Olympic Bearcats

A number of past, present and future University of Cincinnati athletes will represent countries across the globe in a variety of sports at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games.

Meet the newest class of UC Olympic athletes.

Sport: Women’s volleyball
Country: USA
Hometown: Edina, Minnesota
UC connection: Alumna (CECH ’18, M ’20)

More to know: Already an Olympic champion, Thompson competed in the Tokyo 2020 Games (which took place in 2021), where she made history as part of Team USA’s first indoor volleyball team to win gold. Thompson was the sixth Bearcat to bring home a gold medal and started her professional career in Turkey in 2020.

UPDATE
Bringing home another medal: Thompson and Team USA claimed silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Thompson becomes the first Bearcat to win a medal at multiple Olympic Games. Read more.

Sport: Women’s track and field — hammer throw
Country: USA
Hometown: Pickerington, Ohio
UC connection: Alumna (A&S ’18, Bus ’19)

More to know: Echikunwoke is UC’s first national champion in track and field. She originally qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, representing Nigeria, but due to an error by the country, she did not compete. Four years later, she’s back at the Olympics, this time for Team USA. Echikunwoke is the 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Awards - UC Athletics.

UPDATE
Silver medalist: Echikunwoke secured silver in the women's hammer throw at the 2024 Summer Games. She is the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in the hammer throw. Read more about her historic win.

Sport: Women’s soccer
Country: Canada
Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario
UC connection: Alumna (CECH ’18)

More to know:  Like Thompson, Gilles also competed in the last Summer Olympics — and brought home gold, becoming the fifth UC Bearcat to do so. She was a 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Awards - UC Athletics. Gilles was originally a competitive tennis player, but switched to soccer at age 16.

Sport: Men’s track — 100-meter dash
Country: Haiti
UC connection: Alumnus (A&S '22)

Sport: Men’s track — 100-meter dash
Country: St. Kitts & Nevis
UC connection: Current graduate student

Sport: Men’s diving — 10-meter dive
Country: Egypt
UC connection: Incoming first-year student

The Summer Games run Friday, July 26 to Sunday, Aug. 11.

The 2024 Paris games kick off with the opening ceremony on the Seine River July 26.

The Summer Games will be broadcast on NBC and Telemundo and streaming on Peacock, Hulu and other platforms.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be available on the NBC Olympics website.

Follow UC Olympics and other athletics coverage at gobearcats.com.

Mary Wineberg (Ed ’02)
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Sport: Track — 4x400-meter relay

Jenny Kemp (att ’75)
Year: 1972
Country: USA
Sport: Swimming — 4x100 freestyle relay

George Wilson (Ed ’64)
Year: 1964
Country: USA
Sport: Basketball

Oscar Robertson (Bus ’60, HonDoc ’07)
Year: 1960
Country: USA
Sport: Basketball

David Payne (att ’04)
Year: 2008
Country: USA
Sport: Track — 110-meter hurdles

Tina Gustafsson (att ’82)
Year: 1980
Country: Sweden
Sport: Swimming — 4x100 freestyle relay

Michelle MacPherson (Ed ’90)
Year: 1984
Country: Canada
Sport: Swimming — 4x100 medley relay
1980 Canadian Olympic team

Ted Corbitt (Ed ’42)
Year: 1952
Country: USA
Sport: Track
First black U.S. marathoner in Olympic history

Kelly Salchow MacArthur (DAAP ’96)
Year: 2000, 2004
Country: USA
Sport: Rowing — Quadruple sculls

Becky Ruehl (DAAP ’00)
Year: 1996
Country: USA
Sport: Diving — Platform
Finished fourth place

Nicole Hayes (A&S ’07)
Year: 2000
Country: Palau
Sport: Swimming — 100-meter freestyle

Carlo Piccio (Bus ’05)
Year: 2000
Country: Philippines
Sport: Swimming — 400-meter individual medley; 1,500-meter freestyle

Jeppe Nielsen (A&S ’98)
Year: 2000
Country: Denmark
Sport: Swimming — 800 freestyle relay

Honza Vitazka (Bus ’99)
Year: 2000
Country: Czech Republic
Sport: Swimming — 100 butterfly, 200 and 400 individual medley

Pelle Wikstrom (att ’82)
Year: 1980
Country: Sweden
Sport: Swimming — 100 and 200 freestyle

Joe Morris (Eng ’17)
Year: 1912
Country: USA
Sport: Swimming — 100-meter freestyle

Sharon Moore Furlong (A&S ’74) qualified for the 1980 U.S Olympic volleyball team but never got to compete because the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Games.

Cheryl Cook (Ed ’85) helped the U.S. basketball team win gold at the 1983 Pan American Games and silver at world championships, but an ankle injury during Olympic tryouts stopped her from making the 1984 team.

While UC Hall of Famer and track star Lewis Johnson (A&S ’92, HonDoc ’17) never made it to the Olympics as an athlete, he’s covered the games as a broadcaster for NBC since 2000. Paris will mark his 13th Olympics.

• WLWT: UC professor watches his former swimmer win Olympic medal
• Sports Illustrated: Look: Multiple Bearcats Competing In 2024 Summer Olympic Games
• The Cincinnati Enquirer: 6 Cincinnati Bearcats will be in Paris competing in 2024's Summer Olympics
• WLWT: Repping Cincy: These current, former Bearcats are going to Paris Olympics