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For most Olympians, Paris 2024 marks the make-or-break moment of their year, the culmination of a lifetime of hard work. For Nelly Korda, who defends her gold medal at Le Golf National in the French capital, the Olympic Games is simply a stop on a global tour of golfing superiority.
Korda’s place as one of the sport’s most prominent and popular figures was already secure at the start of 2024, but a superlative solo season has seen the 25-year-old rise to new heights. It began in her home town of Bradenton, Florida in January, a play-off victory over Lydia Ko in the Drive-On Championship sparking a remarkable run.
It was the first of five successive victories on the LPGA Tour, a run that encompassed four wins in five weekends in March and April and a second major title at the Chevron Championship. That Texas triumph emulated the streaks of Annika Sorenstam and Nancy Lopez. The setbacks soon came — missed cuts at the next two majors — in a notoriously unpredictable sport but Korda had established herself again as the LPGA’s dominant force.
“Gosh, it hasn’t even sunk in,” Korda said of matching the record her streak. “Maybe in like 10, 15 years it’ll sink in. Hopefully someone beats it one day.”
Sporting success runs in the family. Father Petr Korda was a regular Grand Slam challenger in the late 1990s, winning the 1998 Australian Open, while mother Regina Rajchrtova reached the world’s top 30 in her own impressive career on the court. Younger brother Sebastian followed his parents into the tennis trade and is threatning the top ten; elder sister Jessica has six LPGA Tour titles on a crowded mantelpiece at the Korda family home.
The sisters are separated by five years in age but have continued close childhood bonds on Tour. The pair were two of four American representatives in the women’s field at Tokyo 2020, described by Nelly as a “dream” scenario. When the younger sibling held off Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Ko as the United States swept the golfing golds, her sister was one of the first to embrace her.
It was part of a first golden summer for Korda with a maiden major also arriving in 2021 at the Women’s PGA Championship. Struggles with a blood clot in her arm and up-and-down form had hampered her since but her magic season has her confident she can contend again in Paris.
“I’m honored to represent the United States once again on the Olympic stage this summer in Paris,” Korda said having earned selection alongside Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang in a trio of possible American medal contenders.
“Winning the gold medal in Tokyo was a dream come true and an incredible highlight to my career. I’m looking forward to defending my gold medal and bringing home some more hardware for Team USA.”
No golfer has ever defended an Olympic title, largely due to the sport’s 112-year absence from the quadrennial event. But there may be a good omen for Korda and her compatriots lurking in the distant history. It was at the first Paris Games in 1900 that Margaret Abbott of the United States became the first woman to win Olympic gold, the inaugural medal event contested over just nine holes. Korda will hope that the Star Spangled Banner waves again as she seeks to gild a glorious year.
