BATON ROUGE — Competing in the Olympics is every athlete's dream but only some get the opportunity. This year 31 current and former LSU athletes—and one future coach—have punched their tickets to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, as well as two athletes from across the state.

LSU is sending more than just athletes to Paris. LSU is giving 25 journalism, public relations and political communication students the once-in-a-lifetime experience to cover the Olympics, and a Baton Rouge native's design will adorn Team USA’s beach volleyball uniforms.

LSU has athletes from six different sports representing countries all over the world.

Swimming and Diving:

LSU's swimming and diving team is sending a record number of athletes to the Olympics this year. They are more than doubling the record of five athletes that the team sent in 1996, including four current athletes and seven past athletes.
- Adrian Abadia Garcia in his first Olympic games will be competing for Spain in the three-meter synchronized swim.
- Pavel Alvoatki for Moldova has qualified for his first Olympics and is competing in the 400-meter freestyle.
- Juan Celaya-Hernandez is returning to the diving board for his second Olympic games as he is competing in the three-meter synchronized dive for Mexico.
- Brooks Curry will be competing for another Olympic gold medal in his second Olympic games. He is swimming in the 4x200 freestyle relay for Team USA.
- Jere Hibrar, freshman, will be competing in the 50-meter freestyle for Croatia in his first Olympic games.
- Jovan Lekic, freshman, will be swimming the 400-meter freestyle for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Sabrina Lyn, a freshman, has secured her spot for the Jamaican team in the 50-meter freestyle.
- Maggie MacNeil will be fighting to add a fourth Olympic medal to her collection as she competes in both the 100-meter fly and 4x100-meter medley for the Canadian team.
- Chiara Pellacani qualified for more than one event in her first Olympics. She will be competing in the three-meter individual and the three-meter synchronized events for Italy.
- Lizzie (Cui) Roussel has qualified for her second Olympic games and is competing in the three-meter springboard for New Zealand.
- Helle Tuxen, senior, will be on the diving team for Norway competing in the three-meter springboard in her first Olympic games.

Beach Volleyball: 

Two former LSU beach volleyball players will both be competing for Team USA. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth who have been playing together since 2021 will be playing together in their first Olympics.

Track and Field: 

LSU track and Field is sending many current and former athletes to Paris.
- Amber Anning will be competing for Great Britain, her homeland, in the 400-meter sprint and relay.
- Thelma Davis for Liberia is headed to Paris for her first Olympics where she will compete in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100. 
- Armand "Mondo" Duplantis will be competing to add a second Olympic gold medal to his record for Sweden as he aims to break another world record for pole vaulting.
- Tima Godbless, a sophomore, will be competing in her second Olympic games for the Nigerian team. She got an automatic qualification after running 22.56 seconds in the 200-meter race at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
- Natoya Goule will be competing for Jamaica in the 800-meter for her third appearance in the Olympics.
- JuVaugh Harrison is headed to the Olympics for a second time to represent Team USA. He had the fourth-highest jump at the trials clearing 2.24 meters.
- Aleia Hobbs will be competing for another Olympic medal in her second games as she represents the United States in the high jump.
- Shakeem McKay, a sophomore, will be representing Trinidad and Tobago as he competes in the 400-meter race at his first Olympics.
- Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake is competing in the 4x100 for Great Britain in his third Olympic games.
- Favour Ofili qualified for Paris during the first day of the trials after winning the 200-meter race. Ofili will represent Nigeria in her second Olympic games.
- Ella Onojuvwewvwo, a sophomore, will be competing in her first Olympic games for the Nigerian team. She qualified after she broke the 23-year-old record of the fastest Nigerian in the 400-meter race during the Olympic trials.
- Vernon Norwood will be competing for a third medal in his second games. He will be representing the United States in the 4x400 and mixed 4x400.
- Godson Oghenebrume will be competing in the 100-meter and 200-meter for Nigeria in his first Olympic games.
- Sha’Carri Richardson has finally earned her spot in the Olympic games. She will be running the 100-meter for Team USA.
- Claudio Romero will be competing for Chile in his first Olympics where he will throw discus.

Gymnastics: 

Aleah Finnegan, junior, who was on the 2024 LSU National Championship team is competing as the first female gymnast from the Philippines.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Aliaksei Shostak from Youngsville is competing with Team USA in trampoline and tumbling. He also competed in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Basketball:

Three former LSU basketball players and an incoming coach will be on the court for Team USA, Australia and Puerto Rico.
- Hailey Van Lith, who played for the LSU women's basketball team during the 2023-24 season, is playing for Team USA.
- Duop Reath, who played for LSU from 2016 to 2018, will be on Australia's Olympic basketball team for the second time.
- David Patrick will join the LSU coaching staff for the 2024-25 season as Associate Head Coach. Before he starts at LSU he is headed to Paris to be the Assistant Coach for Australia's men's team. 
- Tremont Waters, who played for LSU for two seasons, is competing in Paris on the Puerto Rico team. 

José Alvarado, a New Orleans Pelicans point guard will also be competing as a member of Puerto Rico's national team.  

Tennis:

One former LSU tennis player is headed to the Olympics for a second swing. Neal Skupski, who played at LSU from 2008 to 2012, is going back to the Olympics with Great Britain.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry shared his support for the local athletes with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

"Join me in cheering on our incredible Louisiana athletes at the Olympic Games! #LouisianaProud," the post said.

Join me in cheering on our incredible Louisiana athletes at the Olympic Games! #LouisianaProud #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/wNrVD57OvS

— Governor Jeff Landry (@LAGovJeffLandry) July 26, 2024

The opening ceremonies for this year's Olympics are on Friday at 12:30 p.m.