How many athletes are in the Olympics? Inside the 2024 total compared to past years

The world’s stage belongs to sportsmen for the next 16 days. Make arrangements if you can.

Thousands of the world’s greatest athletes are headed to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a showcase that promises to captivate long after medals are handed out.

Some have cultivated mammoth followings, like LeBron James and Simone Biles. Others lurk beneath the shadows, establishing themselves away from the spotlight. All have a part to play, however, making up the mosaic of culture that makes the Olympics one of sport’s most cherished competitions.

How many athletes are in the 2024 Paris Olympics?

Around 10,500 athletes will take part in the Olympics, according to the tournament’s official website. Those competitors will represent 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) as they attempt to compete for individual and national glory.

No country is sending more athletes to the Games than the United States. The red, white, and blue will bring 592 sports stars to the French capital city, 19 more than hosts France, who sit in second place. Australia is a distant third, gearing up to take 460 athletes with them, followed by Germany and Japan.

Here’s a look at the 20 most prolific countries by way of competing at this year’s Games.

Ranking	NOC	Athletes
1	United States	592
2	France	573
3	Australia	460
4	Germany	427
5	Japan	404
6	China	388
7	Spain	382
8	Italy	360
9	Great Britain	327
10	Canada	316
11	Brazil	276
12	Netherlands	258
13	Poland	213
14	New Zealand	195
15	Hungary	170
16	Belgium	165
17	South Africa	149
18	Egypt	147
19	South Korea	144
20	Ukraine	140

With a projected 10,500 people set to compete at this year’s Olympics, the city of Paris will have its work cut out for it. Still, this year’s figures are smaller than those of recent memory.

The 2020 Olympic Games, held in Tokyo in 2021, featured more than 11,000 athletes, as did the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. When assessing the most populous Olympic Games in recent memory, it seems this year’s iteration of the Summer Games is more comparable to that of London 2012 (10,518) and Beijing 2008 (10,899).

Here’s a window into the most populated Summer Olympics (in terms of competitors) since the turn of the century.