USC in Paris: Meet the Trojans’ Olympians headed to the 2024 Summer Games
A sport-by-sport breakdown of the 63 past, current and future USC athletes going to Paris to compete in the Olympics
USC will have several people with Trojans ties representing the United States in the Paris Olympics, including, clockwise from top left, Andy Benesh (beach volleyball), Micah Christenson (indoor volleyball), Michael Norman (track and field), Emily Ausmus (women’s water polo), Twanisha Terry (track and field) and the team of Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes (beach volleyball). (Ausmus by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG; others by Getty Images)
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — Inside a pristine Newport Beach hotel ballroom in late April, where USC’s NIL collective House of Victory hosted a wide range of former athletic luminaries and deep-pocketed alumni for an event titled “Legends of Troy,” one of the greatest points of emphasis to donors was USC’s status as the pre-eminent Olympic university in the country.
And after a university-record 65 past, then-present and future USC students competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, USC is sending another impressive crop to Paris, with 63 athletes headed to represent countries around the world.
A wide range, too, enter as favorites in their respective fields. Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng, who once dazzled on the sand as partners at USC, will vie for the gold in women’s beach volleyball for Team USA. Michael Norman, the longtime Trojan track favorite who has been steadily building momentum after a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 400 meters in Tokyo, will seek redemption. And former water polo standouts Amanda Longan, Emily Ausmus and Kaleigh Gilchrist will look to lead the USA women to a medal in the pool.
Here’s a primer on every USC athlete headed to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
ATHLETICS
Ashley Erasmus, South Africa, shot put
BASKETBALL, WOMEN’S
Amy Okonkwo, Nigeria, forward
BEACH VOLLEYBALL, MEN’S
Andy Benesh, USA: Not a few years ago, the 29-year-old Benesh was working as a financial advisor after hanging it up on the beach, making hundreds of cold calls a day. After feeling the burn to return to the sport, Benesh and partner Miles Partain – a 22-year-old former indoor setter at UCLA – enter Paris as the USA’s prominent team in the International Volleyball Federation’s world rankings. A local product from Palos Verdes High who played four years of indoor volleyball at USC, it will be Benesh’s first Olympics.
Izac Carracher, Australia
BEACH VOLLEYBALL, WOMEN’S
Sophie Bukovec, Canada
Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, USA: Since the 29-year-old Hughes and 28-year-old Cheng re-paired in 2022, ending a hiatus after a dominant three-year beach partnership at USC, they’ve re-asserted themselves on a world stage behind an innovative option-style offense. The hometown duo – Hughes from Newport Beach, Cheng from Fullerton – won the 2023 Beach World Championships, becoming the first American women’s team to win such a title since 2009. That October win clinched them a slot in Paris, where Hughes and Cheng will try to topple top-ranked Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) and Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil.
Tina Graudina, Latvia
DIVING, WOMEN’S
Kate Miller, Canada, 10-meter, 10-meter synchro
INDOOR VOLLEYBALL, MEN’S
Micah Christenson, USA, setter: Known as one of the most creative setters in the world, the 31-year-old Christenson will play in his third Olympics for Team USA. The Honolulu, Hawaii, native was the back-to-back winner of the first two Lloy Ball Awards in 2014 and 2015 at USC, presented annually to the nation’s best setter. Fun fact – he and his wife Brooke Fournier are a Trojan power couple, as Fournier played beach volleyball at USC from 2013-14.
ROWING, WOMEN’S
Chloe Brew, Great Britain, women’s pair
Nikoline Laidlaw, Denmark, women’s eight
Radka Novotnikova, Czech Republic, women’s pair
Astrid Steensberg, Denmark, women’s four
SOCCER, WOMEN’S
Simi Awujo, Canada, midfielder
Nicole Payne, Nigeria, defender
SWIMMING, MEN’S
Dylan Carter, Trinidad and Tobago, 100-meter, 50-meter freestyle
Rai Benjamin, USA, 400-meter hurdles: The 26-year-old Benjamin was a Trojan for just one season after transferring from UCLA and later turning pro, but he made his mark at USC in 2018, setting a then-collegiate record in the 400 hurdles with a time of 47.02. Back for his second Olympics, the Mount Vernon, New York, native will lace up for a tantalizing matchup in Paris after beating Norway’s Karsten Warholm – also headed to the Olympics – in the 400 meters at the Monaco Diamond League July 12 by .06 seconds.
Chris Borzor, Haiti, 100 meters
Aaron Brown, Canada, 200 meters
Andre De Grasse, Canada, 100 meters, 200 meters, 4×100 relay
Michael Norman, USA, 400 meters: Three years ago, amid chatter he could shatter the world record in the men’s 400, the 26-year-old Norman crossed the finish line at the Tokyo Olympics a distant fifth, his head stretched and bowed. Since that disappointment, the San Diego native has built steady momentum up to a redemption in Paris, claiming a first-place title at the 400 at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in 2022. Norman is one of the great track-and-field athletes in USC history, winning the 2018 NCAA title in the 400 and running on a 4×400 relay that set a then-college record.
