Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris of France concluded on Sunday.
Over 10,500 athletes competed at 35 venues for 329 gold medals between July 26 and August 11.
The USA secured the top spot with 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze medals, while China, with an equal 40 golds, 27 silver, and 24 bronze medals, finished in second place. Japan claimed third place with 20 gold medals, and Australia took fourth with 18 gold medals.
Sixty-two countries managed to get at least one gold medal. A total of 84 countries managed to get at least one bronze medal.
Nepal sent seven athletes to the Paris Olympics who competed in six sports. However, their challenge was limited to participation only as none advanced beyond the first round. Only Nepali swimmer Alex Shah, who has since retired from the national team, managed to better his national record.
Here were summarize the performance of Nepali athletes in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Santoo Shrestha – Table Tennis
Santoo was the only athlete from Nepal to qualify for the Olympics through competition. However, his performance in the Olympics was not memorable. The 24-year-old lost to Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw in straight sets, losing the seven-set match 12–10, 11–3, 11–4 and 11–5. The game lasted only 24 minutes.
Sushmita Nepal – Shooting
Sushmita, who competed in 10m air rifle, scored a total of 607.8 points in total from 60 shots. She failed to break the national record of 619.1 points which she set during the selection event for the 19th Asian Games.
Manita Shrestha Pradhan – Judo
Manita Shrestha Pradhan competed in the under-57 category in the Paris Olympics. She was eliminated in 1 minute and 2 seconds in her first match by Serbia’s Marica Perisic with a 10–0 scoreline.
Alexander Shah – Swimming
Alex Shah competed in the Men’s 100m Freestyle event in the Paris Olympics 2024. He finished third in his heat with the timing of 51.91 seconds, bettering the national record of 52.17 seconds, which he had set earlier in 2024 during the World Aquatics Championships in Doha. Overall, he was ranked 59th out of 79 swimmers. Only the top 16 swimmers advanced to the semifinals.
Prince Dahal – Badminton
Prince Dahal lost all his group-stage matches in the Paris Olympics. In his first match, he was defeated by Denmark’s World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen 21–8 and 21–6. In his second match, he lost to Ireland’s World No. 43 Nhat Nguyen 21–7 and 21–5. He lost to Israel’s World No. 58 Misha Zilberman 21–12 and 21–10 in his last group stage match. This was Nepal’s first participation in badminton in the Olympics.
Duana Lama – Swimming
Duana Lama finished 30th in the Women’s 200m freestyle at the Paris Olympics 2024. Out of 31 competitors, she finished head of only Hungary’s Nikolett Padar who was disqualified. She completed the distance in 2 minutes and 20.74 seconds which was much slower than her personal best of 2 minutes and 12.46 seconds. The national record of 2 minutes and 11.94 seconds in Women’s 200m Freestyle is held by Gaurika Singh.
Santoshi Shrestha – Marathon
Santoshi Shrestha finished 79th in the women’s marathon. She completed the marathon with a timing of 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 6 seconds. She took nearly seven minutes more than the national record of 2 hours, 46 minutes and 23 seconds which she set in Dhaka earlier this year. Out of 91 runners, 11 failed to reach the finish line. Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the women’s marathon clocking 2 hours, 22 minutes, and 55 seconds which was an Olympic Record.
