A little music, Mr. Williams
I’m skipping our usual list of where you can find Australian rules football this week because this Friday marks the official opening of the Olympics in Rio, which is full of crazy sports you only get to see once every 4 years. On top the insanity of stuff like handball, judo, and steeplechase, there are a whole slew of Tigers in Rio trying to add themselves to the immortal pages of sports history. 15 future, current, and former LSU athletes are representing 7 countries in 6 different disciplines. Let’s run down the list.
Women’s Soccer
The Olympics are already underway for former Tiger Allysha Chapman, as Team Canada scored a 2-0 victory over Australia in the opening rounds of the Women’s Soccer Tournament. Canada will be in Group F in the early stages of the tournament and their next match is Saturday vs. Zimbabwe at 1pm.
Women’s Basketball
As we mentioned in a recent Gumbo, LSU Legends and WNBA All Stars Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles are on a mission to lead the USA to it’s third consecutive gold medal in the sport, and are the heavy favorites to do so. Team USA will be in Group B in the early stages, with their first game vs Senegal on Sunday Morning Aug 7th.
Diving
Current LSU Sophmore Lizzie Cui will become just the 4th female diver ever to represent New Zealand at the Olympics. She’ll be competing in the Women's 3m springboard starting on Friday Aug 12th.
Gymnastics
Incoming Freshman Ruby Harrold will be in her second Olympics for Great Britain. A highly accomplished All-Around gymnast, you can expect to hear her name a lot next spring. Women’s Gym Qualifying begins early morning on Sunday Aug 7th
Men’s Tennis
A Tiger from 2006-09, 2 time All-SEC and All-American Michael Venus is a highly accomplished Men’s doubles tennis player. He will be playing for the men’s doubles title Starting on Saturday Aug 6th, representing his native New Zealand.
Track & Field
Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Trinidad & Tobago, Women's 100 Meters, 4x100 Relay
Chanice Chase, Canada, Women's 400 Hurdles
Fitzroy Dunkley, Jamaica, Men's 400 Meters, 4x400 Relay
Damar Forbes, Jamaica, Men's Long Jump
Natoya Goule, Jamaica, Women's 800 Meters
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Great Britain, Men's 200 Meters, 4x100 Relay
Gabriel Mvumvure, Zimbabwe, Men's 100 Meters
Richard Thompson, Trinidad & Tobago, Men's 100 Meters, 4x100 Relay
Nickiesha Wilson, Jamaica, Women's 100 Hurdles
As you might expect, the bulk of LSU’s Olympians are from the Track program. Current Tigers Canadian Chanice Chase, Jamaican Fitzroy Dunkley and Great Britain’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake are making their Olympic debut, while LSU legend Richard Thompson is in his 4th Olympic games. The Track and Field events kickoff the 2nd week of the games on Friday Aug 12.
LSU has set up a page collecting all the info on the athletes that they’ll be updating throughout the Olympics with results and match times as they become available.