will be Flag Football, Softball, Baseball, Squash, Lacrosse and Cricket.