The Lone Star State will be well represented in the City of Light when the 2024 Paris Olympics begin Friday. More than 60 of the approximately 600 competitors competing for Team USA are from Texas.
That means that if Team USA lives up to its formidable history of performance at the Summer Olympics – the U.S. has an overall count of 2,975 medals, according to CBS News, more than twice as many as the runner-up, the Soviet Union – Texas athletes will most likely play a significant role.
Some of these athletes are American sporting legends, such as gymnast Simone Biles, WNBA player Brittney Griner, and two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler. However, scores of other athletes, including a few Alamo City residents, want to win gold in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in the 2024 Games.
Read on for our guide to 2024 Olympics competitors who were born in Texas and/or now call it home.
1. Natalia Vega Figueroa – Artistic Swimming
Figueroa, 25, is a Puerto Rican athlete who attended the University of the Incarnate Word. He is the son of a professional water polo player who will fight for Olympic gold on the artistic swimming team.
2. Emilio Garcia, Boxing
Garcia, 21, of Laredo, will continue his early international career after competing at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago.
3. Jennifer Lozano – Boxing
Lozano, a Laredo native, has been fighting as a boxer since she was nine. Her nickname is fitting: “The Troublemaker.”
4. Mariah Holguin – Judo
Holguin, who was born in San Antonio, is competing in the Olympics for the first time after nearly ten years of international competition.
5. Keith Sanderson, Shooting
Sanderson, who grew up in San Antonio and graduated from Marshall High School, will compete in his fourth Olympic Games, hoping for his first career medal. The US Army staff sergeant’s best finish in the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol event was fifth place in 2008.
6. Fred Kerley, Track & Field
Kerley, a silver medalist at the 2020 Games, will try to add to his career medal total in the 100-meter sprint and 4 x 100-meter relay. He was born in San Antonio.
7. Simone Biles — Gymnastics
With seven career Olympic medals, Biles, who lives in Spring, Texas, will try to make more history in Paris: she needs only one more medal to break a tie with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast.
8. David Johnston, Swimming
David Johnston, a Dallas native who later attended the University of Texas at Austin, is an eight-time All-American and four-time Big 12 champion. This summer, he hopes to add “Olympics victor” to his resume by competing in the men’s 10-kilometer swim.
Conclusion
Texas is expected to have a huge impact at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with over 60 athletes representing Team USA. This eclectic group includes well-known athletes like Simone Biles and Scottie Scheffler, as well as rising stars like Natalia Vega Figueroa and Fred Kerley. As these Texans compete for gold, they carry a tradition of greatness and determination to the world stage.