Paris 2024 Olympics: the nations that won their first-ever medal at the Games

Among the 91 National Olympic Committees that have won at least one medal at these Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a few of them have had a landmark moment in their history, after picking up their very first medal. In Europe, Africa or the Caribbean, discover these athletes who shone for their nation.

These Paris 2024 Olympic Games marked a first for many nations. For some, such as Azerbaijan (3x3 basketball) and South Sudan (basketball), this edition marked their very first participation in team sports. For others, the Olympiad was a success story, with Algerian Kaylia Nemour winning the uneven bars title and becoming the first African athlete to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

Other nations were also able to celebrate the very first Olympic champions in their history, having already won gold medals before. Letsile Tebogo, winner of the 200-meter athletics event for Botswana, and shooter Adriana Ruano Oliva, for Guatemala, became heroes in their own countries.

Five National Olympic Committees won their very first medal of any kind. The list is as follows:

Dominique

In athletics, the Caribbean countries were at the center of attention. In addition to Jamaican Roje Stona's Olympic title in the discus throw, Dominica experienced a first in the nation's history.

Among the four athletes representing this country of 750 km² in its eighth appearance at the Games, Thea LaFond made history in the triple jump. World indoor champion earlier in the year, the Dominican soared to 15.02m on August 3, a national record and Olympic gold medal to boot.

Saint Lucia

Just 4 hours 15 minutes by ferry - around 160 km - from Dominica, the island of Saint Lucia has its own sprint star: Julien Alfred. The 23-year-old short-distance specialist made a name for herself in the discipline in 2024, following her world indoor title in the 60 m earlier in the year.

On August 3, the same date as Thea LaFond, Julien Alfred dominated the queens' race, the 100 m, in 10 seconds 72. A new national record, but above all the title of Olympic champion in one of the event's most eagerly-awaited events, ahead of Americans Sha'carri Richardson and Melissa Jefferson, who would become Olympic 4x100 m champions a few days later.

But beyond this historic title, which already represented Saint Lucia's very first medal in its history - for her eighth participation in the Games - Julien Alfred did it again in the 200 m on August 6. Only edged out by American Gabrielle Thomas by two tenths, the Saint Lucian settled for silver. Two medals in all for a delegation of four athletes: a successful result, to say the least.

Albania

Two for the price of one! At these Paris 2024 Olympic Games, one European country has unlocked its medal counter: Albania. This is their first medal in both the Summer and Winter Games, and their tenth in the Summer Games.

In wrestling, it was not until August 10 that Valiev Chermen won the first bronze medal in the country's history, in the under 74 kg category, following his 6-2 victory over Tajik Viktor Rassadin.

On August 11, one day after this historic moment and on the very last day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Albanian wrestling will come in search of a second medal, again in bronze. Islam Dudaev, in the under 65 kg category, will get the better of Hungary's Iszmail Muszukajev 13-12.

With only eight athletes representing their country before the opening ceremony, a quarter of the athletes will have gone home with a charm around their neck.

Cabo Verde

In West Africa, Cape Verde also experienced a first in its history, with David de Pina's bronze medal. Although his quarter-final win over Zambia's Patrick Chinyemba on August 2 had already secured him the trophy, the Cape Verdean boxer was hoping for a better medal - losers in the semi-finals go straight to bronze without having to go through a small final.

In the semi-finals, however, he lost out in the under 51 kg category to Uzbek Hasanboy Dusmatov, who went on to become Olympic champion after beating France's Billal Bennama.

David de Pina, flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony, went on to become his country's first-ever medal winner, in a delegation of seven athletes - the largest ever in his eighth Games.

The Refugee Olympic Team

Finally, again in boxing, the last great story of these Paris 2024 Olympic Games is to be credited to Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba. Cameroonian by birth, the young woman, then living in Île-de-France, was sent to England by her mother, where she was briefly interned in a detention camp for migrants. Harassed at school, she found her happiness in boxing at the age of 15, a sport in which she quickly excelled.

Unable to represent Cameroon - having been rejected because of her sexual orientation - Cindy's application was accepted by the Refugee Olympic Team, and she became the first boxer to represent this team in the under 75 kg category.

She didn't let this opportunity slip through her fingers, beating France's Davina Michel in the quarter-finals to secure her a medal. Beaten in the semi-finals by Panamanian Atheyna Bibeichi Bylon, the flag-bearer of the Refugee Olympic Team won a bronze medal that is so very special, given her history and all the battles she has fought to get here.

In this delegation of 37 athletes, Cindy Ngamba thus becomes the very first medalist since the creation of the Refugee Olympic Team, in 2016 for the Rio Games.

Letsile Tebogo, Thea Lafond, David de Pina and Cindy Ngamba are scholarship holders of the Olympic solidarity programme.