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Texas athletes have had a long history of success in the Olympics. Here’s a look at who to watch this year and the most notable Texan Olympians over time.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11. About two dozen Texans will officially represent Team USA, and the state has also served as a popular training ground for many other athletes.
The Lone Star State is no stranger to Olympic success, with many legends beginning their origin stories here. Let’s look at 11 of the most talented Olympians from Texas. We’re still proud of the Winter Olympians, though this list, we’re focusing only on Summer Olympics and Paralympics athletes who grew up in Texas.
Top Texas athletes competing in the 2024 Olympics
With a strong roster of Texas athletes competing in this year’s games, Team USA looks poised for success. Here’s who to watch.
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Simone Biles
Born in Columbus, OH, Simone Biles went in and out of foster care as a child before her maternal grandfather and his second wife adopted her. She grew up in Spring, and after her daycare had a gymnastics field trip, she began pursuing the sport. She’s the first American woman to make three Olympic rosters since Dominique Dawes went to the 1992, 1996, and 2000 games. This year, Biles is leading a “redemption tour” for the U.S. women, who took silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Biles is certainly a decorated champion—she’s won 29 gold medals (and 39 total), highlighted by a dominating performance at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro when she won gold in the team, all-around, vault, and floor exercise events. But she’s also been a strong advocate for mental health, withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics after experiencing the “twisties.” Her decision encouraged other athletes to be more open about mental health and the tremendous pressure of competing in major events like the Olympics.
Beyond Biles, Team USA’s roster is full of Lone Star athletes. Asher Hong is from Tomball, Joscelyn Roberson is from Texarkana, and Hezly Rivera grew up in Plano.
Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner, a Houston native, initially played varsity volleyball and basketball as a freshman in high school. She eventually focused all her energy on hoops, and her career has turned out quite well. Griner attended Baylor and won a national championship in 2012, earned two College Player of the Year awards, and set the NCAA record for career dunks. The Phoenix Mercury selected her with the first pick of the 2013 draft. She won a championship in her second season and has reached 10 WNBA All-Star teams.
After spending nearly 10 months in a Russian jail in 2022, Griner returned to basketball and is now looking for a third straight gold medal as a member of the U.S. women’s basketball team. No matter what happens on the court, Griner and her wife, Cherelle, have plenty to cheer for: they’re expecting a child later this year.
Bryce Hoppel
Bryce Hoppel was born in Midland and is a legend around the area. He won the 2016 Texas 6A State Track & Field Championship at Midland High School, never losing a race in the 800 meters. He also broke school records in the 800-meter, 1,600-meter, and three-mile races, all while finishing among the top 10 students academically in his graduating class.
Hoppel is currently the 800-meter world indoor champion, having won gold at the 2024 World Indoor Championships. He also has a bronze medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and six U.S. titles. He placed third during the Tokyo Olympic trials but ultimately didn’t qualify for the official event. He’ll look to make up for that at the Paris games.
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Sha’Carri Richardson
Sha’Carri Richardson made headlines during the Tokyo Olympics after she tested positive for cannabis. Richardson was using the drug to help cope with qualifying pressure while she mourned her mother, who had recently died. Despite that, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency hit her with a one-month suspension, causing her to miss the 100-meter race she had previously qualified for.
Richardson hopes to win her first Olympic medal in Paris. She’s already got two golds and a bronze at the World Championships and a gold in the Pan American U20 Championship. She grew up in Dallas and attended David W. Carter High School. The school honored her last year by unveiling the Sha’Carri Richardson Track at the school’s John Kincaide Stadium. Dallas mayor Eric Johnson also officially declared November 10, 2023, Sha’Carri Richardson Day.
Deja Young
Deja Young was born with brachial plexus, a condition that causes nerve damage and has limited her right shoulder’s mobility. That didn’t stop her from becoming a standout track star starting in high school while also competing in volleyball and softball. The Mesquite native loves to write and draw and, for running inspiration, looks up to Florence Griffith Joyner—one of the best to ever race.
This will be Young’s third consecutive Paralympics appearance. In 2016, she took gold in both the women’s 100m T47 and 200m T47 events and won a bronze medal in the 100m T47 event in Tokyo. She’s also earned seven medals at the World Championships.
Jordan White
Say hello to the youngest U.S. Paralympic archer ever. Jordan White is 15 and has only been competing in archery for about a year, but he’s headed to Paris for this year’s games. He lives in Cedar Park and spends five to six days per week training.
Since this will be his first Paralympic competition, White doesn’t yet have any medals to his name. But his determination has served him well so far. He reached his first para-competition and changed his phone’s background to read, “Paris 2024.” After competing in the games this August, he just may have to update with a new gold photo.
