Headed to Tokyo: 14 Olympians With Razorback Ties Qualify for Games

Shafiqua Maloney, who will be the flag bearer for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, competes for Arkansas earlier this year. She is slated to compete in the women's 800-meter race.
Razorback Athletics

Shafiqua Maloney, who will be the flag bearer for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, competes for Arkansas earlier this year. She is slated to compete in the women's 800-meter race.

Fourteen current and former Razorback athletes as well as one volunteer assistant coach have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, which officially start Friday, July 23.

Basketball (3x3) — Starts July 26

Kelsey Plum, who is a graduate assistant for the Razorback women's basketball team and plays for the WNBA Las Vegas Aces, will represent Team USA in women's basketball. The first preliminary game for the American team will be July 27, against Nigeria.

Golf — Starts Aug. 4

Former Razorbacks Gaby López and Maria Fassi will compete for Mexico in women's golf, which begins Aug. 4. Lopez was the runner-up for the 2015 NCAA Women's Golf Championship. Fassi, who currently lives in Fayetteville, won the 2019 NCAA individual championship as a senior at Arkansas.

Swimming — Starts Aug. 1

Alumna Anna Hopkin will represent Great Britain in the women's swimming relays, which run from July 25-29, the 100-meter freestyle on July 30 and the 50-meter freestyle on Aug. 1. Hopkin was named to the 2020 All-SEC Second Team during her final season at Arkansas.

Track and Field — Starts July 30

Alumnus Kemar Mowatt, running for Jamaica, will compete in the men's 400-meter hurdles on July 30. Mowatt was a two-time SEC champion in the race and placed third in Jamaica's Olympic trials to make the team.

Sophomore Phillip Lemonious will also represent Jamaica as a reserve athlete in the men's 110-meter hurdles event, which starts Tuesday, Aug. 3. Lemonious produced a career-best time of 13.39 seconds in June when he placed third in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA Championships.

Alumna Sparkle McKnight, competing for Trinidad and Tobago, will run in the women's 400-meter hurdles, which begin July 31. McKnight competed in the 2016 Olympiad and was a reserve member during the 2012 Olympics in London.

Senior Shafiqua Maloney, a mid-distance runner, will run for St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the women's 800-meter race, which begins July 30. In her senior season, Maloney won the 800-meter final at the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville in January.

Sandi Morris clears the pole vault bar
Sandi Morris, who won the silver medal in pole vault during the 2016 Olympics, will represent the United States again this year. Photo copyright Robert I. Black Photography.

Alumna Dominique Scott-Efurd will run two distance events for her home country of South Africa. She'll compete in the women's 5,000-meter race on July 30 and the 10,000-meter race on Aug. 7. Scott-Efurd also competed in the 2016 Olympics, placing 21st in the 10,000-meter race in Rio de Janeiro.

Senior Kristoffer Hari will carry the flag of Denmark in the men's 4×100 relay, which begins Aug. 5. Hari holds the Danish national record in the 60-meter dash and placed second in the 100-meter race at the Danish Championships in June to qualify.

Alumnae Sandi Morris of Team USA and Tina Šutej of Slovenia will compete in the women's pole vault, which begin with qualification rounds on Aug. 2. Šutej finished 11th in pole vaulting during the 2016 Olympics and recently earned a silver medal during the European Indoor Championships in March. Morris, who won the silver medal for the pole vault during the 2016 Olympiad, won the pole vault competition in the final Diamond League meeting prior to the Tokyo Olympics.

Last but not least, Ryan Crouser, who has been a volunteer assistant coach for the Razorbacks for the last two years, will represent Team USA again this year and defend his gold-medal performance in the shotput during the 2016 summer Olympiad at Rio de Janeiro. The men's shotput begins Aug. 3. Crouser set new world records for the indoor and outdoor shotput this year with his indoor throw of 74 feet, 10.5 inches at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville in March and an outdoor record of 76 feet, 8.25 inches during the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.

Paralympics — Starts Aug. 24

Former Arkansas runner Hunter Woodhall will compete in the men's 200- and 400-meter dashes for Team USA in the Tokyo Paralympics, which start Aug. 24. He won silver and bronze medals during the 2016 Paralympics.

PREVIOUS OLYMPIC MEDALISTS

The following students and alumni of the U of A have won Olympic medals:

2016
Taylor Ellis-Watson - 4x400 Relay - Gold
Omar McLeod - 110-meter hurdles - Gold
Sandi Morris - Pole Vault - Silver
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 4x100 - Silver

2012
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 100 meters - Bronze
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 4x100 - Silver

2008
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 200 meters - Gold

2004
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 100 meters - Bronze
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 200 meters - Gold
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 4x100 - Gold
Deena Drossin Kastor - Marathon - Bronze
Matt Hemingway - High Jump - Silver

2000
Veronica Campbell-Brown - 4x100 - Silver

1996
Calvin Davis - 400-meter Hurdles - Bronze

1992
Mike Conley Sr. - Triple Jump - Gold

1984
Joe Kleine - Basketball - Gold
Alvin Robertson - Basketball - Gold
Mike Conley Sr. - Triple Jump - Silver

1948
Clyde Scott - 110-meter Hurdles - Silver
Gordon Carpenter - Basketball - Gold
R.C. Pitts - Basketball - Gold

 

Contacts

Charlie Alison, executive editor
University Relations
479-575-6731, calison@uark.edu

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