Tade Ojora, Great Britain, 110-meter hurdles
Ayden Owens-Delerme, Puerto Rico, decathlon
Jordan Scott, Jamaica, triple jump
TRACK AND FIELD, WOMEN’S
Anna Cockrell, USA, 400-meter hurdles: The 26-year-old Cockrell left a legacy much larger than track-and-field at USC, as she bravely opened up on her struggles with mental health and depression in a 2019 commencement speech at USC’s student-athlete graduation, and in 2020 co-founded USC’s United Black Student-Athletes Association. After a lane violation led to a disqualification in her first Olympic foray in the Tokyo Games, Cockrell will look to rebound in Paris against a stacked field.
Kyra Constantine, Canada, 4×400-meter relay
Kendall Ellis, USA, 400 meters: In late June, an hour before she was set to race for a spot in the Olympics, the 28-year-old Ellis found herself trapped – inside the bathroom. She was stuck inside a Porta-Potty in Eugene, Oregon, banging on the door, as reported by the Associated Press. The 400 semifinal at the Olympic trials loomed, and Ellis was “crying and sweating,” as she later tweeted. After someone finally found her and let her out, Ellis sped to a personal-best and then won the final with a time of 49.46 seconds. It will set the native of Pembroke Pines, Florida, up as a top competitor in Paris, her second Olympics.
Remember this unbelievable and shocking final 400m relay leg (50.0 split) by Kendall Ellis to win USC the race over PUR — as well as the 2018 national championship for the Trojans. Anna Cockrell ran an incredible 2nd leg too.
Lorea Ibarzabal, Spain, 800 meters
Amalie Iuel, Norway, 400-meter hurdles
Yemi John, Great Britain, 4×400-meter relay
Jasmine Jones, USA, 400-meter hurdles: All of 22 years old, Jones has rapidly ascended among the national hierarchy in the 400 hurdles, focusing on the event for the first time in her collegiate career at USC in 2023. Her PR as a junior was 56.17 seconds, good enough for seventh on USC’s all-time list. By this spring, however, the Atlanta native had blazed to a personal-best and meet-record time of 53.15 seconds at the NCAA Championships in early June.
Lanae Tava-Thomas, Jamaica, 200 meters
Twanisha Terry, USA, 100 meters: The 25-year-old Terry has burst onto the national scene ever since her freshman year at USC, breaking the school record for the women’s 100 at the Mt. SAC relays. A native of Miami, Florida, Terry will compete against training partner and prospective favorite Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100 in Paris.
Gianna Woodruff, Panama, 400-meter hurdles
Nicole Yeargin, Great Britain, 4×400-meter relay
WATER POLO, MEN’S
Hannes Daube, USA, attacker: The 24-year-old Daube was a staple of USC’s program in his time in the pool, earning All-America First Team honors in his freshman season in helping lead the Trojans to an NCAA title. An Orange Lutheran product before USC, he’ll head into Paris for his second Olympics as one of Team USA’s top-scoring threats.
Blake Edwards, Australia, attacker
Lachlan Edwards, Australia, center forward
Kostas Genidounias, Greece, attacker
Jacob Mercep, Australia, attacker
Nic Porter, Australia, goalie
Marko Vavic, USA, attacker: Before Varsity Blues rocked USC, the 25-year-old Vavic, a Palos Verdes native, was part of a proud Trojan water-polo family legacy. BrotherNikola Vavic became the men’s program’s all-time top scorer, while sister Monica dominated for four years in the pool for the women’s program. Brother Stefan, too, went to USC to play water polo. But after USC fired father Jovan Vavic in the wake of his indictment in a national college admissions scandal, later convicted in 2022, son Vavic – an Olympian at Tokyo in 2020 – told the Associated Press in 2021 he couldn’t play college water polo as USC was investigating a possible admissions infraction. Three years later, after his college career came to an end, he’ll represent Team USA in Paris for a second consecutive Olympics.
WATER POLO, WOMEN’S
Emily Ausmus, USA, attacker: The 18-year-old incoming USC freshman from Riverside is the youngest player on Team USA, a phenom in the water polo world. It seems a daunting challenge, but Ausmus has been playing up all her life. A Riverside King High graduate who was named the Press-Enterprise’s IE Varsity Girls Water Polo Player of the Year in 2023, she was first selected a member of the USA Youth National Team when she was 12.
Verica Bakoc, Canada, attacker
Anni Espar, Spain, attacker
Kaleigh Gilchrist, USA, attacker: The 32-year-old Gilchrist grew up surfing in Newport Beach and taking to the pool for water polo, and simply never stopped. In one of the more unique journeys of any Olympic athlete, she’s both a two-time Olympian in water polo and a professional surfer, prepping at Newport Harbor High while winning back-to-back Surfing America titles, according to Surfer.
Tilly Kearns, Australia, center forward
Amanda Longan, USA, goalkeeper: A Southern California native through and through, playing at Oaks Christian High before she arrived at USC, the 27-year-old Longan has been a winning anchor from the goal at every stop – first a Moorpark native who led Oaks Christian to its first Tri-Valley League championship in school history, then winning two national titles with USC and helping the women’s national team to a gold medal in Tokyo.
TrojanDailyBlog members — We always encourage you to add factual information, insight, divergent opinions, or new topics to the TDBthat don’t necessarily pertain to any particular moderator post or member comment.
