These are all the Southerners competing at Rio 2016
Who you should be watching from your home state
With the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games on Friday, now is the perfect time to get to know Team USA. Over 550 athletes will represent the Red, White and Blue in Rio de Janeiro over the next few weeks, and a good portion of them hail from the South.
Here are the athletes to watch from your home state.
Alabama
Only one U.S. Olympian calls Alabama home: DeMarcus Cousins. He’s a center on the men’s basketball team and will help Team USA go for its third consecutive gold in the sport.
Arkansas
Two sisters from Arkansas will represent Team USA in modern pentathlon: Margaux and Isabella Isaksen. Margaux, who missed the podium in London by just eight points, is returning for her third Olympics, while Isabella will make her Olympic debut in Rio.
In track and field, an additional four Arkansas athletes will compete. Long jumper Jeff Henderson, the 2015 PanAm Games champion, makes his Olympic debut in Rio alongside Lexi Weeks, who won the NCAA indoor title in pole vault for the University of Arkansas. Kyle Clemons and hurdler Michael Tinsley round out the rest of the Arkansas delegation.
Georgia
World Cup champion and 2012 gold medalist Kelley O’Hara is back on the soccer field for Team USA, and UConn basketball superstar Maya Moore also looks to add another gold medal to her collection. The U.S. Women’s Basketball team has won every Olympic gold since 1996 and is expected to win once again in Rio.
Two shooting veterans return to the Olympics from Georgia: two-time defending gold medalist in skeet Vincent Hancock and defending gold medalist in double trap Glenn Eller.
Other athletes to watch from Georgia include Matt Kuchar, who will tee off in Rio as golf returns to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, and Amanda Weir, who’s back in the pool for her third games.
Kentucky
Controversial sprinter Tyson Gay will be competing in his third Olympic Games this summer as part of the 4x100m relay team. In London, Gay won a silver medal in the same event, but had it stripped due to a doping violation. Although he failed to qualify as an individual for Rio, finishing fifth in the 100m at U.S. Trials, he is still ranked as the second fastest sprinter of all time with a time of 9.69. Only two-time gold medalist Usain Bolt has run faster.
The other athlete from Kentucky is Lee Kiefer, a fencer who has already won three NCAA Women’s Foil titles at Notre Dame. At age 22, she’s back for her second consecutive Olympics and looking to improve upon her fifth place finish in London.
Louisiana
The Cajun state sends three athletes to Rio in three sports. Both LSU alum Seimone Augustus and vegan weightlifter Kendrick Farris are back for their third Games. Seimone will look to earn her third gold in a row with the women’s basketball team, while Kendrick looks to improve upon his 10th place finish in London. Rower Meghan O’Leary from Baton Rouge makes her Olympic debut in women’s double skulls just six years after learning to row.
Mississippi
Brittney Reese, the 2012 gold medalist in long jump, will join three other track and field athletes from Mississippi who will compete for Team USA in Rio. Sprinter Tori Bowie makes her Olympic debut, as does high jumper Ricky Robertson.
Pole vaulter Sam Kendricks makes his Olympic debut in Rio after setting the US Olympic Trials record at 5.91m. During his career at Ole Miss, he won two NCAA championships.
North Carolina
The Tar Heel state has produced four U.S. Olympians for the Rio Games. Tavis Bailey placed second in discus at U.S. Trials and is headed to his first Olympics alongside swimmer Kathleen Baker, who will compete in the 100 backstroke. Field hockey forward Michelle Kasold, a Chapel Hill native, will play for Team USA in her second Olympics.
Kayaker Michal Smolen, the final athlete from North Carolina, is a naturalized citizen, originally hailing from Poland. He won the U.S. Trials in 2011, but was not granted American citizenship until after the London Games. Now four years later, he’ll be competing for Team USA in the K1 event.
South Carolina
Two women from South Carolina will compete in field events at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio. In shot put, Raven Saunders, a rising junior at Ole Miss, will compete in her Olympics. In addition to her three NCAA national titles, she also holds the NCAA record in women’s shot put with a mark of 19.33m.
On July 23, Sandi Morris broke the American record in women’s pole vault at a height of 4.93m. Now the University of Arkansas alum is off to Rio, looking for her first Olympic medal.
Tennessee
Tennis player Brian Baker and open water swimmer Sean Ryan join Team USA by way of Tennessee. Baker is back competing after taking almost three years off due to a knee injury, while Ryan recently ended his collegiate swimming career at the University of Michigan where he graduated with a Masters degree in manufacturing engineering.
Texas
With 33 athletes hailing from the Lone Star State, Texas is sending the most athletes to Rio out of all the Southern states. It’s also sending the one with the highest expectations: three-time world champion gymnast Simone Biles. At just 4’8″, she’s the shortest member of Team USA and the perhaps the most heavily favored athlete to win a gold medal. Her teammate Madison Kocian and men’s gymnast Chris Brooks also call Texas home.
Basketball standout Brittney Griner towers two feet above Simone, but is also expected to win gold in her first Olympic appearance. On the men’s team, DeAndre Jordan and Jimmy Butler will also compete for basketball gold in their first Games.
Sisters Courtney and Kelley Hurley were the first siblings to qualify for Rio on Team USA, both having previous Olympic experience. The two will compete in the epee division of the women’s fencing competition and hail from San Antonio.
Virginia
More than a dozen Virginians will represent Team USA in Rio including sprinter and two-time gold medalist LaShawn Merritt. He’ll compete in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m relay once track and field events kick off in the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange on August 12. Olympic rookie David Verburg will join LaShawn in the 400m and 4x400m. In the women’s 4x400m relay, Francena McCorory hopes to repeat her gold medal success from London.
Indoor volleyball player Reid Priddy is back at the Olympics for the fourth time at the age of 38, two years after a knee injury almost forced him into retirement. The 6’4″ outside hitter isn’t the tallest athlete to come out of Virginia, though. That distinction belongs to swimmer Townley Haas and rower Matt Miller who both measure 6’5″.