The 2024 Paris Olympics begin today with much buzz around Team USA athletes and their chances to lead the overall medal count. The Silver State hopes to strike Gold in Paris and add to this medal count.
The back-to-back national champion Las Vegas Aces have four superstars competing for Team USA in women’s Basketball as they face Japan on July 29th: A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young. Team USA is the overwhelming favorite for the Gold medal.
In addition, Vashti Cunningham, a Bishop Gorman High School grad, is competing in her third Olympics at High Jump and has her sights set on a medal after winning Bronze at the 2019 World Championships.
Katie Grimes and Claire Weinsten, both from the Las Vegas Sandpipers club swim team, will be competing in women’s Swimming, and Luke Hobson, a former Reno High School standout, will be competing in both the men’s 200-meter Freestyle and 4×200 Relay team after having won the men’s 200-meter Freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Perris Benegas, a Reed High School graduate, is competing in the women’s BMX Freestyle after finishing 4th at the 2020 Olympics.
Beiwen Zhang, currently ranked #10 in the world, will be competing for Team USA in the women’s singles Badminton event and Faith Dillon will be competing in Taekwondo.
Alexis Langan, from Boulder City, is competing in the women’s Air Pistol Event.
Stephanie Rovetti, also a Reno High School graduate, is a member of the Team USA women’s Rugby team who will begin play against Japan on Sunday, July 28th.
Also of note are incoming and former UNLV and UNR standouts competing in the Olympics for their native countries:
- Former UNLV swimmer, Panos Bolanos, will compete for Greece in the 4×100 meter Relay.
- Former UNLV basketball star, Khem Birch will compete on the Canada men’s Basketball team as center.
- Enkhkhuslen Batbayar, an incoming freshman at UNR,will compete for Mongolia in the 200-meter freestyle in Swimming.
- Moez Echargui, a standout UNR tennis player from 2011-2015, will compete for Tunisia in the round of 64 for Tennis.
- Las Vegas Aces’ Megan Gustafson is on Spain’s women’s Basketball team.
- Tiffany Hayes, also a member of the Las Vegas Aces, will play for the Azerbaijan women’s Basketball team.
Finally, a Reed High School graduate, Gabby Williams, is also on Spain’s women’s Basketball team.
Tune in to see our Nevada Olympic athletes in action!
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