Over the next two weeks, athletes from around the world will compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Many of them have ties to Jesuit colleges and universities: from students and alumni, to coaches and administrators, Jesuit-educated athletes will be found on the court, in the pool, and on the field!
Team USA will be represented by Jesuit-educated alumni and former student-athletes in multiple sports:
Women’s Sailing: Erika Reineke (Boston College)
Women’s Beach Volleyball: Taryn Kloth (Creighton University)
Men’s Soccer: Duncan McGuire (Creighton University), Patrick Schulte (Saint Louis University)
Women’s Triathlon: Kirsten Kasper (Georgetown University)
Men’s Volleyball: Thomas Jaeschke and Jeff Jendryk (Loyola University Chicago)
Women’s Speed Climbing: Piper Kelly (Xavier University)
If you’re watching a men’s or women’s basketball game over the next two weeks, the chances are very high that you will see a former (or current!) Gonzaga University player on the courts! In men’s basketball, former player Rui Hachimura is playing for Team Japan; alumni Andrew Nembhard and Kelly Olynyk are playing for Team Canada; and former player Filip Petrusev is playing for Team Serbia. In women’s basketball, current student-athlete, Yvonne Ejim, will play for Team Canada, while in women’s 3×3 basketball, alum Sunny Greinacher is playing for Team Germany and former player Kacie Bosch is playing for Team Canada.
Many other nations are being represented by our alumni, as well as several current and future students! Click on the following links to learn more:
- Men’s Swimming (Team Nepal): Alexander “Alex” Gadegaard Shah (Fordham University)
- Women’s Basketball (Team Puerto Rico): Brianna Jones (Georgetown University)
- Women’s 3×3 Basketball (Team Canada): Katherine Plouffe (Marquette University)
- Men’s Rowing (Team Angola): André Matias (Georgetown University)
- Men’s Track and Field (Team Trinidad and Tobago): Jaden Marchan (Georgetown University)
- Men’s Basketball (Team Spain): Santi Aldama (Loyola University Maryland)
- Women’s Beach Volleyball (Team Paraguay): Giuliana Poletti Corrales (Loyola Marymount University)
- Track and Field
- Women’s Steeplechase: Team Great Britain (Lizzie Bird, University of San Francisco), Team Germany (Lea Meyer, University of San Francisco)
- Women’s Marathon: Team Germany (Laura Hottenrott, Boston College), Team Israel (Maor Tiyouri, University of San Francisco)
On the coaching side, Coach Ralf Bissdorf of Boston College will coach for Team USA’s women’s fencing team; Coach Mark Few of Gonzaga University will serve as an assistant coach for Team USA’s men’s basketball team; and Fairfield University alumnus Tom Siddall (now a coach for Harvard University) will coach for Team USA’s Paralympics Rowing Team.
The 2024 Paralympics (to be held immediately after the Olympics) will feature two more Jesuit school connections! Fairfield University alumni Matthew Torres and Colleen Young will compete for Team USA in men’s and women’s swimming, respectively, while Saint Louis University assistant professor of occupational science and occupational therapy, Sarah Adam, OTD, will be the first woman to compete for Team USA in wheelchair rugby.
In addition to those participating in competition, several alumni will be covering the Olympics as broadcasters and reporters, including Loyola Marymount University alumnus and gold medalist Paul Sunderland, and Santa Clara University alumna Danielle Slaton for NBC Sports, and Saint Joseph’s University alumnus Brendan Quinn for The Athletic.
Alumni (and other members of our college and university communities) are working behind the scenes in many other ways, including Canisius University alumna Elizabeth Ramsey, executive director of Team USA’s Athletes’ Commission; Fordham University alumna Aude Sainte-Rose, project manager for legal and artistic coordination of the Olympic and Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies; Marquette University law professor, Matthew Mitten, Court of Arbitration for Sport Anti-Doping Division arbitrator; and College of the Holy Cross student Shaye Callanan, a hospitality intern with the Client Services team for the 2024 NBCUniversal Summer Olympics Internship Program in Paris.
Olympic Nostalgia! The 2024 Summer Olympics have provided a great opportunity for several schools to look back at past connections to the games, including Canisius University, Creighton University, Georgetown University and the University of Detroit Mercy. And Loyola Marymount University is already looking ahead to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which will feature a logo designed by law school alumnus Bobby Kim of the clothing line, The Hundreds!
Please send any additional names to AJCU’s Vice President of Communications, Deanna Howes Spiro: dhowes@ajcunet.edu.