Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, news stations and television channels — the Olympics are everywhere right now.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris started on July 26 and end on Sunday, Aug. 11, giving us just about five more days to enjoy all the fun, including performances from the world’s top athletes.
Here’s a look at six athletes who became stars during this summer’s Olympics, whether because of their performances in competitions, their appearances on social media, or both.
Simone Biles
No list of Olympic celebrities would be complete without Simone Biles. She has amassed an athletic resumé unlike any other gymnast before her, according to USA Today, and clinched her place in a circle of elite athletes, or “GOATs,” that also includes Michael Jordan, Usain Bolt, Serena Williams and Michael Phelps.
This Olympics, she has taken home three gold medals and a silver medal, including her second all-around Olympic title, according to Reuters.
Now she has 11 medals total and hasn’t ruled out being part of the next Summer Games in 2028.
It’s no wonder that every move Biles has made at the Olympics has claimed headlines.
As the Deseret News previously reported, she has overcome adversity to rise to the greatest heights of athleticism. Now she advocates for mental health and for her fellow athletes, all while making history in the field of gymnastics.
Rebeca Andrade
There are a lot of exciting names in Olympic gymnastics right now, including Team USA’s youngest competitor, Hezly Rivera, and another American, Sunisa Lee, who won bronze in the all-around competition.
But it’s Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade who most recently went viral on social media.
Her prominence at the 2024 Olympics is in part thanks to a sweet gesture from Biles and Team USA’s Jordan Chiles. Per Sports Illustrated, when Rebeca Andrade took gold in the floor routine event over Biles and Chiles, the two American athletes gave a “we’re-not-worthy” bow to Andrade.
Earlier in the Olympics, Andrade took silver in the all-around event. After the event, Biles said that Andrade’s skill level had her “on her toes,” according to E! Online.
“I’m getting uncomfortable, guys,” Biles told interviewers. “I don’t like that feeling — I was stressing!”
“I’ve worked so hard to achieve this,” Andrade said, according to The Associated Press. “It’s just unbelievable. I had so much fun, every single moment has been sensational.”
Katie Ledecky
Katie Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer in history, according to CNN. She has won multiple gold medals already this Olympics.
In some of her races, she beat her closest competitor by half the length of a pool.
Ledecky recently opened up about her POTS diagnosis in a recent memoir she published called “Just Add Water,” according to Today. Her body struggles to properly regulate its blood flow, and swimming actually helps her manage her condition, she wrote.
Including her haul from this summer’s Games, Ledecky has 14 medals, nine of which are gold, according to Team USA.
“Ledecky has won eight of her Olympic gold medals in individual events,” the article noted.
Stephen Nedoroscik
“Clark Kent,” “America’s sweetheart,” “pommel horse guy” — all of these nicknames and more apply to Stephen Nedoroscik, who helped Team USA’s men’s gymnastics team break a 16-year Olympic medal drought, according to The Associated Press.
While his teammates have also garnered attention on social media, it is Nedoroscik who went viral. His pommel horse routine stunned audiences, and he became an Internet meme.
Nedoroscik’s “nerdy” personality and ability to solve a Rubik’s Cube have also earned him new fans, according to USA Today.
Yusuf Dikeç
Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç has gone viral for his cool demeanor, per The Associated Press.
A picture of him winning silver while wearing regular glasses (most shooters wear specialized eye equipment) and with one hand in his pocket surfaced on social media amid the shooting competition, sparking humorous rumors that he had just “stopped by” the Olympics on a trip to the grocery store, according to this Instagram post.
Some people guessed that he was a hit man in a past life.
Dikeç has actually been competing in the Olympics since 2008, according to The Associated Press, and he plans to compete in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Noah Lyles
Track and field athlete Noah Lyles won gold in the 100-meter sprint already this week, according to Sports Illustrated.
His victory went viral for a number of reasons. For one thing, he won by a fraction of a second, driving a lot of fans to educate themselves on the judging process for track and field.
While his torso crossed the finish line first, two other athletes’ shoes crossed before he did, per the New York Post. Torsos win out.
“I thought I got out-leaned, truly. And me and Kishane (Thompson) were right next to each other, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna have to swallow my pride on this one’ ... and then my name came up and I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I am incredible,’” he said after the race.
As that quote makes clear, Lyles is famous for his trash talk.
According to Sporting News, in 2023 he said: “You know the thing that hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States? Don’t get me wrong, I love the U.S. at times, but that ain’t the world ... We (the running community) are the world.”