Michigan in the Olympics
2020 - Tokyo
The delayed 2020 Tokyo Games are unique in many ways and the 32-person Michigan delegation of current and former UM athletes is distinctive as well. Fifty years after Title IX gave women's college athletics a boost, the Michigan delegation is equally divided between men and women, and for the first time women swimmers outnumber men 5-4. U-M athletes are competing for fourteen countries, including Germany, Yemen, Nigeria, Belgium, San Marino and Serbia for the first time.
Swimming and Diving
Siobhán Haughey
Siobhán Haughey will be making he second Olympic appearance for Hong Kong and will be joined by Jamie Yeung in Tokyo. Both swam for U-M 2916-2019. Haughey made it to the semi-finals of the 200m freestyle in Rio and will compete in multiple sprint events in Tokyo. Yeung is part of the 4x100 freestyle relay team.
Maggie MacNeil became the first woman to break the 48 second barrier in the 100m butterfly in capturing the NCAA title in 2021. She will be swimming in butterfly and other events for Canada in Tokyo. Mariella Venter, rising junior, will be part of South Africa's 4x100 relay team. Catie DeLoof, the third of four Deloof sisters to swim for U-M, qualified for the U.S. 4x100 relay team.
Jamie Yeung, Maggie McNeill. Mariella Venter, Catie DeLoof
Felix Auböck will again compete in multiple freesthyle events for Austria. Jake Mitchell swam a dramatic time trial at the U.S. tryouts to qualify for the 400 meter freestyle. He finished second to Kieran Smith in the qualifying race, but only Smith and the 11th place finisher had previously made the FINA qualifying time of 3:46.78. Race officials officials ruled there would be a series of individual time trials, in order of finish 2-10, the first to meet the FINA standard would make the U.S. team. Mitchell led off with the swim of his life, bettering his personal best by more than two seconds to get the trip to Tokyo. Patrick Callan qualified for the U.S. 4x100 relay team.
Felix Auböck, Jake Mitchell, Patrick Callan, Mokthar Al-Yamani
Mokhtar Al-Yamani thought the was going to swim for Yemen in 2016, but last-minute paperwork glitches kept him out of the Rio games. This year he joins one woman swimmer as Yemen's only representative in Tokyo. It will be a homecoming for Mokhtar, He grew up in Tokyo and swam for the St. Mary's International High School. He was a four-year letter winner for U-M 2016-2019. Incoming freshman Gal Groumi competed for Israel.
Gal Groumi, Michael Hixon
U-M will have its first diving Olympian since Abel Sanchez (Peru) in 2000, though he never competed for the Wolverines. Ross Business School grad student Mike Hixon will pair with Indiana University teammate Andrew Copabianco in the synchronized 3-meter diving event. Hixon was 2014 1-meter and 3-meter NCAA champion at Texas before transferring Indiana. He won a silver medal in synchronized 3-meter diving with Sam Dorman and finished 10th in individual three-meter in Rio. He finished 4th in the individual event at this year's trials.
Track and Field
Nick Willis, setting record
for sub-four minute
miles, 2021
Three Olympic veterans head up U-M tack and field athletes along with two competitors in events Michigan men have not contested for years. Nick Willis qualified for his fifth Olympics in the 1500m run, but just barely. Winner of a silver medal in 2008 and a bronze in 2016, he was named to the New Zealand team in early 2020 and just had to meet the Olympic qualifying standard. He needed to be among the top 45 ranked runners in the world and was at number 47 in early July. Then two runners ranked ahead of him decided not to compete in the 1500. He was in, the lowest ranking runner, but the first New Zealander to make five Olympic teams. Along the way, Willis did set a world record for most consecutive years running a sub-four minute mile. He had shared the record of eighteen years with fellow Kiwi John Walker.
Between them, the Ofili sisters won seven NCAA hurdles titles and set nearly every U-M women's hurdles record. Now both are multi-Olympians for Great Britain. Tiffany Ofili Porter for the third time, Cindy Ofili Sember for the second. Raised in Ypsilanti by their Nigerian born father and British born mother of Nigerian descent, the pair are both in the medal hunt in the 100m hurdles. Tiffany placed fourth at the Rio games and Tiffany eighth. Both have turned in some world's best times this year.
Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter at Rio games, Mason Ferlic, Steven Bastien
Mason Ferlic, (U-M 2012-16) is the first U-M competitor in the men's 3,000m steeplechase since Brian Diemer made his third Olympic team in 1992. 2016 NCAA champion, Ferlic hopes to match or better Diemer's bronze medal from 1984. Saline native Steve Bastien (U-M 2015-18) finished second in the U.S. decathlon trials to become the first U-M student-athlete to compete in the event. Grad student and assistant coach Ken Doherty won the bronze medal at the 1928 games. Eeles Landstrom competed in the decathlon for Finland in 1952 before enrolling at U-M.
Rowing
Ellen Tomek (U-M 2003-06) qualified for her third Olympics, this time with the quadruple sculls team. Tomek placed fifth in double sculls in 2008 and sixth in 2016. She missed the 2012 games due to injury. The Flint native says this is definitely her last Olympics and hopes the third time is the charm. Ann Arbor Pioneer's Grace Luczak rowed one year for Michigan (2008) before transferring to Stanford. In 2016 she teamed with U-M's Felice Mueller in the women's pairs and finished fourth in the A final. In Tokyo she will be competing in the coxless four.
US rowers Ellen Tomek and Grace Luczak, "Aussie Stingers" Abby Andrews and Amy Ridge
Water Polo
Australians Amy Ridge (2016) and Abby Andrews (2019) will be competing for the Australian National Team known as the "Aussie Stingers." In her one year at U-M Ridge had 20 goals and 10 assists in 38 games in helping the team to the CWPA Championship and fourth place in the NCAA tournament. Ridge racked up 57 goals, 71 assists and 47 steals in 32 games and was named WWPA rookie of the year in 2019.
Softball
Amanda Chidester is the first U-M softball player to make an Olympic team. The Allen Park native had grown up dreaming of playing for U-M and in the Olympics. She starred at U-M, 2009-2012, at third base, catcher and utility player, but Olympic prospects dimmed when softball was dropped from the Olympic roster. When softball was restored for the 2020 her hopes were restored, but then she was dropped from the national team in 2019. She refocused her training and worked her way back on to the Olympic squad. Tokyo may be her only chance for Olympic glory as the sport will not be back in 2024.
Sierra Romero, holder of most Michigan batting records, and National Player of the Year in 2016, was named an alternate for Mexico's team. Her sister Sydney, who played at Oklahoma State, is on the Mexican team. Their father has dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship.
Wrestling
Two U-M wrestlers used family heritage to gain tickets to Tokyo. Myles Amnine (U-M 2016-21) is part of long family tradition of U-M wrestling-five Amines have competed for Michigan. Myles has been competing internationally for San Marino based on his mother's ancestry and has Olympic tradition his Amine side. His grandfather Nazzem Amine wrestled for Lebanon at the 1960 games in Rome. After the Arab-Israeli War of 1967 Nazzem migrated with his family to Dearborn where a new wrestling tradition was born.
Stevan Micic (UM 2061-21) will be wrestling for Serbia at the 58kg class. His father was born in Serbia. Stevan wrestled for the U.S. at the junior level but switched to Serbia in 2018. Serbia has a strong tradition in Greco-Roman wrestling, but is not as strong in freestyle. Micic became the first Serbian medal winner in the European Freestyle Championships in 2018 competition.
Myles Amine, Stevan Micic, Sam Mikulak, Eke Uche
Men' Gymnastics
Gymnast Sam Mikulak (U-M 2011-14) earned his third trip to the Olympics. At the U.S. trials his outstanding floor exercise routine moved him into second place and what seemed like one of the two guaranteed spots. He struggled a bit on the pommel horse, however, and had to rely on the coach's selection to make the team. The six-time national all-around national champion will be the only U.S. team member with Olympic experience.
Eche Uke (U-M 2016-20) will be Nigeria's first ever Olympic gymnast. The Baltimore native's father was born in the West African country. Uke earned his spot by capturing the bronze medal at the African Gymnastics Championships.
Cameron Bock, a senior on U-M's 2021 third place NCAA gymnastics team, will travel to Tokyo as an alternate for the U.S.
