Every time an athlete wins an Olympic medal for their country, it's a moment worth celebrating. And when that athlete rewrites their country's history books, and thrills the entire population (big or small) of their home nation? That deserves some extra time in the spotlight. 

That was certainly true Saturday, when the approximately 67,000 people of Dominica reveled in a stunning track win and the 20 million Kazakhstani people celebrated a surprise first medal in gymnastics.

It was a big day to be from a small country, or at least to represent the underdog. Let's dig into some notable Saturday achievements, starting with a pommel horse powerhouse from Kazakhstan.

Outside of the United States, where fans were rooting for more magic from Stephen "Clark Kent" Nedoroscik, there were true underdog vibes from Kazakhstan's Nariman Kurbanov.

The 26-year-old from Almaty won silver in men's pommel horse, giving Kazakhstan its first gymnastics medal in its eighth Olympics.

Thea LaFond-Gadson, take a bow. Like Kazakhstan, Dominica has been competing at the Summer Games since 1996 in Atlanta.

Their total number of medals stood at zero until the 2024 women's triple jump, where LaFond-Gadson put one on the board — a gold — for the 186th-largest population in the world.

Located in the Caribbean, Saint Lucia has nearly three times the population of Dominica, yet only sits 10 spots above it on the population ladder.

We knew Julien Alfred had done something special with her blazing gold medal time in the women's 100m dash. With that, Saint Lucia earned its first medal in Olympic history. 

Saint Lucia is the smallest nation by far to boast the fastest women on Earth, as previous winners represented the United States, Poland, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Russia, Belarus (9M) and Jamaica (2.8M).

It may surprise a few people that the Philippines boasts well over 115 million people, but one thing the Southeast Asian nation had not done before Saturday was earn a medal in artistic gymnastics.

Now Carlos Yulo is the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to take gymnastics gold at the Olympics with his excellent floor exercise performance on Saturday.

It's also the second gold medal — in any sport — for the Philippines and comes just three years after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz got the country's first.