Top Texas athletes from past Olympics
Plenty of eyes will be on the 2024 Olympians. However, Texas athletes have had a long run of Olympic stardom. Here are five of the most impressive participants from previous games.
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Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Most Olympians excel in one sport. Mildred “Babe” Didrikson, who later married professional wrestler George Zaharias, was incredible at several. She was born in Port Arthur as the sixth of seven children; the family moved to Beaumont when Didrikson was four years old. Her mother gave her the “Babe” nickname early on, though Didrikson claims it was a nod to Babe Ruth after she hit five home runs during a childhood baseball game. Whatever the case, Didrikson’s athletic prowess transcended multiple sports.
She moved to Dallas to play basketball, though her speed was strong enough to enter the 1932 Olympics as a track and field athlete. She earned a gold medal in the 80-meter hurdles, breaking the world record with a time of 11.7 seconds. She also earned gold in the javelin with an Olympic record throw of 43.69 meters. Didrikson tied the world record in the high jump, though she wound up with silver after judges ruled her attempt in a “jump-off” was not a legal technique.
Two years after her Olympics appearance, she pitched four innings across three Major League Baseball spring training games and toured with the House of David vaudeville team. She holds the women’s record for the longest baseball throw. But her greatest athletic accomplishment came as a golfer. She began playing in 1935 and eventually racked up 10 LPGA major championships between 1940 and 1954.
If that weren’t enough, Didrikson won sewing competitions and designed her golf outfits. She also sang and played harmonica, recording several songs with Mercury Records. She died in Galveston at 45 years old and is buried in Beaumont’s Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson grew up in Dallas and had an early affinity for running, primarily because he preferred the sport’s solo nature. He competed in track at Atwell Junior High but simply called it “something fun to do.” He even took two years off from running in high school to focus on studying, wanting to become an architect. He eventually returned to the track and attended college at Baylor, breaking the school record during his first 200-meter race.
If you look at the list of best times for the 400 meters, Johnson is all over it. He still holds the world record in the 4×400-meter relay, and his iconic 200-meter record-setting victory during the 1996 Olympics—gold shoes and all—remains one of the event’s top highlights. At the Atlanta Olympics, Johnson became the only male athlete to win both the 200-meter and 400-meter events in the same Olympics. His four gold medals are tied with Houston Cougars graduate Carl Lewis for the fourth-most by a runner in Olympic history. He won 16 total medals across the Olympics, World Championships, and Goodwill Games—and all 16 of them were golds.
Dana Vollmer
Dana Vollmer moved from Syracuse to Granbury when she was a child. She began swimming at a young age and trained with the Fort Worth Area Swim Team, also known as FAST. Vollmer had a condition called supraventricular tachycardia, which causes quickened pulses. Though she had surgery to correct the condition in 2003, doctors recommended she keep a defibrillator nearby during competitions in case she had a heart issue.
Vollmer won 32 medals in international competitions, making her among the most decorated swimmers ever. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, she earned a gold medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay, setting a then-world record. During the 2012 London Olympics, she set another world record in the 100-meter butterfly, though that record has since been broken. Nevertheless, Vollmer finished her Olympic career with five gold medals across the 2004, 2012, and 2016 Olympics, with a silver and bronze in the 2016 games for good measure.
Nastia Liukin
Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow in 1989, but her family moved to the U.S. when she was two-and-a-half years old, eventually settling in Texas before her fifth birthday. Her father, Valeri, and Yevgeny Marchenko, another Soviet champion athlete, opened the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano in 1994. Liukin graduated from Plano’s Spring Creek Academy and enrolled at SMU, though she left to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games.
It turned out to be a smart decision. Liukin won five medals at those Olympics, including gold in the all-around competition. Throughout her career, she won 32 medals, 15 of which were gold. In 2009, Liukin established the Nastia Liukin Fund to support clubs and programs that help gymnasts with financial assistance. The following year, Liukin founded the Nastia Liukin Cup, allowing competitors to perform on a raised podium surface in a large arena.
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Glenn Eller
Longevity is an impressive Olympic skillset—it means you’re at the top of your game over several years. Trap shooting is not the most common Olympic sport, yet Glenn Eller was a regular sight for five straight Olympic Games from 2000 to 2016. He won the gold medal in men’s double trap in 2008, setting an Olympic Record and a Final Olympic Record with a score of 145+45.
Eller was born in Houston and attended James E. Taylor High School in Katy. During his Olympics run, he joined the military and is a shooter and instructor for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. Beyond his Olympic gold, Eller has also won gold medals at the World Championships, World Final, World Cup, Pan American Games, and Championships of the Americas. Though Eller grew up in the Houston area, he spends more than half the year on the road for exhibitions, instructional events, and other related military duties.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
