This post was updated July 23 at 2:51 p.m.
Correction: The original version of this article misspelled Milwaukee in a sentence. The original version of this article also misspelled Karch Kiraly’s last name. Also, the original version of this article incorrectly stated that Miles Partain and Andy Benesh are tied for fourth in national beach volleyball rankings. In fact, they are tied for fourth in international beach volleyball rankings. The original version of this article also incorrectly stated that the United States men’s national volleyball team failed to advance to the knockout stage in 2020. In fact, it failed to advance to the knockout stage in 2021.
Exactly a century later, the Olympic Games are returning to Paris. Prior to the Olympic opening ceremony July 26, Daily Bruin Sports editors preview the 49 UCLA athletes and coaches that will be representing their countries in the City of Lights.
Basketball (M)
USA: Jrue Holiday
Jrue Holiday was the fifth player to cement an NBA title and Olympic gold in the same year.
In about three weeks, he could join basketball legend Scottie Pippen as the only two to achieve the double twice – in consecutive Olympic years.
Three years removed from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Holiday will be one of five returning players in Paris from Team USA’s Tokyo roster.
The one-and-done member of UCLA men’s basketball anchored a stifling Boston Celtics defense in its 2024 NBA championship run. Coach Joe Mazzulla’s high-stakes trade to bring in Holiday’s defense-minded style from the Milwaukee Bucks paid its dividends.
As a guard for the Milwaukee Bucks – which in 2021 was in pursuit of its first ring in 50 years – Holiday dropped 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 9.3 assists – nearly averaging a double-double – through the six-game NBA finals.
Four days separated Game 6 of the NBA finals and the United States’ opening match against France in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Holiday, alongside Bucks teammate Khris Middleton, touched down in Japan less than 24 hours before the duel. Braving a whirlwind schedule, Holiday racked up 18 points in the affair and proceeded to average 11.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists through the Tokyo Games.
A dual powerhouse on NBA hardwood and the international stage, Holiday’s experience at the Games fueled an 11-point show in Team USA’s 2024 exhibition opener against Canada. The U.S. will complete its exhibition slate unblemished if it knocks out Germany on Monday.
With odds heavily favoring Team USA at -500, coach Steve Kerr’s roster is being touted as the country’s most stacked in history, reminiscent of the iconic 1992 “Dream Team” headlined by Michael Jordan.
Boasting NBA MVP winners LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid, the 2024 U.S. team has earned the moniker “The Avengers.”
Team USA’s star-studded roster will begin its quest for Olympic glory July 28 with a potential gold medal match Aug. 10.
Basketball (W)
Canada: Nirra Fields, Noelle Quinn (lead assistant coach)
Germany: Emily Bessoir, Lina Sontag
Serbia: Angela Dugalić
Three Bruins from the 2023-2024 roster will take their talents to the City of Lights.
Emily Bessoir and Lina Sontag will represent Germany, which will take on the United States on Aug. 4. Both forwards recently announced their departures from Westwood, with Sontag pursuing medicine and professional basketball in Germany and Bessoir graduating from UCLA. Bessoir was out for all of the 2021-2022 season and about three months last year due to ACL injuries but has since recovered enough to make her first Olympic appearance.
Forward Angela Dugalić will join Bessoir and Sontag in the Games. Dugalić – who is competing in her second Olympic Games for Serbia – is the only of the three to return to Westwood next year. Although Dugalić missed the 2022-2023 season because of injury, she rebounded this past season – starting in almost every match and averaging 8.7 points per game. She also spent the beginning of February in Brazil for the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024.
Outside of the three members of last year’s roster, Canada will be the host to two Bruin alumni at the Games – one in guard Nirra Fields and the other in lead assistant coach Noelle Quinn. Quinn, who was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame, is now the head coach of the Seattle Storm and played in the WNBA for 11 years subsequent to her UCLA career. While this will be her first tournament on the Canadian coaching staff, fellow former Bruin Fields will spearhead the team in Paris. Three-time Olympian Fields averaged 11.3 points and 2.7 assists alongside a 44.8% field goal percentage at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The five Bruins – who will compete in separate groups with Serbia in Group A, Canada in Group B and Germany in Group C – will only compete against each other in the knockout stage should they advance.
The quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze medal match and gold medal match will take place in Bercy Arena in Paris, whereas the group phase will be hosted two hours out in Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France.
Beach volleyball
USA: Miles Partain
In 2022, former Bruin setter Miles Partain was named MPSF Player of the Year.
In 2024, Partain was named an Olympian – for a similar sport.
After departing from UCLA men’s volleyball midway through his junior year in 2023, the former Bruin kickstarted his journey to Olympic qualification with partner Andy Benesh, former indoor men’s volleyball player at USC.
Growing up in Pacific Palisades, California, just a few miles away from Westwood, Partain selected the university for indoor volleyball while continuing his beach volleyball career, winning his first AVP Championship in 2022 in Atlanta.
Partain – at just 22 years old – will make history as the youngest United States Olympic beach volleyball player after earning the necessary top-17 FIVB ranking with Benesh to qualify for the Paris Games.
Tying for fourth in international men’s beach volleyball rankings – and first in the U.S. – the duo will be joined by Miles Evans and former NBA player Chase Budinger as the second Team USA pairing.
Paris 2024 marks the first Olympic Games for both Partain and Benesh, who rekindled their beach partnership in April 2023 after not having competed together since November 2019.
The pair will compete at Eiffel Tower Stadium, a temporary outdoor arena at the Champ de Mars directly in front of the iconic Parisian architecture. Partain and Benesh will launch their Olympic campaign with a Main Draw match against Cuba on July 27.
Diving (M)
Great Britain: Tom Daley
Tom Daley is often called “the darling of British diving.”
Having made his Olympic debut at just 14 years old, Daley is one of Great Britain’s most successful divers.
The Olympic gold medalist joined UCLA swim and dive’s coaching staff in September 2023 and has been spotted training at UCLA’s Spieker Aquatic Center in preparation for the Games.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Daley won gold in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving event alongside partner Matty Lee, notching a 471.81 tally. He went on to win bronze in the individual 10-meter platform dive, matching his placement at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Daley took a two-year break from the sport after the 2020 Tokyo Games, making his comeback at the British National Diving Cup in 2023. The British diver solidified his spot at the Olympics after securing the silver medal in the synchronized 10-meter platform dive at the world championships in 2024.
Daley is set to become the first British diver to compete in five Olympic Games – etching his name into Great Britain diving history.
Golf (W)
USA: Lilia Vu
Austria: Emma Spitz
Colombia: Mariajo Uribe
Thailand: Patty Tavatanakit
The second-best golfer in the world will represent both the United States and UCLA in the upcoming Olympic Games.
Lilia Vu – who ranks No. 2 worldwide – will debut for the U.S. alongside No. 1 Nelly Korda. Vu graduated from UCLA in 2019 after being named PING WGCA Player of the Year and the Pac-12 Conference Golfer of the Year.
In addition to Vu, three other former UCLA women’s golf players will represent three different countries in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Patty Tavatanakit, Emma Spitz and Mariajo Uribe will represent Thailand, Austria and Colombia, respectively.
Tavatanakit recently placed third at The Amundi Evian Championship, going 17-under-par. She also placed 24th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, where Vu ranked second.
Spitz will join Vu in making her Olympic debut, while Tavatanakit is primed to appear in her second Games and Uribe prepares for her third. Spitz was the runner-up at the 2024 Amundi German Masters. During her time at UCLA, she was a three-time ANNIKA Award Finalist and ranks fourth in UCLA’s all-time career scoring average at 71.74.
The field will consist of 60 total players, with each country being allowed to nominate up to two. The top 15 players on the Official World Golf Rankings are eligible for the Olympic Games, with the remainder of the field being two selected players from each country.
Each country is expected to have two representatives at most, but an exception is made if more players from one country are ranked within the top 15 of the Rolex Women’s Golf World Rankings, moving the maximum to four representatives.
