Central Ohio athletes headed to the 2024 Paris Olympics
The 2024 Paris Olympics are approaching quickly.
From July 26-Aug. 11, the sports world will be centered on Paris, as top athletes from around the world compete for their countries. And heading into the Summer Games, central Ohio will have its fair share of connections on Team USA and beyond.
Olympians with central Ohio connections heading into the Paris games
Note: This story will be updated as athletes qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Katelyn Abeln: Pistol
Katelyn Abeln, a Douglasville, Georgia, native, was an All-American in air pistol, standard pistol and short pistol while at Ohio State and helped the Buckeyes win four national championships. She was an individual national champion in sport pistol, women's sport pistol and women's two gun aggregate.
Abeln will represent Team USA and make her Olympic debut in the women's 25-meter sport pistol and women's 10-meter air pistol.
Fares Arfa: Fencing
While Fares Arfa has represented the Canadian National Fencing Team in two Pan American games, Paris 2024 will be the former Ohio State fencer's first Olympics.
He won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in team sabre after he finished third in the 2017 NCAA Championships for Ohio State. He finished fifth overall in 2016.
Hunter Armstrong: Swimming
Hunter Armstrong is returning to Team USA for his second Olympic Games.
In 2020, Armstrong won gold with the 4x100-meter medley relay team and finished ninth in the 100-meter backstroke.
Armstrong, who was named Ohio State's 2021-22 male athlete of the year and is a Dover, Ohio native, broke the 50-meter backstroke record at the 2022 Phillips 66 U.S. International Team Trials with a time of 23.71. He is a five-time Big Ten champion.
In 2024, Armstrong will race in the 4x100-meter relay and the 100-meter backstroke.
Duan Asemota: Track & Field
A former USTFCCCA first-team All-American and Ohio State record holder in the 4x100-meter relay, Duan Asemota will run the 100-meter dash for Canada in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Asemota is coming off a first-place finish in the 100-meter at the Canadian Championships in July 2023, and finished first in the Bob Vigars Classic in London in May, winning in 10.03 seconds.
Alex Axon: Swimming
Ohio State sophomore Alex Axon will represent Team Canada.
Axon earned the spot in May after he won the 200 free in 1:47.56, his personal-best time in the event. He also won gold in the 400 free in 3:50.10.
It will be Axon's first appearance at the Olympics.
Leah Bertrand: Track & Field
An Ohio State All-American will represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Paris Olympics.
Leah Bertrand will run in the 100-meter and the 4x100-meter relay in her first Olympics. She was the 2024 outdoor Big Ten champion in each event after she helped break the Big Ten 4x100-meter meet record in 2023. She is a three-time outdoor All-Big Ten first-team member.
At the Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Bertrand ran the 100-meter in 11.08 seconds.
Simone Biles: Gymnastics
While Simone Biles was raised in Spring, Texas, outside of Houston, she was born in Columbus in March 1997.
Biles has turned into one of the most decorated gymnasts in U.S. history after winning four gold medals in the floor exercise, vault, all-around and team segments at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. At the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Biles won a silver medal in the team event and added a bronze in the balance beam.
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Biles has spent 11 of the past 13 years on Team USA and will go to Paris as the United States all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise champion.
Maximilien Chastanet: Fencing
A former NCAA fencing champion from Ohio State will represent France at the Paris Olympics.
Maximilien Chastanet, who won the 2016 NCAA title in men's foil, and placed third in the 2017 NCAA championships, is ranked as the No. 37 fencer in the world according to the International Fencing Federation. He most recently finished seventh at the Zone Championships in Basel, Switzerland in June.
Aina Cid: Rowing
A former Ohio State rower is returning to the Olympic Games.
Aina Cid will represent Spain in her third Olympics. Cid finished in sixth place in both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics in the coxless pairs women's competition.
In her time with the Ohio State rowing team, Cid had an undefeated race record.
Nikki Dzurko: Artistic swimming
Nikki Dzurko will represent Team USA in artistic swimming after a storied career at Ohio State.
Dzurko was a four-time collegiate All-American and a three-time scholar-athlete at Ohio State. Dzurko, a Los Gatos, California, native, helped the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2022 and finished as an individual and duet national champion in the 2023 U.S. Collegiate Championships.
