Longhorns Bring Home 16 Medals from the 2024 Paris Olympics

By Trinity Flaten in Sept | Oct 2024, TXEX on September 1, 2024 at 1:19 am | No Comments

With Texas being named the No. 1 Athletic Department in the nation by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics—winning the Directors’ Cup for the third time in four years—it’s no surprise that Longhorn athletes are meant for an international stage.

This July and August, 37 Longhorns—seven coaches and 30 athletes, representing 16 countries across 12 sports—attended the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Fourteen Longhorns, both current students and Texas Exes, represented Team USA in Paris. The esteemed athletes competed in seven sports: track and field, basketball, volleyball, golf, rowing, swimming, and diving.

The Olympic rings in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Making a Splash

Half of the Longhorns in Paris competed in swimming or diving events, giving credence to the argument that UT is a swimming and diving school.

Alison Gibson, BS ’20, MA ’21, Life Member, and Drew Kibler, BA ’22, both returned for their second Olympic Games, after qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Back in 2021, Gibson earned eighth in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard, and Kibler earned fourth in the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. This year, Gibson competed in the 3-meter springboard, while Kibler returned to the 4×200 free relay, with fellow Longhorns Carson Foster and Luke Hobson together winning silver for the four-man team. Hobson also earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter free.

“It’s amazing, swimming in front of this amazing crowd. It’s one of the coolest feelings ever, and I can’t be happier,” Hobson told NBC’s Olympics broadcast while still in his burnt-orange and black UT swim cap and out of breath after his qualifying race.

Hobson isn’t the only Longhorn who carries his school pride to competitions. In the Paris La Défense Arena, Foster sported a Longhorn tattoo on the left side of his ribcage. Foster, who first drew attention for breaking Michael Phelps’ 100-meter butterfly national age-group record for swimmers 10 years old and under, competed in the 200-meter individual medley and won bronze in the 400-meter individual medley.

Rising sophomore Aaron Shackell—son of Nicholas Shackell, who represented Great Britain in the 1996 Atlanta Games—only transferred to UT this May but is already proving his mettle. Shackell qualified for the 400-meter freestyle.

“Ever since I learned my dad was an Olympian, I’ve always wanted to be an Olympian myself,” Shackell said to NBC Olympics. “It wasn’t always easy. For a long time, I wasn’t very good at swimming, and I honestly didn’t like it until a few years ago.”

The only Longhorn women’s swimmer to qualify for Team USA was Erin Gemmell. Gemmell is the daughter of Barbara Harris and Bruce Gemmell, both of whom are no strangers to the Olympics, with Barbara swimming at two Team USA trials and Bruce coaching at the Rio Games. Bruce trained Katie Ledecky, who would become Gemmell’s childhood idol. (Gemmell even dressed up as the fellow swimmer for Halloween when she was 8 years old.) This year, Gemmell swam with her hero on the 4×200 free relay team, together winning a silver medal for Team USA.

Unlike the rest of his fellow Longhorns on Team USA, rising senior David Johnston qualified for two long-distance swims. Though he was able to race in the 1,500-meter freestyle, he had to withdraw from the open-water 10-kilometer swim after contracting COVID-19.

Chiaka Ogbogu at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup, Sept. 24, 2019.

Big Names

There are many Longhorn Olympians who have become famous—within Longhorn Nation or even globally—because of their sporting careers, their many Olympic appearances, or their social media presence.

Ryan Crouser, BA ’15, MSF ’16, known to many as the Longhorn shot put guy, attended his third Olympics, becoming the first ever to win three consecutive gold medals in the shot put. He also held onto both the world and Olympic throwing records, proving his total dominance of the sport.

Kevin Durant, ’07, arguably one of the most famous Longhorn athletes, returned for his fourth Olympics since qualifying for his first in 2012. Durant and his team have won gold at the past three Summer Olympics, tying him with Carmelo Anthony as the only men’s basketball player to win three Olympic gold medals. When Durant won his fourth gold, he became the only man to do so.

Durant in the Big 12 men’s basketball championship, March 11, 2007.

Tara Davis-Woodhall, BS ’21, qualified for her second Olympics in the long jump event. She is known for her content on TikTok and YouTube, where she catalogues her and her husband’s—three-time Paralympic medalist Hunter Woodhall—training and life together.

Chiaka Ogbogu, BS ’17, joined Team USA Volleyball for the second time, after earning gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Ogbogu has played professional volleyball in Turkey, Italy, and Poland and has represented the U.S. before on the Women’s Collegiate National Team.

Though Scottie Scheffler, too, is at the top of his game, these were his first Olympics. Scheffler, BBA ’18, is currently ranked No. 1 in the world for the PGA Tour—and took home the gold in the individual stroke play event in Paris.

“It’d be a nice little thing to be able to trash talk my buddies about when they say golfers aren’t athletes, and I can claim I’m an Olympian,” Scheffler told USA Today.

Scheffler as a student in match play against the University of Oklahoma iin the NCAA men’s golf semifinals, May 31, 2016.

Dreams Come True

With Texas Rowing winning its third national championship in four years, it’s almost a guarantee that rowers represent some of our 14 Olympians.

Both Kate Knifton, BBA ’22, and Mary “Daisy” Mazzio-Manson, MSM ’21, rowed for Team USA in Paris. They are only the second and third Longhorns to compete in rowing at the Olympic level, following assistant coach Gia Doonan, BS ’17, Life Member, who competed in the Tokyo Olympics.

“Representing Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics is a dream come true,” Knifton wrote in an Instagram post. “A special shoutout to my teammates, coaches, and staff at Texas Rowing for inspiring my love for the sport and pushing me to be the best version of myself on and off the water … Go USA and Hook ’em!”