With the Summer Olympics Games set to begin next week, 17 athletes with ties to UNC will be making the trip to Rio to compete for their respective countries.

Former Tar Heel student-athletes will compete for the United States, Turkey, India and New Zealand in the games across track and field, field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s soccer.

UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham issued a statement about having 17 former Carolina players competing in Rio:

“We are proud to have so many students representing North Carolina and their countries at the 2016 Olympics. Our coaches recruit world class students who come to Chapel Hill to compete at the highest level for national championships, conference championships and Olympic medals. We will be watching and cheering them on during the Games.”

Eight of the 17 Tar Heels in Rio will be competing in women’s soccer; seven for Team USA and one for New Zealand.

Five former Carolina stars will represent the US field hockey team.

That leaves two Tar Heels competing for a gold medal in basketball – one on the men’s side and one on the women’s – and two Tar Heels in track and field.

The full list of former UNC players in the Olympics is below, courtesy of GoHeels.com:

  • Harrison Barnes, US men’s basketball
  • Shane Flanagan – US track and field
  • Vikas Gowda – India track and field
  • Crystal Dunn – US women’s soccer
  • Whitney Engen – US women’s soccer
  • Ashlyn Harris – US women’s soccer
  • Tobin Heath – US women’s soccer
  • Meghan Klingenberg – US women’s soccer
  • Allie Long – US women’s soccer
  • Heather O’Reilly – US women’s soccer
  • Katie Bowen – New Zealand women’s soccer
  • Jackie Briggs – US field hockey
  • Rachel Dawson – US field hockey
  • Caitlin Van Sickle – US field hockey
  • Katelyn Falgowski – US field hockey
  • Kelsey Kolojejchick – US field hockey
  • LaToya Pringle Sanders – Turkey women’s basketball
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