Women’s golf in the Olympics will be held at Le Golf National and will be a four-day-long tournament beginning Aug. 7 and ending Aug. 10.
Gymnastics (Artistic)
USA: Jordan Chiles
Philippines: Emma Malabuyo, Janelle McDonald (coach)
Jordan Chiles and rising senior Emma Malabuyo’s qualification to the 2024 Paris Olympics extends a decadeslong tradition of sending members of UCLA gymnastics to the Games.
Chiles and Team USA headline the Paris Olympics as favorites to win the team final gold. The United States women’s gymnastics team has won seven straight world titles, starting the streak at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China.
Two-time NCAA champion Chiles is set to compete in the all-around during the qualifications round, allowing her to qualify for finals in all four events. Chiles’s 56.4 all-around score on day one of the Olympic Trials would have placed third in last year’s world championship all-around final, ahead of the U.S.’ Shilese Jones.
Chiles also shows strong potential on floor and vault. At the 2022 World Championships, Chiles took silver in both event finals, placing ahead of teammate Jade Carey on floor. On vault, she pairs her explosive Yurchenko double twist with a Lopez – a Yurchenko with half twist – onto the table followed by a front layout with a half twist.
Qualifying to individual finals may prove the U.S.’ challenge because of the depth of its roster – only the top two American gymnasts can qualify for each individual event final. Chiles will have to battle her teammates in order to solidify her spot in the individual finals.
Malabuyo will compete for her home country, the Philippines, after notching her spot at the Olympics in April. Joining her is Bruin coach Janelle McDonald – coach of the Philippines in Paris this summer.
Team Philippines did not qualify as a team – so Malabuyo’s chance of a medal rests solely on the individual events.
Malabuyo will compete in the all-around for the second time in international competition since 2021. She is on the cusp of joining the top 24, which would punch her ticket into the final. With the upgrades she teased on social media, Malabuyo could make up the deficit she needs to make it to the all-around final.
The pair will start their Olympic competition in the qualifications round starting July 28, with Chiles slotted to compete in subdivision two and Malabuyo in subdivision three.
Rugby Sevens (M)
USA: Lucas Lacamp
Center Lucas Lacamp has represented cities about 7,000 miles from one another – Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
As a Bruin, the center was a finalist for the Rudy Scholz award, an honor given to the best men’s collegiate rugby player. Prior to landing in Westwood, he represented Hong Kong – his birth city – in the 2019 World Rugby U-20 tournament, but now represents the United States.
In the latter months of 2021, the U.S. selected Lacamp to train with the men’s national rugby sevens team, after which he was called up to the national ranks for the first 2022 World Series Sevens tournament in Dubai, the second tournament within the 2022-2023 World Rugby Sevens Series.
About two weeks later – in the third leg of the series – Lacamp’s lower leg injury at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town, Africa, relegated him to the sidelines. But shortly before, Lacamp scored a hat trick against Uganda and tallied seven tries.
Fully recovered, Lacamp will be returning to the American team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Soccer (W)
Australia: Teagan Micah
Canada: Jessie Fleming
USA: Mallory Swanson
A UCLA alumnus will lead an Olympic team.
Former midfielder and three-time UCLA women’s soccer co-captain Jessie Fleming will serve as the Canadian national team’s skipper.
Fleming and Team Canada are on an Olympic pedestal streak – securing bronze in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Fleming was announced as the captain of the Canadian national team ahead of the 2024 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup after earning her third honor as Canada Soccer Player of the Year. Although only 26 years old, she has previously played for Chelsea FC – where she won three FA Super League titles and finished as the runner-up in the 2020-2021 UEFA Champions League – and now plays for Portland Thorns FC in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The goalkeeper during Fleming’s UCLA tenure will also compete in the City of Lights. Teagan Micah, a Bruin from 2016 to 2020, will represent Australia. In Micah’s Olympic debut in Tokyo, she contributed a clean sheet against the United States to assist her squad to the tournament’s quarterfinal stage, which it ultimately won against Great Britain.
