Sports
Olympics, Clark, Freeman: Most iconic sports moments and highlights from 2024
2024 is nearly complete, and with it goes a year of some of the most incredible sports moments in recent memory. From the Olympics to championship droughts ending to unforgettable upsets across multiple leagues and sports, 2024 was one of the best years for sports fans in a long while.
Just because it’s going by, though, doesn’t mean it must be forgotten. We have technology after all: videos and photographs allowing us to relive those memories time and time again. So, before we start looking forward to 2025, why don’t we take a look back at the past 365 days? Here are the best moments and highlights of the year.
Best sports moments of 2024
10) Chiefs win second consecutive Super Bowl
It had been a long while since we’d seen a back-to-back Super Bowl champion. In fact, we hadn’t seen one in two decades, but the Chiefs are an entirely different animal. They’ve dominated the league ever since Patrick Mahomes became their starting quarterback. And last year, they earned their third title in five years after a thrilling overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
9) Raygun’s remarkable breaking routine
The 2024 Paris Olympics were full of unforgettable moments. But the first year that breakdancing was introduced to the Olympics was also its last, because of a viral Australian dancer.
Rachael Gunn, better known as Raygun, the female Australian breaking competitor, lost all three of her Olympic battles in epic fashion, yet stole the show and will forever be etched into Olympics history.
8) Jim Harbaugh leads Michigan to first national championship since 1997
Sign-stealing scandal aside, it’s hard to ignore just how quickly Jim Harbaugh turned the Michigan football program around. They were 5-7 the year prior to Harbaugh’s tenure. They won ten games his first year with the university, culminating in a Citrus Bowl victory.
It was only fitting that his tenure there would end with an undefeated season and Michigan’s first national championship of the 21st century. Even now, in Harbaugh’s absence, the Wolverines have been unable to match the magic they had during his tenure. Their 7-5 record ahead of the ReliaQuest Bowl is their worst regular season finish in a full season since…2014, the year before Harbaugh arrived.
7) Simone Biles overcomes “twisties” to win four medals in Paris
Simone Biles is widely regarded as the greatest gymnast who ever lived, but her performance at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was marred with controversy, with some people considering her decision to step away unbecoming of such a fierce competitor. Regardless of her reasoning, it was great to see her back in action in 2024, and not just competing but dominating the competition, earning three golds (including an all-around championship) and a silver, adding to her already shining resume.
6) Shohei Ohtani becomes baseball’s first member of the 50-50 club
Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player on planet Earth. Even when he is unable to pitch, he is making history.
Coming into the 2024 season, some people were unsure how valuable Ohtani would be in his first year with the Dodgers. A change of scenery can devastate some players (even if it was just across town this time), and without Ohtani’s arm to back up his bat, would the first year of Ohtani’s massive $700 million contract be disappointing? Absolutely not.
He didn’t even need to play the field to win MVP. Why? Because he was too busy re-shaping the record books. With this home run against the Miami Marlins, Ohtani became the first baseball player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.
Oh, and in this very game, he went 6-for-6 with three homers, two stolen bases, and 10 RBI.
5) “This devil named Curry is hurting us”
Everyone expected the United States to dominate basketball at the 2024 Olympics. However, the U.S. men’s team faced a little more pushback than anticipated when they faced France in the gold medal game.
Coming off a narrow victory over Serbia, the Americans seemed mortal, and France was looking to take full advantage, trailing by only six entering the fourth quarter. The French had the opportunity to sway momentum in their favor, but one Mr. Wardell Stephen Curry had other plans, hitting four straight three-pointers in the final three minutes of the game, prompting the French announcers to say the iconic line: “le diable nommé Curry nous fait du mal,” meaning “The devil named Curry is hurting us.”
4) Noah Lyles wins gold at the 100-meter
Unlike the men’s basketball event, there was a lot of talk about whether or not Noah Lyles could win gold for the United States in the 100-meter dash. The United States hadn’t won gold since 2004, but Lyles felt different. Something about his swagger, his pre-race finishes, and his confidence made Americans feel like their time of dominance on the track was coming again.
As the race started, though, many people felt weary. Lyles fell behind early, but in the blink of an eye, he was catching up. At the finish, everyone believed Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson had won, even the NBC cameraman. However, after a look at the replay, Lyles got his leg in just before Thompson, earning him the gold.
3) Caitlin Clark, Iowa get revenge on Angel Reese, LSU
2024 was the year of Caitlin Clark. Whether it was her winning WNBA Rookie of the Year by a near-unanimous vote, helping lead the Indiana Fever to a playoff berth, or being named the AP’s Athlete of the Year, Clark had many moments worthy of making this list. However, it was her performance in the NCAA quarterfinals, against Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers that topped them all.
A year after losing the national championship to LSU, Clark and the Hawkeyes got their revenge, knocking the Tigers out in the Elite Eight. Clark scored 41 points in the win, nearly twice as many as the next highest-scorer (LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, 23) to propel Iowa to the Final Four.
2) Florida Panthers win their first-ever Stanley Cup
The Edmonton Oilers boast arguably the two best hockey players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. That didn’t matter to the Florida Panthers, though. After barely squeaking out an Atlantic Division title and nearly blowing a 3-0 series lead in the Finals, the Panthers were able to win a close Game 7 and earn their franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup.
1) Freddie Freeman walks off Game 1 of the World Series with a grand slam
Yankees-Dodgers. There’s rarely a more iconic matchup than that in the World Series, and Game 1 was shaping up to be an instant classic.
After the Dodgers tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, extra innings were needed to determine a winner. It looked like the Yankees were going to emerge victorious after Jazz Chisholm scored in the top of the tenth. With two outs in the tenth and runners on second and third, the Yankees decided to intentionally walk Mookie Betts to bring up Freddie Freeman. The rest is history.
Freeman’s homer was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. He’d go on to win World Series MVP after slashing .300/.364/1.000 with four home runs, a triple, and twelve RBIs.
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