The biggest and possibly baddest national team at this year’s Paris Olympics will, not surprisingly, represent the United States of America. Historically, it checks out: in the Summer Olympics, the U.S. owns the most medals by far — 2,629 total, while the second-place former Soviet Union won 1,010 medals; and the U.S. has the most gold medals by far, with 1,061 of those versus the USSR’s 395. (The U.S. ranks second all-time in Winter Olympics medals, gold and overall, behind Norway.)

Team USA is sending 592 athletes to Paris, more than any other country. Only the host nation, France, comes close with 573 athletes. Rounding out the top 10: Australia’s 460-member team, Germany’s 427, Japan’s 404, China’s 388, Spain’s 382, Italy’s 361, Great Britain’s 327, and Canada’s 316.

True to form with its cultural melting pot of a society, a quick eye test can confirm that the U.S. Olympic team is not only the deepest but also the most diverse, with a varied collection of sizes, shapes, colors, and ethnicities. The Americans also have the most talent and the most star power. Some of the faces of Team USA will be some of the faces of these Olympics: gold-medal favorites, world-famous mainstream celebrities, and legends in their respective sports.

Here are some of Team USA’s top-tier representatives, plus a few lesser-known athletes to watch.

LeBron James (basketball)

If he’s not the greatest basketball player of all time, he’s at least the greatest of his generation; and as LeBron approaches 40 years old, he is still remarkably one of the best players in the NBA. Nobody seems to know how many more years LeBron will play in the NBA, but this will almost certainly be his last Olympic experience. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar is the elder statesman leader of the U.S. men’s hoop team, a squad heavily favored to win it all that’s full of future Hall of Famers like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Joel Embiid. If the team does what it’s supposed to do, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer will leave Paris with his third Olympic gold medal.

Simone Biles (gymnastics)

The debate over LeBron’s place in the basketball G.O.A.T. hierarchy rages every day on social media, but there’s really no argument when it comes to Biles: she is the greatest women’s gymnast in history. The 27-year-old is old compared to the average Olympic gymnast, but proved she’s still on top of her game at the 2023 World Championships when she won four gold medals (team, all-around, balance beam, floor) and one silver (vault). After a harrowing and disastrous Olympics in 2021, Biles can use these games to redeem herself, go out on top, and put even more distance between herself and whoever is considered the second-best gymnast of all-time.

Noah Lyles (track and field)

Given that track and field is unofficially the marquee event of the Summer Olympics, and the 100-meter dash is usually the marquee event of any track meet, it makes sense that the 100-meter gold medalist — and/or the most charismatic 100-meter runner going into the Games — is at least one of the marquee athletes of each Olympics. Lyles could check both of those boxes. The 27-year-old is doing his best to fill the void that was left in the sport when Usain Bolt retired, both with his big personality and elite talent. Lyles will compete in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4×100 relay in Paris; the same events in which he swept gold at the 2023 World Championships. And whether it’s smart marketing or meaningful honesty, he’s been talking about breaking Bolt’s world records this year. Naturally, all eyes are now on Lyles to do something memorable.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (track and field)

McLaughlin-Levrone doesn’t have the media-and-marketing magnetism of Lyles, but on the women’s side she is the most dominant figure in track and field right now — and that’s all she needs to be one of the biggest stars in the sport. The 24-year-old two-time Olympic gold medalist owns the world record in the 400-meter hurdles, a record that she’s broken five times since 2021. Most recently, McLaughlin-Levrone set the new standard of 50.65 seconds at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.

Victor Montalvo (breakdancing)

What hip-hop head would’ve ever thought breakdancing would become an Olympic sport? And yet here we are, one year after hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary, with b-boys and b-girls vying for Olympic gold in this summer’s most interesting new event. On paper, one favorite would have to be Montalvo, the 30-year-old Floridian who won gold medals at the 2023 World Championships and 2022 World Games.

Katie Ledecky (swimming)

The most decorated women’s swimmer of all time, Ledecky goes to Paris with multiple opportunities to add to her career count of seven Olympic gold medals (10 overall), in addition to her 21 World Championship gold medals (26 overall). In Paris, the 27-year-old will compete in the 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle, and 1500-meter freestyle — all events in which she owns world records.

Brittney Griner (basketball)

To say it’s been a crazy full-circle journey for Griner is a massive understatement. In 2022, while playing pro ball in Russia, she was arrested on drug charges and held in prison for 10 months before being released as part of a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russian government. Now, the 33-year-old WNBA star is going back overseas to represent Team USA in the Olympics. On the court, Griner has accomplished just about all there is to accomplish: she’s a WNBA champion, four-time EuroLeague champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and college national champion; a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, two-time college national player of the year; plus she’s led the WNBA in scoring twice and in blocks eight times. The 6-foot-9 center is literally the biggest player and figuratively one of the biggest names on the dominant U.S. women’s team.

Nelly Korda (golf)

Currently the No. 1-ranked women’s golfer in the world, Korda is also the reigning Olympic champion after her gold-medal win at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Still just 25 years old, she’s in her prime; she’s got a handful of tournament wins already this year, including the LPGA’s Chevron Championship major in April.

Abdi Nur (track and field)

Born in Somalia, Nur also lived in Kenya and Egypt before his family moved to the U.S. when he was 8 years old, eventually settling in Phoenix. Nur began running cross-country in high school and then made his way to the track, where he set records in college and is now an Olympian in the 5,000-meter distance race. Nur, who is Muslim, won four NCAA titles in track and cross-country at Northern Arizona University, and finished second in the 5,000 meters at this year’s U.S. Olympic track trials.

Salif Mane (track and field)

The reigning NCAA champion in the triple jump followed up that victory by taking first place at the U.S. Olympic trials. Mane, 22, was raised in a Muslim family in New York; his parents came to the U.S. from Senegal. Mane’s father passed away in 2020 during the COVID pandemic; Mane says he is motivated by his father’s memory and before competitions he’ll listen to voicemails his father left. Mane’s season-best jump of 17.52 meters (57 feet, 5.75 inches) ranks sixth in the world, putting him squarely in contention for a medal in Paris.