During Micah’s Olympic debut, she started in five of Australia’s six games, earning Player of the Match after the team’s game against Great Britain, where she made a game-winning penalty save during extra time. The goalkeeper now plays for Liverpool FC, where she has made a total of 26 saves and has four clean-sheet performances.
At the 2016 Olympics, Mallory Swanson became the youngest Olympic goalscorer for the US, and now she will be playing in her second Olympics. The forward was enrolled at UCLA during Winter 2017 before signing with the NWSL’s Washington Spirit in May of that year.
Because Canada and Australia are in separate groups during the initial group stage, A and B respectively, Fleming and Micah would only meet in the knockout. USA joins Australia in Group B, with the two teams meeting on July 31.
Swimming (Artistic)
USA: Daniella Ramirez
Daniella Ramirez is the definition of a student-athlete.
While the NCAA doesn’t sponsor artistic swimming, Ramirez still competes at the highest level of her sport.
Ramirez – four-time World Championship medalist and a Pan American Games medalist – has been a member of the USA national team since 2018. The 2024 Paris Olympics will be her first.
With Russia out of the picture, this could be Team USA’s chance to finally make the podium. While China enters as favorites, Ramirez and the rest of the U.S. aren’t far behind.
Swimming
Turkey: Gizem Guvenc (4x200m relay)
Bermuda: Emma Harvey (100m back)
The 2023 All-American will return to the international swimming stage – this time as an Olympian.
Rising senior Gizem Guvenc was selected to represent her home country, Turkey, at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Guvenc returned to international competition following a two-year hiatus in 2023. During that stretch, Guvenc excelled with UCLA swim and dive, becoming the sixth-fastest Bruin in the 200-yard freestyle.
As a national swimmer in Turkey, Guvenc notched national records in both the short-course and long-course 200-meter freestyle, etching her name in the country’s swimming annals.
This year, she continued to hold her spot as the top Turkish freestyler. At Turkey’s National Team Selection Meet in May, Guvenc took first place in both the 100- and 200-meter freestyles and placed second in the 400-meter freestyle.
The Turkish swimmer is also set to contribute to the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. At the 2024 European Championships in June, Guvenc contributed to Turkey’s third-place finish and broke the national record with an 8:01.58 time.
Guvenc heads into the Paris Olympics with five short-course national records to her name and headlines as one of Turkey’s best chances of winning a medal in women’s swimming.
Bermuda’s Emma Harvey will compete in the 100-meter backstroke.
Prior to joining UCLA, the rising graduate student competed for Penn State, where she owns the seventh-fastest time in the 100-meter backstroke in school history. At the 2023 Big Ten championships, Harvey placed 17th in the event.
Harvey stayed busy in 2024, swimming internationally while competing in college.
The four-time Big Ten championships competitor set a personal best in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2024 Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona, Spain.
Like Guvenc, Harvey boasts multiple national records on her resume. She holds records in all strokes except breast, showing her versatility as a swimmer.
Making the podium will be difficult, but both will find glory in representing their home countries.
Table Tennis (W)
USA: Rachel Sung, Amy Wang
Rising juniors Amy Wang and Rachel Sung – roommates and teammates at UCLA – will make their Olympic debut in Paris after finishing first and second, respectively, at the U.S. Olympic Table Tennis Trials.
While table tennis isn’t a varsity sport at UCLA, Sung and Wang have competed on the club table tennis team for the past two years.
Wang, after losing out on a chance to compete at the 2020 Olympic Games when she was just 17, stepped away from table tennis to focus on academics. After returning to the sport her freshman year of college, the Sewell, New Jersey, local earned consecutive U.S. Open Women’s Singles Championships in 2022 and 2023.
If Sung and Wang find success in Paris, they’ll make history as the first team to medal in the Olympics for Team USA in table tennis.
Tennis (M)
USA: Marcos Giron (Men’s singles)
Netherlands: Jean-Julien Rojer (Men’s doubles)
Two former Bruins, marked by age and experience, will trek to the red clay of Roland Garros – the site of the French Open – for the Games.
