USC in Paris: Meet the Trojans’ Olympians headed to the 2024 Summer Games

LOS ANGELES — Inside a pristine Newport Beach hotel ballroom in late April, where USC’s NIL collective House of Victory hosted a wide range of former athletic luminaries and deep-pocketed alumni for an event titled “Legends of Troy,” one of the greatest points of emphasis to donors was USC’s status as the pre-eminent Olympic university in the country.

And after a university-record 65 past, then-present and future USC students competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, USC is sending another impressive crop to Paris, with 63 athletes headed to represent countries around the world.

A wide range, too, enter as favorites in their respective fields. Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng, who once dazzled on the sand as partners at USC, will vie for the gold in women’s beach volleyball for Team USA. Michael Norman, the longtime Trojan track favorite who’s been steadily building momentum after a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 400 meters in Tokyo, will seek redemption. And former water polo standouts Amanda Longan, Emily Ausmus and Kaleigh Gilchrist will look to lead the USA women to a medal in the pool.

Here’s a primer on every USC athlete headed to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

ATHLETICS

Ashley Erasmus, South Africa, shot put

BASKETBALL, WOMEN’S

Amy Okonkwo, Nigeria, forward

BEACH VOLLEYBALL, MEN’S

Andy Benesh, USA: Not a few years ago, the 29-year-old Benesh was working as a financial advisor after hanging it up on the beach, making hundreds of cold calls a day. After feeling the burn to return to the sport, Benesh and partner Miles Partain – a 22-year-old former indoor setter at UCLA – enter Paris as the USA’s prominent team in the International Volleyball Federation’s world rankings. A local product from Palos Verdes who played four years of indoor volleyball at USC, it’ll be Benesh’s first Olympics.

Izac Carracher, Australia

BEACH VOLLEYBALL, WOMEN’S

Sophie Bukovec, Canada

Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, USA: Since the 29-year-old Hughes and 28-year-old Cheng re-paired in 2022, ending a hiatus after a dominant three-year beach partnership at USC, they’ve re-asserted themselves on a world stage behind an innovative option-style offense. The hometown duo – Hughes from Newport Beach, Cheng from Fullerton – won the 2023 Beach World Championships, becoming the first American women’s team to win such a title since 2009. That October win clinched them a slot in Paris, where Hughes and Cheng will try to topple top-ranked Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) and Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil.

Tina Graudina, Latvia

DIVING, WOMEN’S

Kate Miller, Canada, 10-meter, 10-meter synchro

INDOOR VOLLEYBALL, MEN’S

Micah Christenson, USA, setter: Known as one of the most creative setters in the world, the 31-year-old Christenson will play in his third Olympics for Team USA. The Honolulu, Hawaii, native was the back-to-back winner of the first two Lloy Ball Awards in 2014 and 2015 at USC, presented annually to the nation’s best setter. Fun fact – he and his wife Brooke Fournier are a Trojan power couple, as Fournier played beach volleyball at USC from 2013-14.

ROWING, WOMEN’S

Chloe Brew, Great Britain, women’s pair

Nikoline Laidlaw, Denmark, women’s eight

Radka Novotnikova, Czech Republich, women’s pair

Astrid Steensberg, Denmark, women’s four

SOCCER, WOMEN’S

Simi Awujo, Canada, midfielder

Nicole Payne, Nigeria, defender

SWIMMING, MEN’S

Dylan Carter, Trinidad and Tobago, 100-meter, 50-meter freestyle

Krzystof Chmielewski, Poland, 200-meter fly

Michal Chmielewski, Poland, 200-meter fly

Victor Johansson, Sweden, 800-meter freestyle

Vaggelis Makrygiannis, Greece, 100-meter backstroke

Nikola Miljenic, Croatia, 100-meter freestyle

Artem Selin, Germany, 50-meter freestyle

SWIMMING, WOMEN’S

Minna Abraham, Hungary, 200-meter freestyle

Noelani Day, Tonga, 50-meter freestyle

Anicka Delgado, Ecuador, 50-meter freestyle

Louise Hansson, Sweden, 100-meter breaststroke, 200-meter breaststroke

Kasia Wilk-Wasick, Poland, women’s 50-meter freestyle, women’s 4×100 freestyle relay

TRACK AND FIELD, MEN’S

Rai Benjamin, USA, 400-meter hurdles: The 26-year-old Benjamin was a Trojan for just one season after transferring from UCLA and later turning pro, but made his mark at USC in 2018, setting a then-collegiate record in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 47.02. Back for his second Olympics, the Mount Vernon, New York, native will lace up for a tantalizing matchup in Paris after beating Norway’s Karsten Warholm – also headed to the Olympics – in the men’s 400m at the Monaco Diamond League July 12 by .06 seconds. 

Chris Borzor, Haiti, 100-meter

Aaron Brown, Canada, 200-meter

Andre De Grasse, Canada, 100-meter, 200-meter, 4×100-meter relay

Michael Norman, USA, 400-meter: Three years ago, amid chatter he could shatter the world record in the men’s 400-meter, the 26-year-old Norman crossed the finish line at the Tokyo Olympics a distant fifth, his head stretched and bowed. Since that disappointment, the San Diego native has built steady momentum up to a redemption in Paris, claiming a first-place title at the 400-meter at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in 2022. Norman is one of the great track-and-field athletes in USC history, winning the 2018 NCAA title in the 400-meter and running on a 4×400-meter relay that set a then-collegiate record. 

