17 Tar Heels Competing for Olympic Gold in Rio

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

17 Tar Heels Competing for Olympic Gold in Rio

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