Eight athletes with Cincinnati ties will compete at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics this summer. Of those, six will represent Team USA.
The Tokyo Games are set to run from July 23 to Aug. 8 with 339 events in 33 different sports taking place in the two-week span. Here's the athletes with connections to Cincinnati who will compete:
Rose Lavelle: United States Women's National Soccer Team
Mount Notre Dame alumna Rose Lavelle will earn her first Olympic appearance this summer with the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team. Lavelle was born in Cincinnati and graduated from Mount Notre Dame in 2013.
Lavelle scored for USWNT in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals and is one of seven first-time Olympians on the Tokyo roster for U.S. Women's Soccer.
Lavelle and the team will open Group G play on July 21 – two days before the Olympic Opening Ceremony– against Sweden at Tokyo Stadium.
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Duke Ragan: USA Boxing Featherweight (125 lbs)
Duke Ragan of Cincy Golden Gloves will represent USA Boxing in Tokyo. Ragan is one of three Ohio natives on the USA Boxing Olympic roster (Delante Johnson, Cleveland and Oshae Jones, Toledo.)
As a professional boxer he has a 4-0 record with one KO. Ragan placed second at the 2017 Elite World Championships.
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Max Holt: USA Men's Volleyball
Max Holt of Purcell Marian High School will record his second Olympic appearance this summer with the United States Men's Volleyball squad. In 2016, Holt and the team earned a bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro.
Holt graduated from Purcell Marian in 2005 and went on to play volleyball at Penn State University. He has three World Championship appearances. The U.S. men are ranked No. 3 in the world.
Jordan Thompson: USA Women's Volleyball
University of Cincinnati alumna Jordan Thompson will compete with USA Women's Volleyball this summer. Thompson will be the first former UC student-athlete to compete in an Olympic volleyball event.
Thompson recorded a decorated tenure during her time as a Bearcat. She broke a UC school record for single-season kills (827) and broke the NCAA record for kills per set (6.27) both in 2018. She is from Edina, Minnesota.
Zach Apple: USA Swimming
Edgewood High School graduate Zach Apple will compete with USA Swimming in Tokyo. Apple graduated from Edgewood High School in 2015.
Apple earned a spot on the Olympic roster with a runner-up finish in the 100-meter freestyle during the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials.
Lawrence Sapp: Paralympic Swimming
Current University of Cincinnati student Lawrence Sapp will head to Tokyo with the United States Paralympic Swimming team. Sapp swims on the club team at UC and has competed with the U.S. National Team since 2017.
At the Paralympic Trails in Minneapolis, Sapp broke two American records in the 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley.
Vanessa Gilles: Canadian Women's National Soccer Team
Former Bearcat Vanessa Gilles will represent Canada on the country's Women's National Soccer Team. Gilles played soccer for UC from 2014-2017.
As a junior in 2016, Gilles was the first UC woman to earn all-conference accolades in both the preseason and postseason. She scored 17 total goals during her time as a Bearcat.
Annette Echikunwoke: Nigeria Track & Field Hammer Throw
Annette Echikunwoke, who won an NCAA Title while at the University of Cincinnati, will represent Nigeria at the Tokyo games. Echikunwoke is currently a volunteer coach for UC.
Echikunwoke was the NCAA Indoor Track and Field weight throw champion in 2017. She is the only track and field national champion in UC history. She won the Nigerian national trails title with a 72.07 meter throw to qualify her for Tokyo.
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