Sports

Which Oregonians Are Headed to the Tokyo Olympics?

The games are on, and Oregon is well represented. Let's bring home some medals!

By Margaret Seiler June 17, 2021 Published in the Summer 2021 issue of Portland Monthly

FROM TOP: Oregonians hoping to compete in Tokyo this summer include Christine Sinclair for Canada and Mariel Zagunis, Damian Lillard, Sally Kipyego, Ryan Crouser, and Galen Rupp for Team USA.

With the postponed 2020 Olympics finally kicking off in Toyko, a deep field of Oregonians and Oregon-adjacent athletes hope to join the state’s medaled ranks, which include decathletes Dan O’Brien and Ashton Eaton, soccer legend Tiffeny Milbrett, swimmer Suzanne Zimmerman, and high jumper (and famous flopper) Dick Fosbury.

Some local contenders already have Olympic hardware. In fencing, Beaverton-raised Mariel Zagunis is competing in sabre, looking to add a fifth medal to the ones she came home with in 2004, 2008, and 2016. Since her last Olympic appearance, she’s had a daughter and been a celebrity contestant on Chopped. Also headed to a fourth Games is marathoner Galen Rupp, the Central Catholic grad who trained under Alberto Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project before it imploded amid a doping scandal. Sally Kipyego ran for her native Kenya when she won silver in London in 2012, but the Tokyo-bound distance runner is now a US citizen based in Eugene.

Hopefuls for other track and field events are vying for Olympic spots June 18–27 at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in Eugene—Boring-raised Sam Barlow High grad Ryan Crouser, who won gold in 2016 in discus and shot put, set a new world record as he qualified in shot put on the event's first day. University of Portland alum Woody Kincaid and fellow Portland-based Bowerman Track Club member Grant Fisher have qualified in the 10,000 meters. 

On the men's side, the 12-player roster for Team USA Basketball includes, of course, the one and only Damian Lillard of the Blazers. (Lake Oswego High grad and Cleveland Cavalier Kevin Love withdrew from the team earlier this month with an injury.)

They’re not new events, but baseball and softball are back at the Olympics after a 13-year break. American women have won gold in all but one of the Olympic softball tournaments, and the current roster includes former University of Oregon star Janie Takeda Reed. The US men had been managed by Hillsboro native, Linfield grad, and former Major Leaguer Scott Brosius, but he was replaced this spring by Mike Scioscia after the baseball team failed to qualify for the Olympics in its first few chances. (They finally qualified in June.)

In soccer, the US men didn’t qualify, but the US women are ranked no. 1 in the world and will be in Tokyo. Thorns Crystal Dunn, AD Franch, Lindsey Horan, and Becky Sauerbrunn are on the 18-player roster (along with former Thorns Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan, and Emily Sonnett). Longtime Canadian captain Christine Sinclair will also be missing from Providence Park, looking to add to her world-record number of international goals and potentially setting up an epic showdown with her Thorns teammates.

This story has been updated.

Olympians with Oregon connections (playing for Team USA)

Devon Allen (track and field, 110m hurdles)

Jade Carey (gymnastics, individual vault, all-around)

Jordan Chiles (gymnastics, team event)

Matthew Centrowitz (track and field, 1,500m)

Elise Cranny (track and field, 100m)

Ryan Crouser (track and field, shot put)

Crystal Dunn (soccer, defender)

Grant Fisher (track and field, 5,000m & 10,000m)

Adrianna Franch (soccer, backup goalkeeper)

Courtney Frerichs (track and field, steeplechase)

English Gardner (track and field, 100m)

Cravon Gillespie (track and field, 100m)

Tobin Heath (soccer, midfielder)

Kim Hill (volleyball, outside hitter)

Cole Hocker (track and field, 1,500m)

Lindsey Horan (soccer, midfielder)

Woody Kinkaid (track and field, 5,000m & 10,000m)

Sally Kipyego (track and field, marathon)

Damian Lillard (men's basketball)

Jenna Prandini (track and field, 100m & 200m)

Megan Rapinoe (soccer, forward)

Janie (Takeda) Reed (softball, outfielder)

Raevyn Rodgers (track and field, 800m)

Galen Rupp (track and field, marathon)

Becky Sauerbrunn (soccer, defender)

Karissa Schweizer (track and field 5,000m & 10,000m)

Micah William (track and field, 100m)

Mariel Zagunis (fencing, sabre)

Other Olympians with Oregon connections

Moh Ahmed (Canada, track and field, 5,000m & 10,000m)

Nijel Amos (Botswana, track and field, 800m)

Amos Bartelsmeyer (Germany, track and field, 1,500m)

Caspar Corbeau (Netherlands, swimming)

Tatyana Forbes (Mexico, softball)

Jake Heyward (Great Britain, track and field, 1,500m)

Jessica Hull (Australia, track and field, 1,500 & 5000m)

Charlie Hunter (Australia, track and field, 800m)

Emanuel Ihemeje (Italy, track and field, triple jump)

Konstanze Klosterhalfen (Germany, track and field, 10,000m)

Marc Scott (Great Britain, track and field, 5,000m & 10,000m)

Christine Sinclair (Canada, women's soccer)

Gabriela Debues-Stafford (Canada, track and field, 1,500m)

Pat Tiernan (Australia, track and field, 10,000m)

Kieran Tuntivate (Thailand, track and field, 10,000m)

Share