Five trailblazing athletes preparing to make history at Paris 2024

By Matt Nelsen
7 min|
Bruna Alexandre (BRA) serves during a women's table tennis match at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
Picture by Buda Mendes/Getty Images 2021

10,500 athletes are expected to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Among them are former gold medallists, world record holders, world champions, promising debutants and seasoned veterans finally getting a shot at Olympic competition. While many will be chasing gold and attempting to topple records, a select collection of athletes will make history simply by competing.

These trailblazers will inspire a future generation of Olympians through their participation in the Olympics Games. Whether they are adaptive athletes competing at the Olympics and Paralympics in the same year, or female athletes leading the way towards gender parity, their participation at Paris 2024 is bound to be captivating.

Olympics.com explores five trailblazing athletes preparing to win both medals and hearts at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

Bruna Alexandre prepares to represent para athletes at Paris 2024

Brazil’s Bruna Alexandre is set to become the second table tennis player, and the first from her country, to compete at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in the same year.

The 28-year-old lost her right arm shortly after birth due to a blood clot, but she hasn’t let her disability define her table tennis career.

Alexandre has won medals at para table tennis competitions and able-bodied championships. She is a four-time Paralympic medallist, including a silver medal in the women’s C10 individual event at Tokyo 2020. She was also part of the Brazilian team that won a bronze medal at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.

Her participation at the Olympic Games will be a historic first for a country with a strong tradition in para sport. The gravity of the moment is not lost on her.

In an interview with Olympics.com earlier this month, she said, “I'm very happy to represent all people with disabilities and to show that everything is possible.

“I think this […] makes me more willing to want to continue and pursue my dreams, thinking not only of myself, but of all people with disabilities.”

She will play against players without disabilities at Paris 2024, an occurrence she hopes will be more common in the future.

“I hope that someday this will be something normal in the world: a disabled person playing against someone who has both arms, regardless of disability," said Alexandre.

She has been selected to fill a quota place in the women’s team event, which begins on 5 August at the South Paris Arena.

The videogamer turned skateboarder redefining Slovakian sport

Skateboarder Richard Tury is ready to redefine what it means to be an Olympian in Slovakia.

The Eastern European nation is generally known for its exploits in canoe slalom, shotgun shooting and race walking, but Tury is set to be the country’s first representative in skateboarding after securing a quota place through the Olympic Qualifier Series.

The 31-year-old from Kosice, Slovakia first learned about skateboarding through playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on a Playstation in the early 2000s. He told Olympics.com, “I said to my mum, I want to be a professional skateboarder. And they bought me a skateboard and we started skateboarding with my friends around my home.”

He advanced from his local area, to skateparks in his town, and ultimately to international competitions. He failed to qualify for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, but that didn’t stop him from putting Slovakia front and centre at the world’s biggest skating competitions.

Tury finished fifth at the Street World Championships Sharjah 2022. He followed that up with three top-10 finishes on the World Skateboarding Tour. He demonstrated his improvement further with a fourth-place finish at the Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest. Now, he’s preparing his kickflips, grinds, and airs for the biggest test of them all: the Olympic Games.

Slovakia’s trailblazing skateboarder will attempt to make his historic debut all the more memorable by putting Slovakia on the podium in the French capital.

Men’s street skateboarding will take place at La Concorde on 27 July.

Taekwondo athlete looks to kickstart Saudi medal hopes in Paris

Saudi taekwondo athlete Donia Abu Taleb certainly knows how to kick through a barrier. She’s been kicking through her opponent's defences for years, and now, she’s preparing to deliver her crushing blows at the Olympic Games.

The 27-year-old secured the first quota place for a female taekwondo athlete from Saudi Arabia at the 2024 World Taekwondo Asian Qualification Tournament. She is set to follow in the footsteps of other trailblazing Saudi Olympians like judoka Wojdan Shaherkani, fencer Lubna Al-Omair and distance runner Sarah Attar.

Abu Taleb cites sparring against boys when she first began taekwondo as an eight-year-old as the secret to her recent success. She told the AFP, “I always played with the boys in the boys' centre, originally without girls. I used to wear a head covering on my hair so as not to show that I was a girl."

Her talent has grown immensely with the backing of the Saudi Taekwondo Federation, and under the guidance of coach Kurban Bogdaev. She’s now dreaming even bigger ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, adding a gold medal performance to her to-do list. It would be a first for a nation, and a cherry on top of her Olympic debut.

Abu Taleb competes in the under 57kg category of taekwondo, which will take centre stage at the Grand Palais on 8 August.

The Syrian gymnast flipping into history

The Syrian Arab Republic likely isn’t the first nation that comes to mind when thinking about artistic gymnastics. In fact, the country has never sent a representative in the sport to the Olympic Games. Lais Najjar is ready to change that statistic for good.

He was recently awarded a universality quota by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), allowing him to enter artistic gymnastics events at Paris 2024.

The American-born representative of Syrian Arab Republic began his career in artistic gymnastics with an injury. His father, Maher Najjar, told The Michigan Daily, “He was just flipping at home, [and] hit his head.”

“He was just hyperactive, too much activity,” explained Najjar. “And then I said, ‘Look, let me put him in a sport where he just discharged all that activity.’ And I chose for him gymnastics.”

Lais Najjar took well to the choice, rising through the youth ranks quickly. He ultimately landed a spot on the men’s gymnastics team at the University of Michigan, where he continues to train ahead of Paris 2024.

He finished 49th in the all-around at the 2022 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool, England, and claimed all-around gold at the 2023 Arab Sports Games in Oran, Algeria.

Supported by his parents, who serve as team doctor and team leader, Najjar hopes to give Syrians something to cheer for at Paris 2024.

Artistic Gymnastics will begin on 27 July at the Bercy Arena.

Aruba's BMX trailblazer jumping towards Olympic debut

While it isn't exactly Cool Runnings, Aruba’s Shanayah Howell will be hoping to feel the rhythm, and perhaps the rhyme, when riding over the bumps and jumps at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium.

Howell is set to become the first rider from the Caribbean island of Aruba to compete in BMX racing at the Olympic Games after being awarded a universality quota by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

She won a bronze medal at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games, and made the semifinals at the 2023 Pan American Games.

The 25-year-old will chart a new course for the island known mostly for regional success in aquatic sports such as swimming and sailing.

She will have an opportunity to win Aruba’s first medal at the Olympic Games. While she isn’t a favourite for gold, it would certainly be a story worthy of a Hollywood adoption if her dreams were to become reality at Paris 2024.

BMX Racing will begin the men’s and women’s quarterfinals on 30 July at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines BMX Stadium.