How many athletes does Kansas have in the 2024 Olympics? See how states compare

This story and visualization are part of our new “Data In Your Life” series, in which we mine public databases to tell quick stories about the world around us.

The Summer Olympics are about to kick off as more than 10,000 athletes from across the world compete for gold, including nearly 600 on the U.S. Olympic team .

The games start Friday at 12:30 p.m. Central Time in Paris and will go until Sunday, Aug. 11. This will be the third time that the French capital has hosted the Summer Games .

Historically, the U.S. has done the best at track and field, swimming, and shooting, with more gold medals in these categories than any other. These are the top 15 sports for the U.S. at the summer Olympics since the first modern Olympic games in 1896.

U.S. Olympians come from almost every state in the U.S. this year. Colorado, Vermont, and Hawaii have the most Olympians per capita. Kansas has one athlete in the Summer Games.

Who are Kansas’ Olympians and Paralympians?

Kansas’ sole Olympics competitor on Team USA is Derrick Mein , who participates in the shooting competition. He’s from Paola and graduated from Kansas State and has been the Olympics once before . He recently earned silver in the 2023 world championships and gold in the 2022 competition, according to his biography on Team USA’s website.

He has previously competed in the trap competitions, which will take place Sunday, July 29, and Monday, July 30, this year . Select events will be aired on NBC , and all competitions should be available on Peacock for streaming .

But he’s not the only Olympian with Kansas ties. Wichita native Ariana Dirkzwager will swim in the Paris Olympics for her mother’s home country, Laos. Her event can be viewed at 4 a.m. Central Time on Sunday, July 28.

Seven athletes and one coach with connections to the University of Kansas will also appear in the games, and four other current or former Kansas State Wildcats will compete, mostly for other countries.

Three other Kansans are Paralympians:

• Matt Stutzman will compete in the Paralympics for archery. It’s his fourth time in the Paralympics, and he’s from Kansas City, Kansas.
• Brad Hudspeth from Stilwell plays on Team USA’s wheelchair rugby team and is going to the Paralympics for the first time.
• Yaseen El-Demerdash is a Paralympic athlete in the swimming competition who hails from Overland Park. It’s his first time at the Paralympics.