More than 200 national Olympic committees are represented in Paris. Host France’s contingent of 573 athletes approaches that of Team USA’s leading 592. The United States is looking to build on its 113-medal count at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — 24 more than runner-up China. The Americans won 39 gold medals in Japan — one more than the 38 snared by the Chinese.
The Yanks got off to a roaring start with five medals in the first full day of 2024 Olympic competition, including gold in the men’s 4×100 freestyle swimming relay (three-peat) and silver in the women’s 4×100 freestyle swimming relay.
Also, Katie Ledecky (four gold, one silver at the Rio Games and two gold and two silver in Tokyo) captured bronze in women’s 400 freestyle swim final. Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook took silver in the women’s synchronized three meter springboard event in diving.
Team USA took the early lead with 20 medals (three gold, eight silver, nine bronze) through Monday’s schedule. Japan led with six gold medals.
Golden Games
The 2024 Paris Games are expected to cost upward of $10 billion. That’s a staggering number considering that many venues already built and in place are being used. But this is a different world now and the 2024 Paris Games are being called the first true post-COVID Olympics. A new Olympic era has dawned for a new generation of athletes.
Despite the relative obscurity of some Olympic sports, especially on the West Coast, if one looks deep enough, there are quite a few ties that bind us to the Games.
Rower Azja Czajkowski is from Imperial Beach by way of Bonita Vista High School (Class of 2018). She started to develop an interest in crew as a high school sophomore and now she’s in Paris representing her country.
Czajkowski drew the attention of national team coaches during a star-studded career at Stanford University where she earned honors as a two-time Pac-12 Conference athlete of the year. Stanford won NCAA championships in 2022 and 2023.
Closer to home, water polo is a sport dominated by Californians, Santee native Alex Bowen included foremost among them. The former Santana High School superstar ranks as the San Diego Section’s all-time scoring leader, ditto for that at Stanford University,
Surfing, a staple off southland beaches, returns from its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games along with skateboarding and sport climbing.
Breaking (breakdancing) is making its Olympic debut in the 2024 Paris Games.
Chula Vista native Logan Edra, 21, will represent Team USA in the newest OIympic sport after winning three titles and numerous medals since falling in love with the art form at age 7 while watching other San Diego breakers. She grew up playing soccer, tennis and gymnastics before earning the nickname “B-Girl Logistx” as an emerging breaker. She attended Wolf Canyon Elementary School and Camarena Elementary School in Chula Vista before being home-schooled after the sixth grade. At 5-1 she’s one of the smallest athletes in Paris but big in expressing herself in competition.
Skateboarding features 11 athletes with San Diego ties to six national teams (USA, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Canada and Portugal).
Local fanfare
More than two dozen athletes with ties to San Diego County, along with teams that have trained at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, are competing in Paris.
Isalys Quinones represented Otay Ranch High School’s girls basketball team on the playing court from 2011-15 before going on to play at Dartmouth College. During her four years as a Lady Mustang, Quinones appeared in 57 varsity games while averaging 11.5 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per game. She cemented her legacy at Dartmouth by ranking among the top 20 players all-time with 512 career rebounds, highest scoring average (14.0) in the 2018-29 season, highest rebound average (6.5) in 2017-18, 42 steals in 2016-17 to go with blocks in back-to-back years.
Those numbers led her to the Puerto Rican national team where she led the team with 4.7 rebounds per game at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“It’s always an honor to represent my country but on the biggest stage of the world, it’s just a little bit more special.,” Quinones told the Dartmouthsports.com website. “For such a tiny island to have such a big name in sports always gives me such a proud feeling.
“The same goes for representing Dartmouth. There aren’t many Ivy Leaguers that make it to the Olympics let alone those from Dartmouth, so I am truly honored to be able to represent such minority groups.”
Notable San Diegans in Paris include Poway High School alumnus Kelsey Plum in women’s basketball, 59-year-old German-born Steffen Peters in equestrian dressage and La Costa Canyon High School alum Chase Budinger in men’s beach volleyball.
Plum, daughter of former Helix High School and SDSU football standout Jim Plum, won the gold medal with Team USA in the Tokyo Games. An All-American at the University of Washington (2017 AP women’s basketball player of the year), she won back to-back WNBA championship in 2022 and 2023 with the Las Vegas Aces and was MVP of the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game.
Peters is competing in his fifth Olympics with one silver (2020 Tokyo) and two bronze medals (1996 Atlanta and 2016 Rio) already in his cache. He will be looking for renewed success on his mount Suppenkasper.
Budinger, formerly with the NBA’s Houston Rockets (2009-2012), Minnesota Timberwolves (2012-15), Indiana Pacers (2015-16) and Phoenix Suns (2016) after being named Mr. California Basketball with the Mavericks in 2006, will team with Hermosa Beach’s Miles Evans on the Paris sand courts.
Track and field (athletics to the rest of the world) is synonymous with the Olympic Games.
Locals fill Team USA, highlighted by Nia Akins (Rancho Bernardo High School) in the 800-meter run, Chari Hawkins (San Diego resident) in the women’s heptathlon and Harrison Williams (Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center) in the men’s decathlon.
Gabby Scott (Westview High School) will represent Puerto Rico in the women’s 400-meter dash.
The San Diego Wave of the National Women’s Soccer League will send five players to Paris: defender Naomi Girma and forward/midfielder Jaedyn Shaw with Team USA, goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan with Canada and defender Kaitlyn Torpey and midfielder Emily van Egmond with Australia.
Homegrown
The sprawling 155-acre training site overlooking Lower Otay Reservoir continues to serve as a pipeline to the Olympic Games with 21-year-old archers Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez (Chula Vista) and Catalina Gnoriega (San Diego) making the trek to Paris.
The Chula Vista site is home to the Easton Archery Center of Excellence, a 22,000-square-foot indoor shooting range. Other sports with an Olympic tie-in include beach volleyball, BMX, cycling, rowing, tennis, track and field and triathlon.
The U.S. men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams both train on site along with occasional visits from U.S. national and age-group teams in soccer and field hockey.
Four-time Olympian (and native Arizonan) Brady Ellison has spent much time honing his skills at the Chula Vista archery facility and has produced three Olympic medals (silver in 2012 London and 2016 Rio and bronze in 2016 Rio) and six gold Pan American medals as a result.
The center also remains the site for BMX/cycling. Allise (Post) Willoughby, a University of San Diego alumnus, won the silver medal in London and will be competing in her third Olympics.
Canyon Hills High School alumna and San Diegan Megan Valzonis, 26, will represent the United States as a member of the women’s national field hockey team.
The CV elite athletes center continues to maintain a dock on the lake. San Diegan Nevin Harrison captured the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games in 200m canoe sprint and is returning for more.
The Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center also serves as a home base for the U.S. Paralympic Team. The 2024 Paralympic Games follow in Paris Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.
