What Olympic Events Do Olympians Want to Attend?
From gymnastics to swimming and breaking, interests of U.S. Olympians vary
Posted On: July 1, 2024 By :Some of the best athletes in the world in their respective sports will be in the spotlight during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games — but what events or things would they like to see and do when in Paris? SportsTravel has canvassed opinions from dozens of athletes between the Team USA Media Summit in mid-April in New York and since then in multiple media opportunities. Here’s a rundown.
Kenny Bednarek, track and field: “Basketball. That’s the one thing I wanted to watch (in Tokyo) but we didn’t get the opportunity to do that.”
Keira D’Amato, track and field: “I’m excited for swimming but also breaking. I can’t wait to see what that’s all about.”
Jourdan Delacruz, weightlifting: “I’m trying not to be overwhelmed. Opening and Closing (Ceremonies) for sure. I’m actually really excited to watch other sports … In these environments you can talk to other athletes and you can kind of relate but you also talk about the differences within each sport and the experience of getting to the Olympics.”
Tara Davis-Woodhall, track and field: “Definitely gymnastics. That was my first sport when I was 3, 4 years old. I aspire to be Simone Biles in another life.”
Crystal Dunn, soccer: “I love track, I love swimming, I love gymnastics. I’m down to get the job done [with soccer], but I love watching those sports, too. Hopefully I can see some of them.”
Joshua Edwards, boxing: “Definitely basketball. I’m a big basketball fan, so I want to see the USA team. I think both men’s and the women’s team, I like the women’s team this year too.”
Megumi Field, artistic swimming: “I think I want to talk to a bunch of the other athletes and get to know them a lot more. And hear everyone else’s story and see how inspiring they are.”
Ben Hallock, water polo: “I’ve never actually been to an Olympic swim race. I think going to a final race would be exciting with how quick it goes. Other than that, track and field — I play a sport where the referees are so involved that I love the pure sport in that definition of you have a start, you go as fast as you can, there’s no interference in any way.”
Ashleigh Johnson, water polo: “I’m not going to get to experience much about Paris because our tournament goes through the whole Games. It’ll just be game, training, game, training, but I’m excited for my family to be there since they couldn’t come to Tokyo. But I’ll be cheering for my friends in wrestling, crew, basketball. I’ve been watching March Madness, I watched the WNBA draft and I’m excited to see how those women do.”
Casey Kaufhold, archery: “I grew up doing gymnastics so that’s so much fun for me to watch. I definitely want to go watch women’s gymnastics. My mom is a big fan of tennis and she’s planning on going to the Games with me. I think it would be really cool to go watch some tennis matches with her. Some of the sports that I don’t know much about. I don’t know very much about equestrian. I see some clips of it on Instagram and I think it’s so cool.”
Lee Kiefer, fencing: “[My partner] Gerek and I are so aggressive when it comes to enjoying the Games — in Rio, we saw like 15 other events after we finished competing. In Paris, I want to see some of the newer events, like climbing and breaking, but I also think we might pick some based on the venues. There are so many cool venues — like some of the equestrian venues look amazing, so I think we’ll probably do that.”
Jordan Larson, volleyball: “Race walking. At my first Olympics, I saw them and it’s just amazing. The technique that goes into that? It’s fascinating. I couldn’t do that, no way. Not at all.”
Rose Lavelle, soccer: “I love Olympic gymnastics. That would be so cool. I also love basketball, I’m very passionate about it. Then track — track’s really fun. Then swimming. I guess I don’t have one answer.”
Suni Lee, gymnastics: “I want to see everything. I love meeting athletes and creating relationships with them, and it’s super fun being able to support them at the Games. Last time, we didn’t stay in the village, so staying in the village and interacting with people is something I’m really looking forward to. I want to see track, beach volleyball. I’m really interested in breakdancing.”
Brody Malone, gymnastics: “We didn’t stay in the village in Tokyo so I definitely want to do that. I want to get that experience; I want to be able to meet all the other athletes. All of them are pretty awesome. I missed out on that last time. Also, the cafeteria food, I didn’t get to experience that the last time and I’ve always heard super cool things about the cafeteria.”
Evan Medell, para taekwondo: “I think track and field, they have big stars on social media, they have big followings. When you have stars on the Para side of things, rising tides raise all boats.”
Fiona O’Keeffe, track and field: “I’m really excited to watch gymnastics and also rock climbing.”
Cheryl Reeve, basketball: “In Rio, I enjoyed track and field and I enjoyed beach volleyball.”
Emily Sonnett, women’s soccer: “The Japan Olympics was a little unique with no fans. You see the basketball players walking around (the village) and you don’t realize how big they are until you’re around them.”
Minna Stess, skateboarding: “Gymnastics. Growing up, I mostly watched gymnastics at the Olympics, and figure skating. I used to do gymnastics when I was younger, and then I quit because I didn’t want to wear a leotard.”
Breanna Stewart, basketball: “In Rio the traffic was crazy and we only went to beach volleyball. I hope to be able to go to track — track and field would be really cool seeing the athletes compete. They represent a lot of Puma athletes who I’ve been fortunate to meet over the past year so just seeing the excitement behind that would be really cool.”
Gabby Thomas, track and field: “It’s weird to think about because in Tokyo they wouldn’t let us do it. I’d love to go see gymnastics, I’m a huge fan of Simone Biles. I’m really excited about women’s basketball right now, so I’d love to do that. Breaking, I’ve met Sunny (Choi) a few times now and it’s exciting that it’s a new sport in the Olympics, I’d love to see how it goes.”
Posted in: 2024 Summer Olympic Games, Basketball, Gymnastics, Olympic Sports, Soccer, Swimming, Track & Field, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Women's Sports