By Maegen Manning
Credit: Mark Selders | Penn State. Creative Commons
Many of the athletes competing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris are proud Nittany Lions. According to The Daily Collegian, there will be 28 Penn State former and current student-athletes competing at the Olympics across 12 different disciplines. Of those Olympians,18 are part of the Team USA roster. The remaining 10 will represent other countries’ teams.
Nine athletes are current Penn State students
Athletes Phia Glaudiex (Field Hockey) and Alexis Holmes (Track & Field) are the only two current Penn State students representing Team USA at the Olympics. The other six current students — Mohammed Miset (Men’s Soccer), Eduardo Cisternas (Swimming), Emma Harvey (Swimming), Jack Harvey (Swimming), Cheickna Traore (Track & Field) and Handal Roban (Track & Field) — will all be representing other countries, including Mali, Chile, Bermuda, Ivory Coast and Vincent & the Grenadines. One current student-athlete, Jenny Rizzo (Field Hockey), will serve as an alternate for Team USA.
Nineteen athletes are former Penn State students
The 15 former Nittany Lions representing Team USA include Margherita Guzzi-Vincenti (Fencing), Miles Chamley-Watson (Fencing), Stephen Nedoroscik (Men’s Gymnastics), Aaron Russell (Men’s Volleyball), Matt Anderson (Men’s Volleyball), Max Holy (Men’s Volleyball), Kayla Canett (Rugby), Joe Kovacs (Track & Field), Alyssa Naeher (Women’s Soccer), Sam Coffey (Women’s Soccer), Ali Frantti (Women’s Volleyball), Haleigh Washington (Women’s Volleyball), Micha Hancock (Women’s Volleyball), Aaron Brooks (Wrestling) and Zain Retherford (Wrestling).
The four former Nittany Lions representing other countries — the Philippines, Canada and Mexico — are Samantha Catantan (Fencing), Sam Zakutney (Men’s Gymnastics), Gabe Castaño (Swimming) and Roman Bravo-Young (Wrestling).
In all, Penn Staters will represent nine different countries, though Team USA leads with 18 Nittany Lions on the roster. Following, Mexico and Bermuda will each have two Nittany Lions on their teams.
