From the court to the pool, South Carolina will be well-represented in Paris.
The 2024 Olympics will open later this month in Paris, and 14 athletes who once competed in Columbia will go for gold in France this month representing 10 different countries and eight different sports. Here is a brief look at South Carolina’s involvement in the Olympics.
Basketball
Basketball is of course the highest-profile sport with Gamecock involvement, and one of the most famous athletes in the world will lead the line.
A’ja Wilson averaged 16.5 points per game and led Team USA in scoring in three out of six contests en route to the gold medal in Tokyo, and is back for a roster loaded with WNBA talent.
Elsewhere in the tournament, former Gamecock Laeticia Amihere will represent Canada in her second Olympics after getting named to the roster on Jul. 2. Amihere, the first-round pick of the Atlanta Dream in 2023, played in 127 games for South Carolina from 2019-2023 and won the 2022 National Championship. Amihere played for Team Canada as an active player on Dawn Staley’s squad back in 2021. Shay Colley, who played at South Carolina for one season back in 2015-16, will join Amihere with the Canadian squad.
Team USA will open its tournament on Jul. 29 against Japan, while Canada will start the same day against hosting France.
Swimming and Diving
Three former South Carolina swimmers and divers are currently scheduled to compete in the Olympics, although none for team USA.
All three are veterans who have been to the Olympics before, starting with South African Julia Vincent. She will compete in her third Olympics in 3-meter springboard diving. Vincent competed at South Carolina from 2015-2018, receiving three All-American nods.
On the swimming front, Ecuador’s Tomas Peribonio and Moldova’s Tatiana Salcutan are both off to the Olympics for the second time. Peribonio was at South Carolina from 2014-2018 and was an All-American all four years.
Salcutan swam at South Carolina for the final two years of her collegiate career from 2022-24 after starting at Louisville.
Track and Field
Five Gamecocks will hit track and field in Paris, including one of the strongest contenders for a medal.
Quincy Hall ran at South Carolina from 2019-2020 and won both an indoor and outdoor SEC championship in the 400-meter race. He has since taken his dominance in the same event to the international scale, where he won his qualifying heat, semifinal and final race at the Olympic Trials to punch his ticket to Paris.
Rachel Glenn won a National Championship in the Outdoor High Jump as a Gamecock in 2021. She spent two years in Columbia before transferring to Arkansas, and will compete in the same event in Paris starting Aug. 2.
Aliyah Abrams will also run in the 400-meter race on the women’s side, doing so for Guyana after qualifying on Jul. 4. Abrams competed at South Carolina from 2016-2020, as well as in the last two Olympics.
Morocco’s Anass Essayi is a current Gamecock heading to Paris having just completed his junior season in Columbia this spring. He is a two-time First-Team All-American in both indoor and outdoor track, and a three-time All-SEC runner. He is a distance runner who competed in the 1,500-meter race at the 2021 Olympics, and will do so again with qualifying heats starting on Aug. 2.
Finally on the field side, Eric Favors qualified for his first Olympics representing Ireland in the Shot Put. He was at South Carolina from 2017-2021, and was an SEC bronze medalist in the event in 2019. The qualifying round for the Shot Put is Aug. 2, with the final the following day.
Qualifying heats in the respective 400-meter races start Aug. 4 for the men’s event and the following day for the women’s.
Best Of The Rest
Finally, three different sports will feature one Gamecock apiece. Fernando Cerundolo only spent one year at South Carolina before returning to his native Argentina, but has developed a solid pro career for himself and qualified for his second Olympics. The 25-year-old is in the 64-player draw for the men's singles tournament, which starts on Jul. 27.
Danish golfer Nanna Koerstz Madsen represented South Carolina until she turnd pro in 2015, and will tee off in her third Olympics on Aug. 7 when the four-round women's golf tornament commences. She finished in the top-15 in each of her two prior Olympic appearances.
Moving back into team sports, one former Gamecock will take the field with Team Canada in soccer. Goalkeeper Sabrina D’Angelo stopped shots in Columbia from 2011-2014 and has had an extensive professional career playing not only in the United States but Canada, Sweden and England as a goalkeeper.
D’Angelo earned a bronze medal with Canada at the 2016 Olympics, and will start her quest for another one when Canada opens its tournament on Jul. 25.
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