Jean-Julien Rojer will represent the Netherlands for the fourth Olympics in his career, competing in doubles with partner Robin Haase. At 42, he’s the oldest former Bruin suiting up. The Dutch athlete played in Westwood from 1999 to 2002 – notching a singles All-American honors once and a doubles All-American honors twice.
Though Rojer is on the quest for his first Olympic medal, he’s not without his professional achievements. He’s a four-time Grand Slam champion – including two French Open titles, the most recent in 2022. However, at his advanced age, it’s uncertain how many more trips Rojer will make back to the summer games.
Marcos Giron, nearing age 31, is finding his stride at the professional level. The 2014 NCAA men’s singles champion reached a career-high No. 44 ATP rank in February – breaking his previous high of No. 49 back in 2022 – and continues to rank No. 46 entering Paris.
In June, Giron beat Andrey Rublev – the No. 6 ATP player in the world at the time – in Halle, Germany. Another upset performance from Giron could put him on the medal podium at the Olympics.
The Thousand Oaks, California, local makes his second trip to the Olympic Games, previously playing in Tokyo, and returns to Roland Garros after playing the French Open five times in his career.
Tennis (W)
Japan: Ena Shibahara (Women’s doubles)
In 2021, Ena Shibahara made her Olympic debut as the only former Bruin playing for the host nation, Japan, and finished 17th in women’s doubles on a court deprived of fans.
Now, she heads to Paris for her second career summer games – her first with fans in the stands.
From 2016 to 2018, Shibahara played two seasons for the Bruins and was named a singles All-American and twice the Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year. The Rancho Palos Verdes, California, local and current No. 24 WTA doubles player will compete alongside longtime doubles partner Shuko Aoyama at the Games representing Japan. Most recently, Shibahara and Aoyama won the 2023 Canadian Open doubles title and 2023 ‘s-Hertogenbosch doubles title.
In March, Shibahara won the 2024 W35 Spring, Texas, singles title – the first singles title of her career.
Her biggest Grand Slam success took place at Roland Garros – winning the 2022 French Open mixed doubles title with Wesley Koolhof, Rojer’s partner for the Netherlands in the 2020 Olympics.
Track and field (M)
USA: Rai Benjamin (400m hurdles)
Norway: Sondre Guttormsen (Pole vault)
South Africa: Antonie Nortje (4x400m Relay)
Antonie Nortje proved to be the top Bruin sprinter in 2024.
The Pretoria, South Africa, local led all Bruins in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter events. Nortje continued to succeed at the 2024 Pac-12 championships, finishing as runner up in the 400-meter dash.
At the South African Championships in April – amid his own collegiate season – Nortje notched a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter with a 45.48 tally.
He is ranked No. 96 in the world in the 400-meter. His top-100 world ranking earned him a spot on South Africa’s 4×400-meter relay team in Paris this summer.
Two other former Bruins will represent their countries on the biggest stage – Rai Benjamin and Sondre Guttormsen.
Benjamin, representing the United States, ran track for the Bruins for two seasons in 2016 and 2017 before transferring to USC, where he notched First-Team All American honors during his freshman campaign. Benjamin is the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter hurdles.
Norway’s Guttormsen spent one season at UCLA before transferring to Princeton in 2020. Before leaving Westwood, Guttormsen won the Pac-12 championship on the pole vault as a freshman where he cleared 5.36 meters. At Princeton, he became a three-time NCAA champion on the pole vault.
The former Bruin is currently ranked No. 33 nationally in men’s pole vault and could lead Norway to its first medal in the discipline since 1900.
Track and field (W)
Greece: Stamatia Scarvelis (hammer)
Stamatia Scarvelis never competed for the Bruins during her singular season at UCLA.
Following her tenure in Westwood, Scarvelis became one the best hammer throwers in the NCAA. She won the SEC title twice and owns three school records at Tennessee.
The eight-time Greek national champion is currently ranked No. 40 in the world – 21 places short of her highest ranking ever.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Scarvelis placed 18th. Paris provides an opportunity for improvement.