Women's Soccer
Canada's women's soccer team will feature two Wolverines. Shelina Zadorksy (U-M 2010-13), making her second Olympic appearance, is joined by Jayde Riviere, rising junior at U-M. Zadorksy won a bronze medal in 2016 and has most recently been playing professionally for Tottenham Hotspur in the English FA Women's Super League.
Shelina Zadorksy, Jayde Riviere, Mo Wagner, Epke Udoh
Men's Basketball
Moritz "Mo" Wagner made the German team to become be the first U-M basketball player to compete in the Olympics since Phil Hubbard won a gold medal for the U.S. in 1976. Wagner played three seasons for U-M (2016-18) before moving on to the NBA. He came off the bench to score 28 points in a win over Brazil that earned Germany one of the final Olympic berths. Epke Udoh, who played two seasons for U-M, 2007-2008, before transferring to Baylor. will be representing Nigeria. Udoh played professionally in the NBA and overseas. He is currently with Virtus Bologna.
Mike Woods
Cycling
Mike Woods, who ran the mile for U-M track, 2005-2009, earned a second Olympic trip in the road race. He won the Big Ten mile title in 2006, but foot injuries plagued him the rest of his career at U-M. He still holds the record for the fastest mile by a Canadian on Canadian soil. Woods later took up cycling as part of his therapy and the Ottawa native soon joined the Canadian national team and won a spot in the road race at the 2016 Olympics. In 2018 he won a bronze medal in UCI World Championships, the first Canadian to medal in 34 years. He made his Tour de France debut the same year, but had to finish the race with two broken ribs after a crash in the 11th stage. He currently races professionally with EF Pro Cycling.
Triathlon
Ann Arbor's Val Barthelemy will represent Belgium in the triathlon. She swam for U-M 2010-13 while earning bachelors and masters degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. She raced her first professional triathlon in 2015 and in 2017 moved to Belgium to pursue her Olympic dreams. In 2019 she began training with The Triathlon Squad, a group of elite triathletes and captured three bronze medals on the World Cup circuit.
The U-M Results - 2020 -Tokyo
| Swimming | |||
| Felix Auböck (Austria) | |||
| 400m freestyle | 4th (tie 3:44.07) | ||
| 800m freestyle | 7th (7:49:14) | ||
| 1500m freestyle | 7th (15:03.47) | ||
| Patrick Callan | |||
| 400m free relay | 4th (swam in qualifying heats) 1st in heat (7:05.62, 3rd leg 1:47.12) |
||
| Jake Mitchell | |||
| 400m freestyle | 8th (3:45.39) | ||
| Mokhtar Al-Yamani (Yemen) | |||
| 100m freestyle | 1st in heat did not advance (50:52) | ||
| 200m freestyle | 3rd in heat, did not advance (1:49 97) | ||
| Gal Groumi (Israel) | |||
| 4x200 freestyle relay | 5th in heat did not advance (7:08.65) 10th overall | ||
| 200m Ind. Medley | Tied for 2nd in heat, did not advance (1:59.44) T 30th overall | ||
| 4x100m Mixed Medley Relay | 8th (3:44.77) (swam 3rd leg) (set national record of 3:43.94 in heat) |
||
| Maggie McNeil (Canada) | |||
| 100m butterfly | 1st (55.59) | ||
| 4x100m freestyle relay | 2nd (3:32.78) | ||
| 4x100m medley relay | 3rd (3:52.60m butterfly 55.27) |
||
| Jamie Yeung (Hong Kong) | |||
| 400m medley relay | 13th overall, 7th in heat (4:02.06, breaststroke 1:08.69) | ||
| Siobhán Haughey (Hong Kong) | |||
| 50m freestyle | 17th | ||
| 100m freestyle | 2nd (52.27) | ||
| 200m freestyle | 2nd (1:53.92) | ||
