Gamecocks in the Olympics: Highlights from August 1 to August 3

Saturday, Aug. 3, served as the official midway point of the 2024 Summer Olympics. Multiple former Gamecock student-athletes have showcased their talents on the international stage, with some advancing further in their respective competitions.

Eight of these athletes — three in women’s basketball, two each in track and field and swimming, and one in women’s soccer — were involved in Olympic action over the last three days. Here’s how each of them fared in their respective competitions.

Wilson registers double-double in second straight U.S. win, while Canada falters again

In the second day of group stage action, the United States national women’s basketball team showcased why it is the favorite to win yet another gold medal. Canada, on the other hand, is now in a must-win situation to keep its medal hopes alive.

The Americans picked up their second win of the competition on Thursday, Aug. 1, by defeating Belgium 87-74. A’ja Wilson, the United States’ standout performer of the Olympics thus far, recorded her second double-double in as many contests. She was the team’s second-highest scorer in the game with 23 points — only Breanna Stewart (26 points) scored more. Wilson supplemented that high-scoring performance with 13 rebounds and two assists on 9-of-17 shooting to lead her team to victory.

Canada’s team performance was the opposite that of the Americans, as it fell 70-65 to Australia. Shay Colley started her second-straight contest for Canada and registered nine points, two rebounds and three assists in the contest. Laeticia Amihere also earned one minute and 52 seconds of playing time and recorded her first statistics of the Olympics with two rebounds. But she did miss her lone field goal attempt.

Both the United States and Canada will wrap up group stage action on Sunday, Aug. 4. The Americans will take on Germany at 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time, while the Canadians will face Nigeria at 7:30 a.m. The games will be broadcast on the USA Network and streamed on Peacock, respectively.

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3 track and field athletes make debuts at 2024 Summer Olympics

Friday, Aug. 2, saw Morocco’s Anass Essayi, Ireland’s Eric Favors, and the United States’ Rachel Glenn make their first appearances in competition at this summer’s Olympics.

Essayi competed in the men’s 1,500-meter race and became the the third South Carolina student-athlete (along with Argentinian men’s tennis player Francisco Cerundolo and Canadian women’s soccer player Sabrina D’Angelo) to advance to the next round of their respective competitions. He finished the race with a time of 3:36.44 (minutes and seconds), which placed him fourth in his heat. In the process, Essayi finished 14th overall and booked a place in the semifinals by finishing in the top six in his heat.

Meanwhile, Favors made his first-ever Olympic appearance in the men’s shot put. His best throw traveled a distance of 19.02 meters, which put him in 27th overall in the event. Favors fell short of the qualification standard of 21.35 meters and was not among the top 12 throwers, which eliminated him from the competition.

Glenn, a current Arkansas student-athlete and NCAA Indoor champion, competed in the women’s high jump. She finished tied for eighth in her qualifying group, completing a jump of 1.85 meters. As a result, Glenn did not reach the semifinals for this event; had she finished amongst the top 12 jumpers, she would have qualified.

As for Essayi, he will look to earn a place in the men’s 1,500 finals at approximately 3:10 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 4. The race will air on the USA Network.

Canada women’s soccer team’s gold medal defense ends in quarterfinals

Sabrina D’Angelo and the Canadian women’s soccer team overcome quite a bit to reach the knockout stage of the Olympic tournament. The team had been deducted six points after being involved in a drone-spying scandal at the beginning of the Olympics. Despite this, Canada went on to win all three of its group stage games to put doubts about their quality behind.

But Canada’s stay in the tournament would not last much longer. The team fell to Germany via a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

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Before the penalty shootout, both Canada and Germany played 120 minutes of scoreless soccer. Canada was the more dangerous team on offense through regulation, registering more than double the number of shots (23 to 11) and shots on target (5 to 1) over Germany. But the team was unable to recover from Ashley Lawrence’s and Adriana Leon’s penalty misses and lost the shootout 4-2.

D’Angelo, Canada’s backup goalkeeper, did not play a minute in the tournament.

Peribonio, Salcutan fail to advance to semifinals in swimming events

Both Tomas Peribonio and Tatiana Salcutan have competed in the Summer Olympics before. The former South Carolina student-athletes took their talents to the 2020 edition of the Games, which took place in Tokyo, Japan.

Peribonio’s and Salcutan’s stays in Paris, France, were not long, though, as both were eliminated in the first round of competition in their respective events.

Peribonio, representing his home country of Ecuador, participated in the men’s 200-meter individual medley race on Thursday. He finished seventh in his heat and 19th overall in the event with a time of 2:03.40. Finishing in the top 16 overall would have earned him a berth to the semifinals.

Salcutan, representing Moldova, competed in the women’s 200-meter backstroke race on the same day. Her time of 2:13.20 was good for first in her heat, but she still finished 23rd overall. Like Peribonio, Salcutan would have booked a place in the semifinals if she had finished in the top 16.

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