Paris Olympic Games 2024: the consecration of top-level student athletes

In what may be remembered as “the most beautiful Games in History” according to foreign press, top-level student athletes were present on many podium steps. Out of a total of 64 medals achieved individually or in teams in 27 sports during the Games, a record for France, student athletes achieved 34. The Paris Games 2024 have even been “the Games of all records for France”: France ranked 5^th worldwide in number of medal (beating the 1996 record) and first at European scale in terms of ranking and number of medals.

34 students medal in 17 sports

“As top-level athletes, these men and women students are our champions of tomorrow… and today!” The French Ministry completed this by detailing that a total 262 sportspersons “declared as students in France and benefitting from the top-level athlete status” participated in the Paris Olympic Games.

Out of this number, 12 gold medals were achieved by students in four sports: volley-ball (Théo Faure), canoe (Nicolas Gestin), taekwondo (Althéa Laurin), team judo (Romane Dicko, Joan Benjamin Gaba, Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou) and rugby 7 (Nelson Epée, Théo Forner, Jefferson-Lee Joseph, Varian Pasquet, Andy Timo and Antoine Zeghdar).

In addition, 13 students achieved silver medal in seven sports: fencing (Sara Balzer, Marie-Florence Candassamy), canoe (Titouan Castryck, Angèle Hug), archery (Thomas Chirault), judo (Joan Benjamin Gaba), shooting (Camille Jedrzejewski), athletics (Cyréna Samba-Mayela) and basketball (Dominique Malonga, Sarah Michel Boury, Iliana Rupert, Jules Rambaut and Timothé Vergiat).

Finally, for bronze medals, nine students won in six sports: archery (Lisa Barbelin), judo (Shirine Boukli, Romane Dicko, Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou), surfing (Johanne Defay), surfing (Sébastien Patrice), swimming (Maxime Grousset, Yohann Ndoye Brouard), tennis table (Alexis Lebrun, Félix’ older brother, also medal winner at 14 years old).

More outstanding performances

Whether they won a medal or not, more sportsmen and women achieved honourable results, even if they were unable to win an Olympic medal this year. Among the alumni, international students or former students in France, Hugues Fabrice Zango (University of Artois), Burkina Faso’s flag-bearer, was also present at the Games. A bronze medallist in Tokyo, the athlete reached the triple jump final this sport to reach the 5^th place. Similarly, his compatriot Faysal Sawadogo (University of Grenoble Alpes) reached the quarter-finals of the taekwondo event. Finally, in the refugee team, Jamal Valizadeh, of Iranian origin and a former student at the University of Lorraine, reached the last 16 in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Other notable performances included that of Franco-Algerian fencer Zohra Kehli (Sorbonne University), who represented Algeria in the sabre events.

A strong ministerial commitment

As the Ministry of Higher Education points out, the strong participation of student-athletes in the Olympic Games is a “fantastic way of highlighting student sporting activities”. The ministry goes on to say that, in addition to top-level athletes, “it is the practice of all students that is being fostered”.

The Ministry of Higher Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Sport and all the university conferences, has committed to signing a roadmap for university sport. The aim of this roadmap is to “further establish physical activity and sport at the heart of campuses and the lives of our students”. This inter-ministerial strategy involves creating and renovating sports facilities, organising sports events and covering the cost of a sports licence through the Contribution à la vie étudiante et de campus (CVEC, student tax).

See you now on 28 August with other athletes from France and abroad for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games!

Explore more:

- Medal winner student athletes

- Full results of the French