Paris 2024 Marathon Swimming: All results, as Sharon van Rouwendaal reclaims women's 10km Olympic title
On Wednesday (8 August), the Seine bore witness to the Paris 2024 women's 10km marathon swimming event.
The race came to a thrilling and historic finish as Rio 2016 Olympic champion Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands came from behind to reclaim the Olympic title, becoming the first athlete ever to win two gold medals in the event.
Moesha Johnson of Australia took silver while Italy's Ginevra Taddeucci secured her country's first medal in this event since 2016 with bronze.
For Van Rouwendaal, this victory carried a profound emotional significance.
“This year started great—two times world champion—but then in May, my little dog died... I didn’t care about swimming for three weeks, like he was my little baby. But then my dad said, ‘Just do one more race and give it everything and swim for him.’ So I had a tattoo three days after the cremation, and I said, ‘I will swim for him with my whole heart’—and I did it—I won for him.”
Her dog, named Rio, like the last time she won gold, made this victory all the more personal.
How Sharon van Rouwendaal won gold at Paris 2024
The marathon began at 7:30 a.m., with competitors diving off a pontoon near the iconic Alexandre III bridge. The course, a 1.67km loop between the Alexandre III and Pont de l'Alma bridges, demanded six gruelling laps, a mixture of upstream and downstream.
Australia’s Johnson took an early lead, setting a fierce pace. By the halfway mark, she had firmly positioned herself at the front, but the seasoned Van Rouwendaal was biding her time.
As the race wore on, Johnson, Van Rouwendaal, and Italy’s Taddeucci broke clear of the pack on the fifth lap, forging a gap of more than 30 seconds. This leading trio knew they were in medal contention, but the battle for gold was far from decided. The down-river segments provided brief respite with the current’s assistance, but the return legs upstream were a true test of endurance.
Johnson held on to the lead downstream during the fourth lap, but Van Rouwendaal struck at the opportune moment, waiting until the final upstream leg. The defining moment came as she expertly navigated around a pylon at the Pont des Invalides. With a burst of speed, she surged ahead of Johnson, taking control of the race.
As the race approached its climax, Van Rouwendaal's lead grew more secure. Crossing the finish line at 2:03:34.2, she clinched gold, a mere 5.5 seconds ahead of Johnson. Taddeucci completed the podium, securing bronze with a time of 2:03:42.8.
This victory not only marked four-time Olympian Van Rouwendaal’s second Olympic gold, but also her third medal overall thanks to a silver from Tokyo 2020. The double world champion (2022, 2024) has officially cemented her legacy as one of the sport’s greats.
“I wanted to do it so I calculated that if I have a medal, and if I didn’t get another gold, it would be more impressive to have three medals,” Van Rouwendaal reflected. “Then I was like, what if I reclaim it, then I have three medals in a row—these girls have to do it in eight years to beat me. That takes a lot of dedication and pain.”
Van Rouwendall and Johnson: A bond beyond the podium
Van Rouwendaal and Johnson share the same coach, and the two have trained together extensively, pushing each other through thick and thin. “Sharon and I are best friends, we’ve gone through a lot together,” Johnson said after the race. “Training is not always easy. We held each other accountable and pushed each other... It’s so special to have a friend like that.”
The men will take to the Seine on 9 August.
Marathon swimming: women's 10km podium
Gold: Sharon Van Rouwendaal, Netherlands
Silver: Moesha Johnson, Australia
Bronze: Ginevra Taddeucci, Italy
Check out all results on Olympics.com