The 2024 Paris Olympics, featuring most of the world's top athletes in 32 sports, will take place starting July 26 and run through Aug. 11.
Several athletes in this year's Games, mostly in swimming, have ties to Knoxville and the Univeristy of Tennessee, representing various nations from Brazil to Ireland.
Here are all of the 2024 Olympians with Knoxville ties.
Swimming
Gui Caribe (Brazil)
Event: 100 freestyle, 50 freestyle
The 21-year-old swimmer won the 100 free in the Brazilian Olympic Trials. He enrolled at Tennessee in 2022 and was named a First-Team All-American his freshman year. He represented Brazil at the 2023 World Championships.
Erika Connolly (USA)
Event: 4x100 freestyle relay
Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Connolly is heading back to the Olympics after earning silver in the 4x100 medley relay and bronze in the 4x100 freestyle relay at Tokyo. She graduated from Tennessee in 2020 and finished her collegiate career as one of the most decorated swimmers in the school's history. She was the 2019 and 2020 SEC Female Swimmer of the Year, the second woman ever to swim under 46 seconds in the 100 free, and the first woman in SEC history to win the same three events in three consecutive seasons.
Jillian Crooks (Cayman Islands)
Event: 100 freestyle
Crooks is an incoming freshman at Tennessee. She represented the Cayman Islands in the Tokyo Games, finishing 41st in the 100 free. SwimSwam ranked Crooks sixth in the 2024 signing class.
Jordan Crooks (Cayman Islands)
Events: 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle
Jordan Crooks is Jillian's brother and a rising senior at Tennessee. He's won 21 SEC medals, was the 2022 Short Course World Champion in the 50 free, and holds the school record at UT in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, and 100 butterfly.
Brooklyn Douthwright (Canada)
Event: 4x100 freestyle relay
In 2020, Douthwright almost qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Heading into her senior year at Tennessee, she's made the All-SEC First Team twice, holds eight SEC medals, and has served as the Canadian freestyle team anchor in the 2023 World Championships.
Lyubomir Epirtropov (Bulgaria)
Event: 200 breaststroke
Epirtropov competed in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in the Tokyo Games, finishing 15th and 32nd overall. Epitropov won the 200 breaststroke for Tennessee at the 2021 SEC Championships. He broke the Bulgarian national record in the 200 breaststroke in the 2024 Bulgarian Olympic qualifiers.
Martin Espernberger (Austria)
Event: 200 butterfly
Espernberger was the 2024 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year at Tennessee and a part of the 2023 SEC All-Freshman Team. He represented Austria in the 200 butterfly at the 2023 World Championships, where he placed 20th.
Ella Jansen (Canada)
Event: 400 individual medley
Jansen will be an Olympian before starting classes at Tennessee in late August. Jansen finished 17th in the 400 individual medley at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, won silver in the 400 individual medley at the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, and was named Swimming Canada's 2022 Breakout Swimmer of the Year.
Mona McSharry (Ireland)
Event: 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke
McSharry holds the Tennessee record for the fastest times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. In 2021, she was named the SEC Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year. She represented Ireland in the 2020 Olympics, placing eighth in the 100 breaststroke.
Kayky Mota (Brazil)
Event: 100 butterfly
Mota spent two years at Miami (Ohio) before transferring to Tennessee. He won bronze in the 200 and 400 medley relays at the 2022 SEC Championships and was named to the All-SEC second team in 2022.
Julia Mrozinski (Germany)
Event: 200 freestyle
Mrozinski won silver in the 200 freestyle during the German Swimming Championship to qualify for the Paris Games. At Tennessee, she made the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2022 and the 2023 and 2024 All-SEC second team.
Regan Rathwell (Canada)
Event: 200 backstroke
Rathwell was ranked as the No. 2 overall signee for the class of 2022. In her sophom*ore season at Tennessee, she set a personal best of 52.03 in the 100 backstroke at the NCAA Championships.
Lamar Taylor (Bahamas)
Event: 100 freestyle
Taylor spent the first half of his collegiate career at Henderson State University, where he was a six-time NCAA Division II National Champion, before transferring to Tennessee. He was the 2023 NCAA Division II Swimmer of the Year. He'll be the only male swimmer at the Olympics representing the Bahamas.
Kira Toussaint (Netherlands)
Event: 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke
Toussaint, who graduated from Tennessee in 2017, is making her third straight appearance at the Olympics. In the 2016 Rio Games, she placed 18th in the 100 backstroke, and in the Tokyo Games, she helped the Netherlands place fourth in the 4x100 freestyle relay.
Joaquin Vargas (Peru)
Event: 400 freestyle
Vargas will be a senior at Tennessee. He competed in the 200 and 400 freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics and holds Peru's national record in both events.
