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2024 year in sports winners and losers: Caitlin Clark, Paris Olympics, Aaron Rodgers

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2024 year in sports winners and losers: Caitlin Clark, Paris Olympics, Aaron Rodgers

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Another year has just about come and gone − and what a year it was in the world of sports.

In 2024, we saw several teams repeat as champions (hi Chiefs and Gamecocks) and a few others win their first titles (congrats, Florida Panthers). There was, of course, a spectacular edition of the Summer Olympics in Paris. Some surprising coaching retirements (Nick Saban) and surprising returns (Bill Belichick). And a tremendous surge in the interest (and, perhaps just as importantly, television money) surrounding the WNBA and other women’s sports.

As we look back at the year that was, USA TODAY Sports figured we’d break it all down by identifying the athletes, coaches, entities and ideas that had the best calendar year … as well as those that had it the worst.

And so, without further ado, here are some of the winners and losers in the world of sports in 2024:

Caitlin Clark

No athlete dominated the sports conversation in 2024 like Clark, in part because she barely got a day off between leading Iowa to the national title game and joining the Indiana Fever as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft.

Simone Biles

The GOAT of women’s gymnastics added to her Olympic résumé with four medals, including three gold, at the Paris Olympics — a feat made all the more impressive by her case of the “twisties” and monthslong competitive hiatus that preceded it.

The running back position

After watching their position get devalued in recent years, Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley switched teams and are running roughshod over NFL defenses, while Ashton Jeanty of Boise State flirted with Barry Sanders’ collegiate rushing record.

Jim Harbaugh

Leading one’s alma mater to a national championship, pocketing $3 million in bonuses, fleeing possible NCAA sanctions to go back to the NFL, and leading the resurgent Los Angeles Chargers to playoff contention? All in a year’s work for Harbaugh.

The MLB’s $700 million men

Shohei Ohtani signed a $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, then had a season for the ages en route to his first World Series ring. Juan Soto might have been on the losing end of that World Series matchup, but he got a pretty nice consolation present a few months later by signing a record-breaking $765 million deal with the New York Mets.

The Kansas City Chiefs

It’s not just that the Chiefs have won 19 of the 20 games they’ve played in the 2024 calendar year, but also how they’ve won — with eight victories by a margin of 3 points or less, including two in overtime. (One, of course, being their 25-22 win over San Francisco in the Super Bowl.)

Niche Olympic athletes

The Summer Olympics always produce new stars. But some of the biggest (and most marketable) athletes to emerge from the 2024 Games were a Turkish shooter, a bespectacled pommel horse specialist and a breakdancer from Australia whose signature move was hopping like a kangaroo.

NC State men’s basketball

March Madness is all about the Cinderella story, and this year, that was the Wolfpack, which returned to the Final Four for the first time in nearly 40 years after not being favored to make it past the second round of their conference tournament.

Honorable mention

Misogynistic sports fans

If you hate women’s sports, you probably had a tough year watching WNBA interest boom and the U.S. women dominate (again) at the Olympics.

Louisville and Miami police

It’s not easy to work in law enforcement, obviously, but the cops who arrested and/or detained Scottie Scheffler and Tyreek Hill this year came across as overzealous at best.

Aaron Rodgers

He started the year by saying the New York Jets needed to eliminate distractions, then proceeded to spar with Jimmy Kimmel and entertain the possibility of being Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential running mate. On the field, meanwhile, the firing of Robert Saleh and trade for Davante Adams left him with little excuse for a middling season.

Everyone who watched the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight

So much hype, so many headlines, and for what? A relatively boring fight, made even choppier by Netflix’s widespread streaming issues.

The NCAA’s idea of amateurism

Name, image and likeness payments have basically destroyed the notion of amateurism in high-level college sports — and the impending House settlement is poised to deliver the final blow.

Rory McIlroy

He suffered a heartbreaking collapse to lose the U.S. Open, missed the cut at the British Open and went from being one of the staunchest critics of former PGA Tour golfers who joined Saudi-backed LIV Golf to saying they should be welcomed back on the Tour without penalty.

U.S. men’s soccer hype

On home soil, in one of the last big tune-ups for the 2026 men’s World Cup, the Americans lost to Panama, failed to get out of their Copa America group and promptly pulled the plug on Gregg Berhalter‘s brief return as head coach.

Athletics owner John Fisher

Fisher was the man at the center of the Athletics’ messy departure from Oakland, and he might have emerged as one of the most loathed owners in sports along the way.

Honorable mention

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