Tade Ojora, Great Britain, 110-meter hurdles

Ayden Owens-Delerme, Puerto Rico, decathlon

Jordan Scott, Jamaica, triple jump

TRACK AND FIELD, WOMEN’S

Anna Cockrell, USA, 400-meter hurdles: The 26-year-old Cockrell left a legacy much larger than track-and-field at USC, as she bravely opened up on her struggles with mental health and depression in a 2019 commencement speech at USC’s student-athlete graduation, and in 2020 co-founded USC’s United Black Student-Athletes Association. After a lane violation led to a disqualification in her first Olympic foray in the Tokyo Games, Cockrell will look to rebound in Paris against a stacked field.

Kyra Constantine, Canada, 4×400-meter relay

Kendall Ellis, USA, 400-meter: In late June, an hour before she was set to race for a spot in the Olympics, the 28-year-old Ellis found herself trapped – inside the bathroom. She was stuck inside a Porta-Potty in Eugene, Oregon, banging on the door, as reported by the Associated Press. The 400-meter semifinal at the Olympic trials loomed, and Ellis was “crying and sweating,” as she later tweeted. After someone finally found her and let her out, Ellis sped to a personal-best and then won the final with a time of 49.46 seconds. It’ll set the native of Pembroke Pines, Florida, up as a top competitor in Paris, her second Olympics.

Lorea Ibarzabal, Spain, 800-meter

Amalie Iuel, Norway, 400-meter hurdles

Yemi John, Great Britain, 4×400-meter relay

Jasmine Jones, USA, 400-meter hurdles: All of 22 years old, Jones has rapidly ascended among the national hierarchy in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, focusing on the event for the first time in her collegiate career at USC in 2023. Her PR as a junior was 56.17 seconds, good enough for seventh on USC’s all-time list. By this spring, however, the Atlanta native had blazed to a personal-best and meet-record time of 53.15 seconds at the NCAA Championships in early June. 

Lanae Tava-Thomas, Jamaica, 200-meter

Twanisha Terry, USA, 100-meter: The 25-year-old Terry has burst onto the national scene ever since her freshman year at USC, breaking the school record for the women’s 100-meters at the Mt. SAC relays. A native of Miami, Florida, Terry will compete against training partner and prospective favorite Sha’Carri Richardson in the women’s 100-meter in Paris.

Gianna Woodruff, Panama, 400-meter hurdles

Nicole Yeargin, Great Britain, 4×400-meter relay

WATER POLO, MEN’S

Hannes Daube, USA, attacker: The 24-year-old Daube was a staple of USC’s program in his time in the pool, earning All-America First Team honors in his freshman season in helping lead the Trojans to an NCAA title. An Orange Lutheran product before USC, he’ll head into Paris for his second Olympics as one of Team USA’s top scoring threats.

Blake Edwards, Australia, attacker

Lachlan Edwards, Australia, center forward

Kostas Genidounias, Greece, attacker

Jacob Mercep, Australia, attacker

Nic Porter, Australia, goalie

Marko Vavic, USA, attacker: Before Varsity Blues rocked USC, the 25-year-old Vavic, a Palos Verdes native, was part of a proud Trojan water-polo family legacy. Brother Nikola Vavic became the men’s program’s all-time top scorer, while sister Monica dominated for four years in the pool for the women’s program. Brother Stefan, too, went to USC to play water polo. But after USC fired father Jovan Vavic in the wake of his indictment in a national college admissions scandal, later convicted in 2022, son Vavic – an Olympian at Tokyo in 2020 – told the Associated Press in 2021 he couldn’t play college water polo as USC was investigating a possible admissions infraction. Three years later, after his collegiate career came to an end, he’ll represent Team USA in Paris for a second consecutive Olympics.

WATER POLO, WOMEN’S

Emily Ausmus, USA, attacker: The 18-year-old incoming USC freshman from Riverside is the youngest player on Team USA, a phenom in the water polo world. It seems a daunting challenge, but Ausmus has been playing up all her life. A Riverside King High graduate who was named the Press-Enterprise’s IE Varsity Girls Water Polo Player of the Year in 2023, she was first selected a member of the USA Youth National Team when she was 12.

Verica Bakoc, Canada, attacker

Anni Espar, Spain, attacker

Kaleigh Gilchrist, USA, attacker: The 32-year-old Gilchrist grew up surfing in Newport Beach and taking to the pool for water polo, and simply never stopped. In one of the more unique journeys of any Olympic athlete, she’s both a two-time Olympian in water polo and a professional surfer, prepping at Newport Harbor High while winning back-to-back Surfing America titles, according to Surfer.

Tilly Kearns, Australia, center forward

Amanda Longan, USA, goalkeeper: A Southern California native through and through, playing at Oaks Christian High before she arrived at USC, the 27-year-old Longan has been a winning anchor from the goal at every stop – first a Moorpark native who led Oaks Christian to its first Tri-Valley League championship in school history, then winning two national titles with USC and helping the women’s national team to a gold medal in Tokyo.

Haley McKelvey, Canada, utility