Tjasa Pintar (Slovenia)
Event: 4x100 freestyle relay
Pintar competed in the 4x200 relay in the Rio Games, where Slovenia finished 15th. At Tennessee, she was an eight-time All-American and won seven SEC medals, including three gold.
Ellen Walshe (Ireland)
Event: 200 individual medley, 400 individual medley
Walshe owns the Irish national record in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley and competed in those events at the Tokyo Games. During her first year at Tennessee, she was the SEC Female Freshman of the Year and the SEC Female Co-Swimmer of the Year.
Weightlifting
Wes Kitts (USA)
Event: 102kg
Kitts, a Halls graduate, was the first American to complete a 177kg snatch at the Tokyo Games. He was a running back for Austin Peay football before shifting his attention to weightlifting. He owns a Knoxville gym called Be Somebody Gym, which " aims to empower individuals to reach their peak physical and mental potential through fitness."
Women's Basketball
Cierra Burdick (USA)
Event: 3x3
Burdick played basketball at Tennessee for four seasons. She was selected in the second round of the WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. She won gold at the 2021 FIBA 3x3 Women's AmeriCup and was a part of the 2023 USA 3x3 Women's Pan American Games Team to have a 5-0 record.
Women's Soccer
Michelle Alozie (Nigeria)
Alozie, who graduated from Tennessee in 2020, played for the Nigerian Women's National Team in the 2023 World Cup. She transferred from Yale in 2018 and scored three goals in her lone season at Tennessee.
Women's Volleyball
Kelsey Robinson (USA)
Robinson began her collegiate career at Tennessee and won SEC Player of the Year in 2011 before transferring to Nebraska. She plays outside hitter for Team USA. She won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics and Gold at the Tokyo Games.
Track and field
Christopher Bailey (USA)
Event: 400 meters
Bailey ran track at Mississippi Valley State before transferring to Tennessee. In 2021, he made the Indoor All-SEC First Team and was an Indoor USTFCCA First Team All-American in the 4x400 relay in 2022.
Christian Coleman (USA)
Event: 4x100 relay
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he ran on the relay team in the heat round only. Coleman was banned from the Tokyo Olympics after missing numerous drug tests. He won the 60 in March at the World Indoor championships in 2019 and won the 100 in the World Outdoor championships. While at Tennessee, he was a six-time NCAA champion.
Clement Ducos (France)
Event: 400-meter hurdles
Ducos is the fastest 400-meter hurdler in Tennessee history at 48.26. He was a 2024 Indoor USTFCCCA First Team All-American in the 4x400 relay and UT was third in the 2023 Indoor SEC Championships in the 4x400 relay.
Davonte Howell (Cayman Islands)
Event: 100 meters
In his freshman year at Tennessee, Howell was part of the 4x100 relay at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships. At the CARIFTA games for the Cayman Islands, he won his second straight 100 title in 10.15.
Joella Lloyd (Antigua and Barbuda)
Event: 100 meters
Lloyd, a junior at Tennessee, holds the Antigua and Barbuda national record with a time of 11.06 in the 100. In 2021, she made the Indoor All-SEC First Team and was a part of the team that won the first SEC title in the 4x100 relay since 1948 in 2024.
Carey McLeod (Jamaica)
Event: Long jump
McLeod was one of just two athletes to qualify for the long jump and triple jump in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He holds the Tennessee records in the long jump (8.26 meters) and the triple jump (17.17 meters). In 2020, he was named the Indoor SEC Men's Field Athlete of the Year.
TOKYO OLYMPICS: Here are all of the athletes with ties to Knoxville at the Tokyo Olympics
Stamatia Scarvelis (Greece)
Event: Hammer throw
Scarvelis was the first Tennessee track athlete to represent Greece by qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. She owns three UT records: indoor shot put in 2017, indoor weight throw in 2019, and outdoor hammer throw in 2018.
Charisma Taylor (Bahamas)
Event: 100-meter hurdles
In 2023, Taylor was the only athlete in the country to score in three individual events at the NCAA Indoor Championships, placing in the triple jump, 60-meter hurdles, and long jump. She made the 2022 Indoor All-SEC second team and the 2023 Outdoor All-SEC second team.
Javonya Valcourt (Bahamas)
Event: 400 meters
Valcourt was a silver medalist at the 2023 Outdoor CARIFTA Games in the 400. In her first year at Tennessee, she made the 2023 Outdoor All-SEC second team and was a 2024 Indoor USTFCCCA All-American in the 4x400 relay.
Kamryn Jackson is a sports intern for Knoxville News-Sentinel. Email @Kamryn.Jackson@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@Kamxjack.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Here is every athlete with ties to Knoxville at 2024 Paris Olympics