Volleyball (W)
USA: Karch Kiraly (head coach), Alfee Reft (assistant coach), Sue Enquist (cultural consultant)
France: Iman Ndiaye
A rookie, a veteran, UCLA women’s volleyball’s head coach and a UCLA softball coaching legend.
Iman Ndiaye will make her Olympic debut after graduating from UCLA just over a month ago. The former outside/opposite hitter will return to her birthplace as the only former Bruin playing for the hosts. After collecting a 2023 All-Pac-12 honorable mention, Ndiaye has been playing with the Volley-Ball Club Chamalières in the Ligue A Féminine – a professional league in France – and the Keçiören Belediyesi Sigorta Shop in Turkey.
A 1993 UCLA Hall of Fame inductee and FIVB’s Greatest Male Volleyball Player of the 20th Century, Karch Kiraly could soon claim his fourth Olympic gold. From 1979 to 1982, Kiraly was named an All-American four times and led UCLA to three national championships. In 1984 and 1988, he won two Olympic golds with the United States for indoor volleyball and one gold for beach volleyball with former Bruin Kent Steffes in 1996.
Kiraly became head coach of the U.S. women’s volleyball Olympic team in 2012 and won a bronze medal in Rio in 2016 before capturing gold in Tokyo in 2021. The ever-consistent winner will now have a chance to repeat as women’s volleyball champions.
By Kiraly’s side will be current UCLA head coach Alfee Reft. In his first season at the Bruins’ helm in 2023, UCLA went 18-12 overall but just 10-10 in Pac-12 play, missing out on a spot in the NCAA tournament. Though Reft has been with the U.S. women’s national team for nearly three years, this will be his first Olympic Games.
Named the culture consultant of the U.S. women’s volleyball team, Sue Enquist carved a name for herself through UCLA softball. As a player, Enquist led the Bruins to the 1978 AIAW title – the first national championship in program history – before serving as an assistant coach to Sharron Backus for nine seasons and leading the Bruins for 18. Since the NCAA began hosting softball national championships in 1982, Enquist has been a part of 10 UCLA victories – six as head coach from 1989 to 2006.
Volleyball (M)
USA: John Speraw (head coach), Erik Sullivan (team manager) Garrett Muagututia, Micah Ma’a
Head coach John Speraw boasts a historic volleyball career.
As a player, he won two national championships with UCLA – in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Speraw returned to Westwood as a volunteer assistant coach in 1996 and won three national titles from 1996 to 2000.
The head honcho scaled new heights when he became UC Irvine’s head coach in 2002. At the helm, he led Irvine to three national championships before returning to UCLA in 2012, where he led the Bruins to the program’s first back-to-back national championship victory since the turn of the century.
The one achievement Speraw’s storied career is missing?
An Olympic gold.
Despite leading the United States Men’s National Team since 2013, Speraw has struggled to lead Team USA to a gold medal at the Olympic games – his closest effort being a bronze medal finish at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
This time around, however, Speraw has the opportunity to be wreathed in gold surrounded by two former Bruin disciples – setter Micah Ma’a and outside hitter Garrett Muagututia.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will mark the inaugural Olympic games for Ma’a and the third for Muagututia, who was an alternate in 2016.
Former Bruin libero Erik Sullivan will join Team USA as its team manager. Sullivan – current associate head coach for Texas women’s volleyball – won two national championships with the Bruins from 1992 to 1995, including captaining the 1995 championship-winning squad.
Sullivan finished his career in Westwood ranked second in all-time digs with 747, and was the program’s first to collect 10 or more digs in 25 matches. The UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame inductee was a two-time All-American Second Team and competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, co-captaining the former.
No. 5 U.S. was drawn into Pool C along with Japan, Germany and Argentina. If the Americans want to play for a medal, they will have to lie in the top two in their group to advance to the knockout stage – a feat they fell short of in Tokyo in 2021.
