PARIS, France — With the 2024 Paris Olympics officially underway, 13News Now is tracking the athletes with ties to Virginia and Hampton Roads who are competing in the games.
According to the official roster released by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced on July 10, there are 592 athletes representing 46 states who make up Team USA for the Olympic Games this year.
Team USA's list includes each athlete's recognized hometown. It shows that fifteen of those athletes are from Virginia, and three are from right here in Hampton Roads. And one other closely-watched athlete in this year's Games also lived in Chesapeake for a time.
There are also a number of other athletes competing with other connections to Virginia, like student athletes who attend college in the Commonwealth.
Here's a closer look at our local athletes in the Games and a partial list of other athletes with connections to Virginia.
Hampton Roads Athletes
Grant Holloway (Chesapeake / Grassfield High School) — Men's 110m hurdles
Chesapeake's Grant Holloway is the premiere men's 110m hurdler in the world.
An Olympic gold medal is just about the only thing missing from his resume — and could make him one of the greatest hurdlers of all time. He's closer than ever as he competes in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
In the Tokyo Olympic games, he cleared all 10 hurdles but faded late and lost by .05 to Jamaica's Hansle Parchment. Holloway called it one of the worst races he'd ever run and one of Parchment's best.
Holloway won U.S. track trials in the 110-meter hurdles back in June, finishing in 12.86 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in history, to earn a chance to capture the Olympic title that eluded him in an upset loss three years ago.
"I tell myself every day, I am a trailblazer for the 110 meter hurdles," he told 13News Now earlier this week. "I think I'm going to be the one that everybody is like, man you had to be there to watch that kid."
As the 26-year-old was also a star on the football field while growing up in Chesapeake and attending Grassfield High School. He chose to focus on track and field after college, a career move that served him well.
Leah Crouse (Virginia Beach / Cox High School) — Field Hockey
Field hockey has taken Leah Course all over the world.
"I've been to six continents. Australia...just spent two months in India," she told 13News Now earlier this month. "Like a month ago I was in London and Belgium for a month."
And on June 10, she found out the sport was taking her to the Paris Olympics, as well. She will be competing as a first-time Olympian on the U.S. Field Hockey team.
Crouse started playing field hockey when she was 10-years-old after driving by Cox High School's field and seeing the team practicing.
"I kept seeing these girls out there holding these sticks, and I'm like 'what is that?'," she said.
Leah signed up for a little rec league, and "just fell in love with it." She later helped Cox High win its 18th and 19th state titles.
Justin Dowell (Virginia Beach / Princess Anne High School) — Cycling
Princess Anne graduate and professional BMX rider Justin Dowell is punching his second ticket to the Summer Olympic Games this year.
After scoring 90.82 points to finish fifth in the Men’s BMX Freestyle at the OQS Budapest last month, Dowell will represent Hampton Roads at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The 24-year-old has said he got into riding when the City of Virginia Beach built a new skate park. Now he's a winner of two world championships and has received enough points to automatically advance to the Olympic Games -- and is just one of six athletes to do so.
Dowell also competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
Quincy Wilson (Chesapeake/Gaithersburg, MD) — Men's 200m and 400m (backup in 400m)
High school phenom Quincy Wilson is in Paris to represent the United States at the Olympic Games. The 16-year-old, who lived briefly in Chesapeake, Virginia, becomes the youngest U.S. male track & field athlete to make an Olympic team.
The teen advanced to the men's 400-meter finals at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, and would finish sixth in the race which kept his Olympic hopes alive. He will be on the 4x400 relay pool alongside Quincy Hall, Michael Norman, and Chris Bailey, who finished ahead of him in the 400-meter final at the U.S. trials.
Other Virginia Athletes
- Noah Lyles (raised in Alexandria) — Men's 100m, 200m
- Will Coleman (Gordonsville) — Equestrian
- Claire Collins (McLean) — Rowing
- Greg Duncan (Oakton) — Diving
- Emily Fox (Ashburn) — Women's soccer
- Thomas Heilman (Crozet) — Swimming
- Hadley Husisian (Oakton) — Fencing
- Torri Huske (Arlington) — Swimming
- Kevin Paredes (South Riding) — Men's soccer
- Charlie Swanson (Richmond) — Swimming
- Christian Tabash (Alexandria) — Rowing
- Griffin Yow (Clifton) — Men's soccer
Athletes who are Current/Former UVA Students
- Aimee Canny (rising junior): South Africa — Swimming 200 Free, 4x200 Free Relay
- Kate Douglass: USA — Swimming — 100 Free, 200 IM, 200 Breast
- Paige Madden: USA — Swimming - 400 Free, 800 Free, 4x200 Relay
- Alex Walsh (grad student): USA — Swimming - 200 IM
- Gretchen Walsh (rising senior): USA — Swimming - 100 Fly, 50 Free, 4x100 Free
- Emma Weber (rising junior): USA — Swimming - 100 Breast
- Danielle Collins: USA — Tennis - Doubles, Singles
- Emma Navarro: USA — Tennis – Singles
- Heidi Long: England — Rowing - W8+
- Emily Sonnett: USA — Women’s Soccer
- Filip Mihaljevic: Croatia — Track & Field - Shot Put
- Bridget Guy Williams: USA — Track & Field - Pole Vault