If you take a drive through the state of Connecticut, chances are you'll pass through at least one town with a connection to an Olympian who competed in Paris.
More than 40 athletes in the 2024 Summer Olympics either grew up, trained or went to school in the Constitution State. A total of 20 medals were awarded to these impressive Olympians. How many of these Connecticut connections can you name? Here's the full list:
Ridgefield
Kieran Smith was back for his second Olympic Games, taking home silver in the men’s 4x200 m freestyle relay. The Ridgefield High School graduate already had a bronze medal from Tokyo in 2020.
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Hamden
Rugby player Ilona Maher attended Quinnipiac University, and is returning home from Paris with a bronze medal.
Cheshire Academy alumnus Alexis Holmes is also from the "Land of the Sleeping Giant." The Hamden-born track star won a gold medal as part of the women's 4x400 m relay team.
Local
Stratford
On the soccer pitch, USWNT goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher helped lead Team USA to a gold medal in France. Naeher grew up in Stratford and was born in Bridgeport.
Southern Fairfield County
Two neighboring towns combine for an impressive medal count - all earned in the pool. Gretchen Walsh grew up in Greenwich and put her name in the world record books while taking home four Olympic medals in swimming. She won silver in the 100m butterfly and got a gold medal for her part in the 4x100 mixed medley.
Kate Douglass trained in Stamford and won a gold medal in the 200m breaststroke, and a silver in the 200m individual medley.
Both Walsh and Douglass also combined efforts for two more medals; they were both on the gold medal (and world record-setting) team for the 4x100m medley, and also on the silver medal team in the 4x100m freestyle competition.
New Haven
So far, all of the athletes listed all won their medals representing Team USA in the Paris Olympics. When Yale alumni are factored into the equation, medal winning becomes an international affair.
- Great Britain: Tom Digby, Sholto Carnegie, and Charlie Elwes all won gold in Men's Eight rowing, and all attended Yale University. Former Bulldog Oliver Wynne-Griffith also brought a silver medal back to the British Isles as part of the Men's Pair team.
- Canada: Maya Maschkuliet took home a silver medal as part of the Women's Eight competition.
- Switzerland: Andrin Gulich graduated from Yale in 2021 and was on the bronze medal Men's Pair team in Paris.
- Ireland: Daire Lynch took home a bronze medal for Team Ireland during the Men's Pair rowing competition.
- United States: Ian Barrows sailed his way to bronze in the men's skiff race. The Virgin Islands native is an alumnus of Yale. Fellow "Yalie" Nick Rusher won bronze on Team USA's Men's Eight rowing team.
Old Lyme
Liam Corrigan won a gold medal on the water in the Men's Four boat race. The New London County native came up short in Tokyo but came back 4 years later on the US Rowing Team to bring gold to Old Lyme.
Mansfield
From the Gampel Pavilion in Storrs to the Bercy Arena in France, UConn was represented on both sides of the gold medal game for women’s basketball.
Former Huskies Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, and Napheesa Collier represented Team USA on their journey back to the top of the podium.
Storrs also has a tie to the silver medal, as Gabby Williams played for the Olympics’ host nation of France.
Montville
Another star of the US Women's Basketball team is Alyssa Thomas, who represents CT in the WNBA as part of the Connecticut Sun. The team plays its home games at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville.