| 400m medley relay | 13th overall, 7th in heat (4:02.06, butterfly 56.67) | ||
| Mariella Venter (South Africa) | |||
| 400m medley relay | 14th (4:03.02, backstroke 1:01.03) | ||
| Katie DeLoof | |||
| 4x100m freestyle relay | 3rd (swam in qualifiying round) |
||
| Diving | |||
| Michael Hixon (with Andrew Copabianco) | |||
| 3m synch, diving | 2nd (444.36) | ||
| Track and Field | |||
| Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (Great Britain) | |||
| 100m hurdles | 18th overall, 5th in semifinal heat 12.86 | ||
| Cindy (Ofili) Sember (Great Britain) | |||
| 100m hurdles | 13th overall, 7th in semifinal heat (12.76) | ||
| Nick Willis (New Zealand | |||
| 1500m | 7th in heat, 14th overall, 3:36.38. his best time of the season to advance to semifinals semifinal heat, 9th 3:35:41, did not advance to final, 19th overall |
||
| Steven Bastien | |||
decathlon (event, time/distance, place in |
10th place (8,236 pts) |
||
| Mason Ferlic | |||
| 3,000m steeplechase | 8th in heat, 21st overall 8:20:.23, did not advance | ||
| Triathlon | |||
| Val Barthelemy (Belgium) | |||
| triathlon | 10th (1-58:49) | ||
| mixed relay | 5th | ||
| Rowing | |||
| Grace Luczak | |||
| rowing four | 4th in heat 5th in repechage, did not advance to A Final 1st in B Final (6:33.65) |
||
| Ellen Tomek | |||
| quad sculls | 5th in first heat 6th in repechage did not advance to A Final 4th in B Final |
||
| Soccer | |||
| Shalina Zadorsky (Canada) | |||
1st |
|||
| Jayde Riviere (Canada) | |||
| defense | 1st |
||
| Gymnastics | |||
| Sam Mikulak | |||
| team competition | 5th | ||
| all-around | 12th | ||
| individual parallel bars | 6th (15.00) | ||
| Uche Eke (Nigeria) | |||
| Individual all-around | 58th overall | ||
| Cameron Bock | |||
| (alternate) | |||
| Softball | |||
| Amanda Chidester | |||
| catcher, designated player | 2nd |
||
| Sierra Romero (Mexico) | |||
| (alternate) | |||
| Basketball | |||
| Moritz Wagner (Germany) | |||
| lost to Italy 92-82 (12 points 4 rebounds 1 assist) def. Nigeria 99-92 (17 pts. 3 reb, 3 steals, 1 assist) lost to Australia 89-76 (6 pts, 3 reb) lost to Slovenia 94-70 (9 pts, 1 reb, assist) |
|||
| Epke Udoh (Nigeria) | |||
|
lost to Australia 84-67 lost to Germany 99-92 lost to Italy 80-71 |
|||
| Cycling | |||
| Mike Woods | |||
| road race | 5th | ||
| Water Polo | |||
| Abby Andrews (Australia) | |||
| water polo | 6th |
||
| Amy Ridge (Australia) | |||
| water polo | 6th defeated Canada 8-5 defeate Netherlands 15-12 (1 goal) lost to Spain 1-9 defeated South Africa 14-1 (2 goals) lost to Russian OC 9-8 (1 goal) defeated Canada 14-12 (1 goal) defeated Netherlands 14-7 (2 goals) |
||
| Wrestling | |||
| Myles Amine (San Marino) | |||
| 86kg (freestyle) | 3rd defeated Carlos Izquierdo (Columbia) 12-0 lost to David Taylor (USA) 12-2 defeated Ali Shabnau (Belarus) 2-2 defeated Deepak Punia (India) 4-2 |
||
| Stevaan Micic (Serbia) | |||
| 57kg (Freestyle) | lost to Yuki Takahashi (Japan) 7-0 | ||
| Coaches | |||
| Yuan Xiao (U.S.) | |||
| Gymnastics - assistant coach | |||
| Bob Bowman (U.S.) | |||
| Swimming - US assistant coach | |||
| Mike Bottom (Yemen) | |||
| Swimming - coach | |||
| Rick Bishop (Hong Kong) | |||
| Swimming coach | |||
| Jordan Gaarentson (Nigeria) | |||
| Gymnastics - coach | |||
| Sean Bormet (San Marino, Serbia) | |||
| Wrestling - coach | |||
| Jeff Porter (Great Britain) | |||
| track - personal coach | |||
Table of Contents | 2018-PyeongChang | 2022-Beijing | Name Index