Area athletes now in Paris for Olympics

While the Summer Olympics represents the world’s greatest sporting event, it has even greater meaning for those athletes who strive for years and finally make their national teams. Nashville and Middle Tennessee is well represented in the 2024 Paris edition, which begins Friday. There are many area athletes in various sports who will be vying for international glory and Olympic medals over the next couple of weeks. Heading the parade is Vanderbilt’s Veronica Fraley, a 24-year-old graduate student and winner of this year’s NCAA outdoor women’s discus final. The 2024 SEC Field Athlete of the Year, Fraley finished third at the trials. Cyclist Lily Williams also has Vanderbilt ties, though she was a cross-country runner during her time there. She won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Another heralded participant is Nashville SC defender Walker Zimmerman, making his 43rd appearance as a member of the United States’ men’s team. He was previously on the team for both the 2019 and 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup teams as well as the 2022 FIFA World Cup team, and he’s now part of the Olympic squad. In fact there are many notable returning competitors as well. Former Tennessee swimmer Erika Connolly won two medals at the 2020 Tokyo games, and this time is a member of the 400 free relay team. Volleyball team member Kelly Robinson-Cox has won two previous gold medals in 2016 at Rio de Janiero and 2020 in Tokyo. Weightlifer Wes Kitts and gymnast Brady Malone are also in their second Olympics, while weightlifter Olivia Reeves becomes the first Tennessee-Chattanooga student to make an Olympic team.

Some other competitors include swimmers Alex and Gretchen Waltz, sprinter Chris Bailey, decathlon competitor Harrison Williams, and 3×3 basketball team member Cierra Burdick. Perhaps the most unique participant is Sunny Choi, one of four athletes representing the United States in the Games newest sport, breaking (better known as break dancing). It’s a combination of acrobatics and dancing, and Choi won a gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games.

On the coaching front, there’s also a Tennessee connection. Kara Lawson surprised a lot of folks by opting to take the head coaching job at Duke rather than her alma mater Tennessee. But Lawson, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games as a team member and was head coach of the 2020 gold medal winning 3×3 team, is back in the Olympics, serving this time as a Team USA assistant coach. She has smartly avoided any comment on the continuing Caitlin Clark/Angel Reese omissions from the team USA roster. There’s no doubt that Saturday night’s Team USA game against a select WNBA All-Star squad that includes both Clark and Reese may be the highest rated All-Star game in WNBA history, if not pro basketball period.

The eyes of the world will be on these and the hundreds of other athletes from more than 40 nations when the Olympics get underway for real. There have already been exhibition games and pre-Olympic events happening for days leading into the July 26 opening. The 2024 Paris Olympics will be shown on both NBC (locally WSMV-4) and Peacock, with many hours of competition available only on Peacock, at least live. It’s going to be another indicator of where the television industry is heading when the full schedule gets released and the decisions made about what gets shown on broadcast vs. what gets streamed. In addition, NBC maintains a tight news blackout so local channels won’t be able to pre-empt their coverage with highlights from events that have already occurred.

But whatever the outcome and the ratings, from now until August 11, sports fans will see some of the greatest competition imaginable in a host of different sports.