Going For Gold: Students Share Their Experiences From the 2024 Olympics

For nearly 31 million Americans who tuned into the Olympics last summer, the competitors thousands of miles away in Paris were merely figments of their televisions. Senior Zoe Thevenot, however, experienced the Olympics in real time. 

During her time in Paris, Thevenot watched the Women’s Rugby 7s pool rounds and a basketball match between France and America. The stakes were higher than ever for Thevenot and her family, because even though she was born and raised in the USA, her dad’s side of the family is predominantly French. 

“For me, the most exciting moment of the Olympics was watching the basketball match because I got to cheer for both sides of my family,” she said. “When I wore red, white, and blue to the match, I was rooting for both France and America.” 

An athlete herself, Thevenot has always been invested in the Olympics, particularly the running events. This time around, however, her interest in the games was taken to a whole new level. 

“The events felt so much more real when I watched them in person. I was actually able to feel the competitive spirit in the air as the people around me cheered for their favorite players and teams,” she explained. “It made me become much more invested in the event, even though rugby’s not a sport I usually follow. The whole audience was almost as involved in the event as the competitors. That’s something you’ll never get from watching the Olympics at home.” 

Additionally, Thevenot experienced another aspect of the Olympics that viewers at home don’t get to see - the culture and tourism. Thevenot is no stranger to traveling the world; in addition to France, where she visits every summer, she also traveled to Indonesia, Turkey, Singapore, and Germany last summer. Even with her extensive experience visiting foreign countries, Thevenot had never seen more cultural diversity than what she saw at the Olympics. 

“I noticed that there were fewer locals than usual in Paris because they were avoiding the influx of tourists. The matches I went to were full of French spirit, but I saw people from so many other countries who came to support their teams and watch the Olympics.”   

Thevenot may have had the privilege of watching the Olympics in person, but seventh grader Lucy Sweetnam has an Olympian at her very own dinner table. Last summer, Sweetnam and her family traveled to Paris to watch her dad compete in the equestrian events of the Olympics. Although her dad didn’t win a medal, he and his family returned home with an experience they will never forget.

Sweetnam mentioned that one of the highlights of her time at the Olympics was when she and her dad got to trade pins with other athletes. Pin-trading is a long-running Olympic tradition, which is usually reserved for the athletes, but Sweetnam herself got to take home a few of these rare souvenirs from Paris. Along with her excitement to watch her father compete, however, came nerves.

“I was so nervous for my dad to go in the ring - every second, I would stand up and freeze,” she claimed. Not only did Sweetnam return home from the Olympics with new memories, but a new aspiration as well: “After seeing my dad go to the Olympics, I aspire to go to the Olympics myself one day."

As the 2026 Winter Olympics approaches, perhaps even more students will have the privilege of attending the games. For now, though, we'll just have to live vicariously through the experiences of lucky students like Thevenot and Sweetnam.