Colin GayColumbus Dispatch
The 2024 Paris Olympics are approaching quickly.
From July 26-Aug. 11, the sports world will be centered on Paris, as top athletes from around the world compete for their countries. And heading into the Summer Games, central Ohio will have its fair share of connections on Team USA and beyond.
Olympians with central Ohio connections heading into the Paris games
Note: This story will be updated as athletes qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Katelyn Abeln: Pistol
Katelyn Abeln, a Douglasville, Georgia, native, was an All-American in air pistol, standard pistol and short pistol while at Ohio State and helped the Buckeyes win four national championships. She was an individual national champion in sport pistol, women's sport pistol and women's two gun aggregate.
Abeln will represent Team USA and make her Olympic debut in the women's 25-meter sport pistol and women's 10-meter air pistol.
Hunter Armstrong: Swimming
Hunter Armstrong is returning to Team USA for his second Olympic Games.
In 2020, Armstrong won gold with the 4x100-meter medley relay team, and finished ninth in the 100-meter backstroke.
Armstrong, who was named Ohio State's 2021-22 male athlete of the year and is a Dover, Ohio native, broke the 50-meter backstroke record at the 2022 Phillips 66 U.S. International Team Trials with a time of 23.71. He is a five-time Big Ten champion.
In 2024, Armstrong will race in the 4x100-meter relay, and likely secure a spot in the 100-meter backstroke.
Alex Axon: Swimming
Ohio State sophom*ore Alex Axon will represent Team Canada.
Axon earned the spot in May after he won the 200 free in 1:47.56, his personal-best time in the event. He also won gold in the 400 free in 3:50.10.
It will be Axon's first appearance at the Olympics.
Simone Biles: Gymnastics
While Simone Biles was raised in Spring, Texas, outside of Houston, she was born in Columbus in March 1997.
Biles has turned into one of the most decorated gymnasts in U.S. history after winning four gold medals in the floor exercise, vault, all-around and team segments at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. At the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Biles won a silver medal in the team event and added a bronze in the balance beam.
More on Simone Biles: Simone Biles, Jack Nicklaus, LeBron: Who are the greatest Ohio-born athletes? | Oller
Biles has spent 11 of the past 13 years on Team USA, and will go to Paris as the United States all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise champion.
Nikki Dzurko: Artistic swimming
Nikki Dzurko will represent Team USA in artistic swimming after a storied career at Ohio State.
Dzurko was a four-time collegiate All-American and a three-time scholar athlete at Ohio State. Dzurko, a Los Gatos, California, native, helped the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2022 and finished as an individual and duet national champion in the 2023 U.S. Collegiate Championships.
In the 2024 World Aquatic Championships, Dzurko finished as a bronze medalist in the team event.
Annette Echikunwoke: Track
Annette Echikunwoke, a former Pickerington North track athlete, won the hammer throw at the U.S. Olympic Trials June 23. It will be her first Olympic Games.
Echikunwoke finished third in the Ohio Division 1 state championships at Pickerington North before becoming an NCAA champion in the weight throw at Cincinnati in 2017, the program's first national championship.
Blake Haxton: Canoeing
Blake Haxton will be in Paris for his third Paralympic Games, representing Team USA on its canoeing team.
Haxton also competed for Team USA in the past two Paralympic Games in rowing, and was a silver medalist in at the Tokyo games. He placed fourth at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Haxton is a former United States Rowing Male Athlete of the Year and was the first para athlete to win the award.
Lena Hentschel: Diving
Ohio State rising junior Lena Hentschel will participate in her second Olympic Games for Germany.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, Hentschel, from Berlin, won a bronze medal in 3-meter synchronized diving.
At Ohio State, Hentschel was a College Swimming and Divng Coaches Association second-team All-American in both the 1-meter and 3-meter. She was also a member of the All-Big Ten second team and an OSU scholar athlete.
Shilese Jones: Gymnastics
Shilese Jones, who was born in Auburn, Washington, moved to Columbus following the 2014 season to work with coach Christian Gallardo, who was training former Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas.
Jones is a 2023 World team champion and was a bronze medalist in the all-around and uneven bars events.
Ada Korkhin: Pistol
One season into her Ohio State pistol career, Ada Korkhin made Team USA.
Korkhin, a Brookline, Massachusetts, native, qualified for the Olympics in 25-meter women's sport pistol after finishing second in the U.S. Olympic Trials. She was the champion at air pistol in the 2024 Intercollegiate Pistol Championships.
Joe Kovacs: Shot put
Joe Kovacs is returning to the Olympics.
The Columbus resident and two-time Olympic silver medalist finished second in the shot pu at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials with a throw of 22.34 meters.
At the Olympics in Tokyo, Kovacs, a Penn State graduate, threw a a distance of74 feet,3¾ inches.
Henry Leverett: Pistol
Henry Leverett will participate in his second Olympic Games in men's rapid pistol. He was on Team USA for the 2021 games in Tokyo.
Leverett, from Bainbridge, Georgia, has been on three national championship teams at Ohio State and won a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games. He is a former first-team All-American in air, sport and standard pistol.
McKenzie Long: Track
The United States track & field team will have multiple athletes with central Ohio connections.
McKenzie Long, a former Ohio state champion in the indoor 60-meter dash out of Pickerington Central High School, made Team USA after qualifying for the 200-meter team. Long is a former NCAA champion in both the 100 and the 200, and ran the best 200 time in the world this season during her NCAA championships performance in Eugene, Oregon for Mississippi.
Tomas Navikonis: Swimming
Tomas Navikonis will represent both Ohio State and Lithuania in Paris.
Navikonis earned his place with a seventh-place finish in the 4x200 freestyle relay at the World Aquatics Championships in February finishing the relay in 7:11.47.
It will be Navikonis' first Olympics.
Ruby Remati: Artistic Swimming
Ruby Remati had a lot of success in her two seasons on Ohio State's synchronized swim team. She helped the Buckeyes to two national championships in 2022 and 2023, earned All-American honors and was named to the USAAS All-Collegiate team.
And while she helped Team USA qualify a duet during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the 2024 Paris Olympics will be her first.
Remati also won silver medal honors at the 2023 Pan American Games in both duet and team.
Kristen Romano: Swimming
A former Ohio State swimmer will represent Team Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kristen Romano won the 200 IM at the Atlanta Classic (2:13.09) to earn a spot on her first Olympic team. Romano set four school records with the Buckeyes in the 200-meter backstroke, 200-meter freestyle, 800-meter free relay and the 400-meter free relay, and is a former CSCAA first-team All-American.
Kyle Snyder: Wrestling
One of the most accomplished wrestlers in Ohio State history is returning to the Olympics.
Kyle Snyder, a four-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion at heavyweight, will wrestle in his third Olympics in Paris. He is the youngest world champion and Olympic gold medalist in United States wrestling history after his performance at the 2016 games in Rio. He won a silver medal in at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Snyder is the youngest wrestler to win the world, NCAA and Olympic championships.
Snyder was also a three-time All-Big Ten honoree and was Ohio State's male athlete of the year in 2016-17. He has 42 international wrestling competition medals.
Maycey Vieta: Diving
Maycey Vieta, a Gahanna Lincoln graduate from Blacklick, qualified for the Olympics in 10-meter diving for Puerto Rico. She finished in ninth place at the World Aquatics Championships.
A former Ohio state champion and a two-time runner up, Vieta was an All-American platform diver at Purdue and was a Big Ten champion as a senior. She is the first Purdue female diver to qualify for the Olympics since 2008.
cgay@dispatch.com
