International Women's Day 2024: Five female stars to watch at Paris 2024, from Simone Biles to Rayssa Leal
Olympics.com picks five female athletes who are set to shine at Paris 2024 for International Women's Day 2024.
Serena Williams. Martina Navratilova. Marta. Nadia Comaneci. Yuna Kim. Mary Kom. Sports history is full of amazing women who have shone and left their mark in their respective sports.
This year, the very best athletes will gather once more for another Olympic Games at Paris 2024; another chance for these incredible women to showcase their abilities in their quest for gold.
To celebrate International Women's Day 2024, Olympics.com picks out five female athletes who are must-watches in the French capital later this summer. This list is presented in alphabetical order of family name.
Simone Biles (USA, artistic gymnastics)
Biles is a four-time Olympic champion from Rio 2016, but her Tokyo 2020 went unexpectedly after she developed a case of the 'twisties,' which saw her lose awareness while performing her skills in the air.
She took a two-year break from gymnastics to work on her mental health, returning in 2023 to win the U.S. national all-around crown. She also qualified for the World Championships, where she won four gold medals to indicate she was well and truly back.
The term "greatest of all time" may be overused, but it is a title that applies to Biles. Her 23 World Championship golds and 30 total medals are more than any other gymnast in history, and only the foolish would write off Biles adding to her four Olympic golds in Paris.
Janja Garnbret (Slovenia, sport climbing)
Garnbret, who turns 25 next week, is the defending Olympic champion in the combined sport climbing event. In Tokyo, she became the sport's first female champion, and she has continued to dominate the competitive climbing scene.
The Slovenian will have a boost in Paris – unlike at Tokyo, the combined event will now not include a speed climbing segment, with it not being her strongest suit. As speed climbing will now be a standalone event, Garnbret will only need to shine in lead and bouldering, both events at which she has dominated on the circuit.
No other athlete has won as many IFSC competition titles than Garnbret, who has 18 golds from the World Cup and World Championships to her name. It seems all but certain that she will also become the first woman to win two Olympic golds in Paris, barring a major upset. Do not miss it.
Rayssa Leal (Brazil, skateboarding)
When she won silver at Tokyo 2020, Leal became one of the youngest Olympic medallists in history aged 13. In fact, the entire women's street skateboarding podium at the Games was teenagers, and that trend might continue in Paris.
Leal will be one of those at the forefront again. In 2023, Leal won gold at the World Skate Street Skateboarding Championships in Sharjah before going on to win X Games gold in Chiba, Japan.
The Brazilian was also crowned Pan American Games champion and with her style, which caught the eye of Tony Hawk when she was just seven, she is one of the most exciting street skateboarders on the circuit. That's exactly why you should watch her in Paris.
Sha'Carri Richardson (USA, track and field athletics)
Richardson is finally set for her Olympic debut in Paris after a turbulent young track career. She was highly touted as one of the USA's big young stars to watch ahead of Tokyo 2020, but at the U.S. Trials in 2021 she tested positive for cannabis, a substance banned under World Anti-Doping Agency rules, and was handed a one-month suspension. That cost her a spot on the American team for Tokyo.
After a disappointing 2022, which saw the Dallas native miss out on a home World Championships, the 23-year-old – who turns 24 later this month – Richardson bounced back in the best way possible, announcing herself on the world stage at the 2023 World Championships in Hungary.
There, she won the women's 100m in a new Championship record 10.65 and was part of the winning 4x100m U.S. team, as well as taking 200m bronze. With so much attention on the women's sprints and Florence Griffith-Joyner's long-standing world records under threat, many eyes will be on Richardson in Paris.
Sha'Carri Richardson celebrates winning the women's 100m Final with her mother Shay during day three of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 at National Athletics Centre on August 21, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
Sun Yingsha (People's Republic of China, table tennis)
Despite being just 23, Sun has been the women's singles world number one in table tennis since July 2022 (with another spell at the top in February and March that year). The Chinese paddler hasn't been out of the world's top three since October 2019, and continues to dominate even among her Chinese teammates.
So impressive is her superiority, she has a lead of over 4,200 ranking points ahead of second-ranked teammate Chen Meng and has nearly twice as many ranking points as Chen does.
Already a seven-time world champion, Sun is aiming to become the first table tennis athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games in the singles, team, and mixed doubles events. That kind of potential history is why Sun makes our list of women to watch in Paris.