In the 2024 World Aquatic Championships, Dzurko finished as a bronze medalist in the team event.
Annette Echikunwoke: Track
Annette Echikunwoke, a former Pickerington North track athlete, won the hammer throw at the U.S. Olympic Trials June 23. It will be her first Olympic Games.
Echikunwoke finished third in the Ohio Division 1 state championships at Pickerington North before becoming an NCAA champion in the weight throw at Cincinnati in 2017, the program's first national championship.
Emma Finlin: Swim
Emma Finlin will enroll at Ohio State in the fall. But when she gets to Columbus, she will already be an Olympic swimmer.
Finlin qualified to represent Canada with a 24th-place finish in the 10-kilometer open water swim at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.
Scarlett Finn: Artistic Swimming
Scarlett Finn is one of three former Ohio State synchronized swimmers who will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer.
Finn will represent Canada after helping the national team to a bronze finish at the 2023 Pan American Games. In 2024, Finn helped Canada to a bronze finish in team acrobatic, and silvers in the team technical and team free at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup.
Blake Haxton: Canoeing
Blake Haxton will be in Paris for his third Paralympic Games, representing Team USA on its canoeing team.
Haxton also competed for Team USA in the past two Paralympic Games in rowing and was a silver medalist in the Tokyo Games. He placed fourth at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Haxton is a former United States Rowing Male Athlete of the Year and was the first para athlete to win the award.
Eleanor Harvey: Fencing
Eleanor Harvey is back on the Canadian National Team for her third Olympic Games.
The Ohio State graduate defeated the world's No. 1 fencer to advance to the foil quarterfinals in Rio 2016 before finishing in seventh - Canada's best-ever Olympic result in individual fencing. In Tokyo 2020, Harvey reached the Table of 16 in individual foil and helped Canada to a fifth-place team finish.
At Ohio State, Harvey won an NCAA title in 2016.
Lena Hentschel: Diving
Ohio State rising junior Lena Hentschel will participate in her second Olympic Games for Germany.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, Hentschel, from Berlin, won a bronze medal in 3-meter synchronized diving.
At Ohio State, Hentschel was a College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association second-team All-American in both the 1-meter and 3-meter. She was also a member of the All-Big Ten second team and an OSU scholar-athlete.
Keana Hunter: Artistic Swimming
Keana Hunter, an Ohio State synchronized swimmer, will represent the United States in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hunter was a 2024 World Aquatic Championship bronze medalist in the acrobatic team competition.
Tristan Jankovics: Swim
Tristan Jankovics, an Ohio State junior, qualified to represent Canada in the 2024 Olympics. Paris will be Jankovics' Olympics debut after he won the 400-meter individual medley at the Olympic Swimming Trials in May.
Jankovics is the first Canadian to qualify for the men's 400-meter individual medley at the Olympics since 2012.
Jankovics qualified for the 400-yard individual medley at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Shilese Jones: Gymnastics
Shilese Jones, who was born in Auburn, Washington, moved to Columbus following the 2014 season to work with coach Christian Gallardo, who was training former Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas.
Jones is a 2023 World team champion and was a bronze medalist in the all-around and uneven bars events.
Ada Korkhin: Pistol
One season into her Ohio State pistol career, Ada Korkhin made Team USA.
Korkhin, a Brookline, Massachusetts, native, qualified for the Olympics in 25-meter women's sport pistol after finishing second in the U.S. Olympic Trials. She was the champion at air pistol in the 2024 Intercollegiate Pistol Championships.
Joe Kovacs: Shot put
Joe Kovacs is returning to the Olympics.
The Columbus resident and two-time Olympic silver medalist finished second in the shot put at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials with a throw of 22.34 meters.
At the Olympics in Tokyo, Kovacs, a Penn State graduate, threw a distance of 74 feet, 3¾ inches.
Henry Leverett: Pistol
Henry Leverett will participate in his second Olympic Games in men's rapid pistol. He was on Team USA for the 2021 games in Tokyo.
