AUBURN, Ala. – The XXXIII Olympiad has come to a close but it wasn’t without plenty of triumphs for past, present and future Auburn student-athletes.
Eleven Tigers made their way to Paris, each returning home with something to be proud of. Two weeks of action saw the Orange and Blue total three medals and many personal bests in their respective disciplines.
Gymnastics
Former Auburn gymnast Sunisa Lee had another successful showing on the international stage, securing three medals at the Paris Olympics for Team USA. After punching her ticket to Paris in late June, Lee and Team USA kicked off competition on July 28 in team qualifying. The Americans put together the top qualifying score for the team competition and Lee earned spots in the individual all-around, bars and beam finals.
As a team, the Americans captured gold on July 30, defeating second-place Italy by almost six points. Lee competed in three events for the U.S. squad, going on bars, beam and floor. During the competition, Lee garnered the team’s top scores on bars (14.566) and beam (14.600) and added a 13.533 on floor to seal the team win.
Individually, Lee found herself on the medal stand in the all-around, earning bronze behind an epic comeback on August 1. She added a bronze on bars with a 14.866 on August 4.
With her three medals in Paris combined with her three from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Lee’s six medals is second among all Auburn Olympic athletes in the history of the department.
Men’s Basketball
JT Thor, who played for the Tigers and head coach Bruce Pearl during the 2020-21 season, made his Olympic debut as a member of the South Sudan Men’s National Team. South Sudan made Olympic history by qualifying for the country’s first-ever Summer Olympic Games.
Thor helped lead the “Bright Stars” to their first-ever win in Olympic competition with a 90-79 victory over Puerto Rico in Group C pool play on July 28 in Paris. In that game, he registered six points and seven rebounds. Thor also recorded seven points in 15 minutes of play versus Team USA on July 31 and seven points and three rebounds against Serbia on Aug. 3.
After the Olympics, he signed a two-way contract with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers after playing three seasons with the Charlotte Hornets.
Track & Field
Auburn track and field was represented by four current and one former Tiger at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Of the five athletes competing, four made their Olympic debut.
Competing in his first Olympics, junior Makanakaishe Charamba (Zimbabwe) advanced all the way to the men’s 200m final. Charamba finished second in his heat of round one (20.27) to automatically qualify for the semi-finals. With a time of 20.31, he earned a spot in the finals where he ran 20.53 and claimed eighth in the world.
Freshman Kanyinsola Ajayi (Nigeria), sophomore Azeem Fahmi (Malaysia) and junior Favour Ashe (Nigeria) raced in the 100m dash.
Fahmi ran 10.42 in the preliminary round of the event to qualify for round one. He ran 10.45 to conclude his 2024 Olympic appearance.
Ajayi ran the fastest time of his heat in round one (10.02) and cruised to a spot in the semi-finals. Ashe also earned a spot in the next round, running 10.16. Ajayi and Ashe finished sixth in their respective heats of semi-finals with the former running 10.13 and the latter in 10.08.
The sprinting duo also ran legs of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay team. In round one, the relay ran a season’s best time of 38.20 and finished seventh in their heat. The relay team did not qualify for a spot in the event final.
Appearing in his fifth Olympics, Donald Thomas, representing the Bahamas, competed in the qualification round of the high jump, but did not earn a spot in the final.
Tennis
Auburn tennis alumnus Tim Puetz and partner Kevin Drawietz reached the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event at Roland-Garros. After falling behind 3-2 after giving up a break in the second set on Sunday morning, the German duo earned a break in game eight and held serve to win the set and defeat Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin, a Russian duo playing as individual neutral athletes, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round.
On Tuesday, the three-time ITA All-American and his partner downed Gael Monfils and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinal round. Puetz and Drawietz jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the opening set before winning it, then won over half of the points in return games in the dominant second set.
The German pair claimed the opening set 6-3 over the Czech team of Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlásek in Wednesday’s quarterfinal round before dropping the second set and the tiebreaker to bow out of the tournament.
Swimming
Competing in his fourth Olympics, Brazilian native Marcelo Chierighini proved why he’s one of the best sprinters on the planet in the 4x100 freestyle relay. He out-split all of his teammates (48.21) as Brazil finished 10th overall.
Valerie Tarazi was given a universality spot to represent Palestine in the Olympics for the first time in her career. Tarazi dropped a personal best 2:20.56 in the 200 IM to wind up 32nd when all the dust settled.
Diving
Emily Hallifax hasn’t arrived on campus yet but has already competed at the highest levels of international competition. Along with her synchro partner Jade Gillet, the duo represented their host country of France in spectacular fashion, scoring 2:34.84 and finishing eighth.