Paris Olympics Secrets Revealed: How Team USA Has Been Rocked by Triumph and Tragedy

Long jump champ Tara Davis-Woodhall made a misguided leap of faith by apparently indulging in some weed and thinking she wouldn’t get caught!

In April 2023, the U.S. national champ was stripped of her title after testing positive for THC, the psychoactive compound in pot. The sample had been taken following her victory at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships the previous February.

Davis-Woodhall, 25, served a one-month suspension and completed a substance abuse program. But the determined star has bounced back!

David-Woodhall, who took sixth place in the long jump at the Tokyo Games in 2021, made the 2024 Olympic team — and reclaimed her national title — with an eye-popping 7.00-meter leap at the USA Track and Field Team Trials in June.

Diver Sarah Bacon flipped out over, making the U.S. Olympic team after suffering a series of injuries and washing out at the 2020 trials!

A favorite to make the 2020 team, Bacon, 27, revealed the bitter defeat “lit a fire” under her.

“I was planning on retiring after that Olympics, so it kept me diving,” she said.

The gutsy blonde had to overcome stress fractures in her back as a teen and shoulder surgery while becoming a decorated collegiate diver. At this year’s Olympic trials, Bacon and teammate Kassidy Cook won the synchronized three-meter springboard competition to secure their trip to Paris.

“We faced a lot of obstacles over the last couple of months together, years honestly,” said Bacon. “So just coming through all of that and making my first Olympics … I don’t have any words right now for it.”

Sensational Simone Biles, 27, is heading into Paris as the most decorated woman’s gymnast ever with a combined 37 medals between the Olympics and world championships. But fans flipped when she bowed out of the team all-around competition at the 2021 Tokyo Games to address her mental health!

At the time, Team USA was hoping to score their third straight gold, but had to settle for silver after Biles stepped aside due to the twisties, a psychological phenomenon in which a gymnast loses their ability to control their body in midair. She later admitted feeling “the weight of the world” on her shoulders.

Afterward, Biles shared, “It’s OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself, because it shows how strong of a competitor and person you really are.”

Now, the acrobat is considered a favorite to win gold medals in the individual all-around, vault and floor exercise.

Celebrated swimmer Caeleb Dressel, 27, aims to help America score its third straight Olympic title for the 4x100 meter relay and add as many as three gold medals to his stash of seven — but the athlete’s past has been plagued by mental health struggles.

Dressel was the much-heralded heir to pool god Michael Phelps, who retired after the 2016 Rio Games — but the insecure Florida native admits fearing he was “f------ terrible.” The sprinter also suffered anxiety-fueled panic attacks in high school and college as he struggled to live up to lofty expectations.

The jarred jock recalled being paralyzed by depression and “laying in bed for all hours of the day for a couple months.”

Dressel said, “The mental side of the sport has been the biggest difference for me this year. Tuning in to my mental chatter, welcoming it, whether it be negative or positive. It has helped me deal with pressure.”