Leverett, from Bainbridge, Georgia, has been on three national championship teams at Ohio State and won a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games. He is a former first-team All-American in air, sport and standard pistol.
McKenzie Long: Track
The United States track & field team will have multiple athletes with central Ohio connections.
McKenzie Long, a former Ohio state champion in the indoor 60-meter dash out of Pickerington Central High School, made Team USA after qualifying for the 200-meter team. Long is a former NCAA champion in both the 100 and the 200, and ran the best 200 time in the world this season during her NCAA championships performance in Eugene, Oregon for Mississippi.
Ciara McGing: Diving
Ciara McGing will dive in her first Olympic Games.
McGing will represent Ireland in the women's 10-meter platform dive. She graduated from Ohio State in the spring as a former Academic All-Big Ten award winner and as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.
Tomas Navikonis: Swimming
Tomas Navikonis will represent both Ohio State and Lithuania in Paris.
Navikonis earned his place with a seventh-place finish in the 4x200 freestyle relay at the World Aquatics Championships in February finishing the relay in 7:11.47.
It will be Navikonis' first Olympics.
Sade Olatoye: Track & Field
A six-time individual Big Ten champion in shot put and weight throw for Ohio State and Dublin native will represent Nigeria at the Paris Olympics.
Sade Olatoye is the No. 22 women's hammer thrower in the world and is No. 37 in women's shot put.
She a gold medal in the 2022 African Championships in the hammer throw, and is coming off a silver medal finish in the 2023 African Games in Ghana.
Nichelle Prince: Soccer
Nichelle Prince, an Ohio State graduate will return to the Olympics for the third time in Paris.
Prince was on Team Canada when it won the gold medal in Tokyo 2020. She assisted the game-winning goal against Chile in the preliminary round and started in five of the team's six games, including the final.
Prince was a substitute in Rio 2016.
In four years with the Buckeyes, Prince was an All-Big Ten second-team member and finished her career with 27 goals.
Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino: Rowing
Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino will represent France in Paris 2024.
Ravera-Scaramozzino will be in her third Olympics after finishing fifth in the women's double sculls at Rio 2016, and eighth at Tokyo 2020.
Ruby Remati: Artistic Swimming
Ruby Remati had a lot of success in her two seasons on Ohio State's synchronized swim team. She helped the Buckeyes to two national championships in 2022 and 2023, earned All-American honors and was named to the USAAS All-Collegiate team.
And while she helped Team USA qualify a duet during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the 2024 Paris Olympics will be her first.
Remati also won silver medal honors at the 2023 Pan American Games in both duet and team.
Kristen Romano: Swimming
A former Ohio State swimmer will represent Team Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kristen Romano won the 200 IM at the Atlanta Classic (2:13.09) to earn a spot on her first Olympic team. Romano set four school records with the Buckeyes in the 200-meter backstroke, 200-meter freestyle, 800-meter free relay and the 400-meter free relay, and is a former CSCAA first-team All-American.
Patrick Schulte: Soccer
The Crew's goalkeeper is heading to Paris.
Patrick Schulte was named to the United States men's national team. He has been called up to the USMNT U-23 June training camp and started in a friendly against Japan June 11.
Kyle Snyder: Wrestling
One of the most accomplished wrestlers in Ohio State history is returning to the Olympics.
Kyle Snyder, a four-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion at heavyweight, will wrestle in his third Olympics in Paris. He is the youngest world champion and Olympic gold medalist in United States wrestling history after his performance at the 2016 games in Rio. He won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Snyder is the youngest wrestler to win the world, NCAA and Olympic championships.
Snyder was also a three-time All-Big Ten honoree and was Ohio State's male athlete of the year in 2016-17. He has 42 international wrestling competition medals.
Maycey Vieta: Diving
Maycey Vieta, a Gahanna Lincoln graduate from Blacklick, qualified for the Olympics in 10-meter diving for Puerto Rico. She finished in ninth place at the World Aquatics Championships.
A former Ohio state champion and a two-time runner-up, Vieta was an All-American platform diver at Purdue and was a Big Ten champion as a senior. She is the first Purdue female diver to qualify for the Olympics since 2008.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio connections to 2024 Paris Olympics
