NC State Athletics Set To Be Well-Represented at 2020 Olympic Games
7/22/2021 11:12:00 AM | Pack Athletics
13 athletes, coaches across five sports to make trip to Tokyo
RALEIGH – A total of thirteen members of the NC State Athletics family are set to represent their respective countries at the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. That number includes a group of current Wolfpack student-athletes in addition to multiple incoming athletes and alumni and one head coach.
The bulk of competition in Tokyo begins on Saturday, July 24. NC State will have representation in five sports at the Games.
PACK IN TOKYO:
A total of nine current, former and future members of the Pack will represent the Wolfpack's swimming and diving programs. Among that number are current swimmers Sophie Hansson (Sweden), Nyls Korstanje (Netherlands), Andrea Podmanikova (Slovakia) and Kacper Stokowski (Poland). NC State alumni Simonas Bilis (Lithuania), Anton Ipsen (Denmark) and Andreas Vazaios (Greece) and incoming Wolfpack swimmers Alexander Norgaard (Denmark) and Noe Ponti (Switzerland) will also be competing.
Recent softball graduate Tatyana Forbes will compete with Team Mexico as the sport makes its return to the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2008.
Wolfpack track and field alumna Gabriele Cunningham is also set to travel to Tokyo to compete in the 100-meter hurdles, and fellow NC State alumnus Lucas Kozeniesky will join her on Team USA after qualifying in air rifle.
NC State volleyball coach Luka Slabe will serve as an assistant for the United States Women's Volleyball National Team after helping his team qualify for the Olympics at the 2019 FIVB World Cup.
Of those members of the Pack, Vazaios (3), Hansson (2), Bilis (2), Ipsen (2) and Kozeniesky (2) are multi-time Olympics qualifiers. NC State's last Olympic gold medalist came in 2016 when Ryan Held won as a member of Team USA's 4x100-meter men's freestyle relay squad.
OLYMPIC COVERAGE:
The Tokyo Olympics will be contested from July 23 through Aug. 8 and will be presented across the networks and platforms of NBC. Coverage of many primetime events will be linear, and fans can also watch the Games by streaming on NBCOlymmpics.com, NBC Sports and Peacock.
Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of Raleigh/EST. A full breakdown of NBC's coverage can be found here.
FOLLOW ALONG:
NC State Swimming & Diving - @packswimdive
NC State Softball - @PackSoftball
NC State Track & Field - @Wolfpack_TF
NC State Volleyball - @PackVball
NC State Rifle - @packrifle