Area athletes compete in the Olympics

By Brad Ziegler

More than 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (athletes no longer compete for countries) have gathered in France and in French Polynesia to compete in the 30th Olympiad of the Summer Olympics.  The delegation of athletes representing the US Olympic Committee has nearly 600 members, including nearly two dozen athletes who have a tie to the Kansas City area.

Staff Sergeant Rachel Tozier is originally from Pattonsburg, Missouri and managed the Kansas City Trapshooters Association range in Smithville.  She and Derrick Mein, a native of Paola, Kansas who attended Kansas State University, make up half of the four person US Trapshooting Team which began competing on Monday.  It is Mein’s second Olympics.  

Gage Gymnastics Center in Blue Springs is sending three gymnasts to the Summer Games. Leanne Wong is an alternate on the US team, Aleah Finnegan will compete for the Philippines, the first female Filipina gymnast to compete in the Olympics since 1964, and  Lynzee Brown, who was raised in Raytown, will compete for Haiti.  The gymnastics competition began on Sunday.

Quincy Hall is a member of the US men’s track and field team and will compete in the 400 meters race.  The 26-year-old graduated from Raytown South High School and competed for South Carolina collegiately.  He has competed internationally since, recently winning in Stockholm this summer. The track and field competition begins on August 4. (At the time of publication, Quincy Hall set the world lead in the men’s 400m with a time of 43.80) 

Chris Nilson is also a member of the US track and field team and will compete in the pole vault.  Nilson attended Park Hill High School and South Dakota University and won a silver medal in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.  Nilson is also 26 years old and has set  records in his event at nearly every level of competition.

Former Kansas Jayhawk basketball standout Joel Imbiid, now an all-star for the Philadelphia 76ers, will compete for the US men’s basketball team, despite being originally from Cameroon.  The men’s team began competition last weekend with a win over Serbia.

Another former Jayhawk athlete who will be competing in the track and field competition is Bryce Hoppel, the 2024 world champion in the 800 meters, who will begin his quest for an Olympic gold medal on August 7.

Karissa Schweizer will compete in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters for the US women’s track team.  The University of Missouri graduate and five-time NCAA champion will be competing in her second Olympics, running in the 5,000 meters prelims on August 2 and the 10,000 meters final on August 9.  

Sporting KC teammates Jake Davis and John Pulskamp are alternates on the US men’s soccer team, who stands 1-1 after their first two matches.

Area athletes who are representing other National Olympic Committees include KC Current forward Nichelle Prince, who is competing for the Canadian women’s soccer team, and Lauren Eduarda Leal Costa, a member of the Brazilian team.  The women’s soccer competition kicked off pool play on July 25th.

University of Kansas track and field athletes who will be competing for other National Olympic Committees include Michael Joseph, a 400 meter runner on the Saint Lucia track team who will compete in the preliminaries on August 4, Sharon Lokedi, a former NCAA national champion in the 10,000 meters, who will be competing for Kenya in the marathon on August 11, Alexandra Emilianov who will represent Moldova in the women’s discus on August 2, Yoveinny Mota, who will compete for Venezuela in the 100 meter hurdles on August 7, and Hussain Al-Hizam, who will compete in the pole vault for Saudi Arabia.

Kansas State graduate Laura Galvan will represent Mexico in the women’s 5,000 meters on August 2 and fellow Wildcat Eugene Omalla will compete in the men’s 400 meters, representing the Netherlands.

University of Missouri swimmers Mikel Schreuders (50 and 100 meter freestyle) and Clement Secchi (100 meter butterfly) competed for Aruba and France, respectively, in the men’s swimming competition which began last weekend.