A sizable contingent of current and former Tar Heel standouts is headed to Paris for the Summer Olympics, which begin on July 24.

Former NCAA champions Ashley Hoffman and Meredith Sholder will take the field with Team USA in field hockey. Hoffman was a senior starter at back on UNC’s 2018 national championship team, winning ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament MVP honors, earning two ACC Defensive Player of the Year awards, winning the Honda Award for field hockey and the university’s Patterson Medal. She will serve as a co-captain of Team USA. Sholder played on three national title teams at Carolina in 2018, 2020-21 and 2022 and started 61 consecutive games in her final three seasons. In addition, Ashley Sessa, who played at Carolina in 2022 before entering the transfer portal, will also play for Team USA in Paris.

Meredith Sholder won three national titles as a Tar Heel. (Image via Dakota Moyer)

Former UNC men’s tennis star and Australian Open doubles champion Rinky Hijikata will represent his native Australia at the Games. Hijikata will compete in singles and currently holds a No. 77 world ranking on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour. Hijikata earned All-American honors as a sophomore at Carolina in 2021, helping the Tar Heels win their second-ever ITA National Team Indoor Championship. He entered the professional ranks that summer.

Several Tar Heels will be competing in the pool in Paris. Four-time NCAA diving champion Aranza Vazquez Montaño will compete for Team Mexico in the three-meter springboard event. This will be Vazquez Montaño’s second Olympic appearance, as she also represented Mexico at the 2021 Tokyo Games. Swimmer Patrick Hussey, who completed his senior season at Carolina last spring, will represent Team Canada. Two incoming freshmen swimmers, Martin Kartavi and Adam Maraana, will represent Team Israel. Greg Duncan, who spent one season at Carolina before transferring to Purdue, will compete in the three-meter synchronized diving event with partner Tyler Downs for Team USA.

Two Tar Heels will take the pitch for Team USA in the women’s soccer competition. Crystal Dunn, who won numerous accolades during her four seasons at Carolina, will make her third Olympic appearance in Paris. She also represented Team USA in Tokyo in 2021 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. As a Tar Heel, Dunn won the 2012 NCAA title, the Hermann Trophy (honoring the top player in collegiate soccer), the Honda Award for women’s soccer and the Patterson Medal. Emily Fox, who played at UNC from 2017 through 2020, will also play for Team USA. Fox helped Carolina to a national runner-up finish in 2018 while being named first team All-ACC. This is her first Olympic appearance, though she did represent Team USA at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Another UNC women’s soccer alumna, Katie Bowen, will represent her native New Zealand in Paris. Bowen has played for New Zealand on the international stage more than 100 times, including at the 2016 and 2021 Olympic Games and the last four FIFA Women’s World Cups. She played at Carolina from 2012 through 2015, appearing in 66 matches and winning the 2012 NCAA title.

Making her second Olympic appearance with the American women’s rugby sevens team will be UNC alumna Naya Tapper. A Charlotte native, Tapper played club rugby during her time at Carolina before beginning her career with Team USA in 2016. Tapper is co-captaining the 2024 team, which will look to improve upon a sixth-place finish in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Ethan Ramos made history earlier this year by becoming the first Tar Heel wrestler ever to qualify for the Olympic Games. Currently an assistant coach at Duke, Ramos wrestled at Carolina from 2013 to 2018, winning two ACC championships and earning All-America honors in 2015. Ramos will represent Puerto Rico in Paris, where he aims to become its second-ever Olympic medalist in wrestling.

Reigning Paralympic champion Emma Schieck will return to the international stage with the American women’s sitting volleyball team in Paris. Schieck, an outside hitter originally from Statesville, graduated from UNC in 2023. Between her sophomore and junior years at Carolina, she helped Team USA win gold in Tokyo in 2021, describing the win as “the most surreal thing I’ve ever done.” The American women also won gold in sitting volleyball in the 2016 Games.

Emma Schieck (#12) will return to the Paralympics after winning gold in Tokyo in 2021. (Image via Emma Schieck)

 

Featured image via ATP Tour

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