Historically, the U.S. has been successful in the men’s volleyball realm – winning three gold medals and two bronze medals since the sport was introduced to the Games. Five medals puts the U.S. ranked third in the medal count behind Brazil and the Soviet Union, who both have six.
However, the 21st century fell short of Team USA’s expectations – reaching the Olympic podium just once since securing gold in 2008.
The U.S. will have to push through a competitive pool if it wants to win its first gold medal since 2008 – and first in the Speraw era.
Water polo (M)
USA: Max Irving, Ryder Dodd, Chase Dodd
Three eras of UCLA men’s water polo will converge in Paris.
Former Bruin attacker Max Irving will return to the French capital for his second Olympic Games along with rising junior attacker Chase Dodd and incoming freshman attacker Ryder Dodd.
After spending the past year away from UCLA to train for the Olympics, Chase will make his Olympic debut with his younger brother Ryder. The Dodd brothers’ appearance on the United States roster marks the first time a pair of brothers have qualified for the same Team USA in the Olympics since 1988.
With a roster that has 10 of its 13 players returning from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Americans will rely heavily on the offensive prowess of returners like Irving, who led the Bruins with 27 steals through a 21-4 season in 2017 – one that culminated in a national championship.
While Ryder stands as the youngest player on the U.S.’ roster, the rookie will still bring a plethora of Team USA experience to the pool. Ryder made his debut with the Senior National Team at just 16 years old and led the team with 28 goals in its 2023 Pan American Games championship run.
U.S. men’s water polo hasn’t stood upon an Olympic podium since 2008, when current UCLA coach Adam Wright helped lead the team to a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
After finishing ninth at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, earlier this year, Team USA will have to battle through a competitive preliminary group in order to reach the semifinals in Paris. The team will open its Olympic campaign against Italy, who finished second in Doha, on July 28.
Water polo (W)
USA: Rachel Fattal, Maddie Musselman, Tara Prentice, Molly Cahill (assistant coach) Adam Krikorian (head coach)
Australia: Sienna Green, Bronte Halligan
Former Bruin attackers Rachel Fattal and Maddie Musselman may soon collect their third-straight Olympic golds.
Musselman was named women’s water polo MVP after her 18 goals in Tokyo, while Fattal collected nine of her own.
Former Bruin utility Tara Prentice will join Fattal and Musselman to make her Olympic debut. Prentice only played in one game for the Bruins before transferring to UC Irvine in 2018, where she became the program’s top scorer with 242 goals.
The United States is the sole nation to have won medals in every one of the six Olympics since women’s water polo was introduced to the Games, securing a total of three golds, two silvers and one bronze. Currently the top-ranked team globally, the Americans will head to Paris after securing a gold medal at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, earlier this year.
Returning as head coach for his fourth Olympic Games, Team USA’s Adam Krikorian is no stranger to success. After winning 15 national championships during his time at UCLA as a player, assistant coach and head coach to both the men’s and women’s programs, Krikorian immediately stepped in to the helm of the U.S. women’s national program in 2009. The very same year, the former Bruin led the team to a gold medal at the World Championships in Rome and would later see the team to three consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Former Bruin Molly Cahill will join Krikorian’s coaching staff as an assistant coach in Paris. During Cahill’s time as a UCLA utility, she helped lead her team to three NCAA championships before graduating in 2008 and immediately joining the coaching staff. From 2008 to 2017, Cahill helped the Bruins to 12 NCAA tournament appearances, including a championship title in her very first season as undergraduate assistant coach.
One former and one current Bruin will join Musselman and Fattal from the other side of the Olympic schedule. Former UCLA attacker Bronte Halligan will return for her second Olympic appearance with the Aussie Stingers, joined by rising junior utility Sienna Green.
After taking the year off from UCLA to train for the Games, Green’s debut at just 19 years old makes her the youngest Australian woman to compete in the Olympics for water polo.
While Australia and the U.S. are competing in different preliminary groups, the two sets of Bruins could meet in the quarterfinals.
Both teams will take to the pool July 27 for their respective group stage matches, with Team USA opening play against Greece and Team Australia going up against China.
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