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UC at the Olympics by the numbers

UC-affiliated athletes: 110Nations represented: 29Sporting events: 18Coaches, doctors staff: 20

Click here to jump to our UC Olympian roster, including coaches and staff.

Theyve had to wait an agonizingly long time to get to Tokyo, but for 110 UC athletes, Friday, July 23, marks a moment many of them have been dreaming of for a lifetime.

For some, this is the first chance to perform on such a massive stage. For others, its a hard-fought return to the spotlight. For UC, its a moment to celebrate: 130 athletes, coaches, physicians and staff from seven campuses are attending the Summer Games, representing 29 countries in 18 sports. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, they wont be able to hear friends and family cheering from the stands but there will be no such restrictions on cheering ardently at home. Win or lose, they are already Olympians and exemplify the Olympic credo: "The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well."

Here are a handful of storylines to watch in a few of the events featuring UC students, staff and alums. A full roster of UC athletes, coaches and staff is available below.

UC Berkeley has one of the most prolific swimming programs in the country, and it shows no less than 16 swimmers will be representing eight countries at the 2020 Games! Most of these swimmers are new to the Olympic pool, but three members of the UC Berkeley contingent that brought home an astounding 19 medals in 2016 (all for Team USA) will return for another lap in Tokyo.

Ryan Murphy, already a three-time gold medalist, is now a captain for Team USA swimming and will be defending his Olympic titles in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. Already part of an elite group of swimmers that have qualified for events in two consecutive Olympics, Murphy will exceed all-time great Aaron Piersol if he can repeat in both events.

Teammate Tom Shields, a 2016 Rio gold medalist in the 400-meter medley relay, is also returning, this time to swim the 100-meter butterfly. Shields presence at these Games is itself a victory in late 2018, Shields attempted suicide, surviving thanks to his wife, Gianna. He has since begun speaking openly about his struggles with depression and mental healthin the hopes of helping others. His surprise qualification in the 100-meter butterfly event is a credit to his remarkable resiliency.

Abbey Weitzeil was only a freshman when she won a gold medal in the 400-meter medley and a silver in the 400-meter relay back in Rio. Now an alum, she will be competing in a slew of events, showcasing the freestyle skills she hopes will earn her an individual gold in the 50- or 100-meter events.

Olympic newbies include Katie McLaughlin, who lost out on a chance to qualify for the last Summer Games due to a freak injury. She will make her debut in the womens 4x200 free relay, expected to be a fevered race against Australia for gold. She talks about how much it means to make the team below:

At poolside, look for our two UC Berkeley swimming head coaches: UC Irvine alum David Durden, now head coach of the U.S. Olympic mens swim teamfollowing his success as assistant coach in the Rio Games; and assistant coach Teri McKeever, the first-ever female head coach for the U.S. womens Olympic team in 2012 who will be coaching again in 2020, this time as an assistant to Team USA.

You can be whoever you want to be is exemplified by Izzy Connor, the 21-year-old who is now the first UC Santa Cruz athlete to ever compete in the Olympic Games. Go Banana Slugs! Connor is not only part of Team USAs five-member rhythmic gymnastics group; she is also an incoming freshman who intends to study astrophysics and pursue writing, particularly about issues close to her, like anxiety, which she compares to a physical injury that needs work to heal.

I strongly believe you dont fully start to know yourself or grow as a person until youve gone through something that breaks you, Connor said of her struggles. Thats when you start to grow and progress as a person.

Her passion for the event compelled her to stick with it and now she will get to show the world the artistry of her sport as a result. I went through my career setting small goals fueled by the love I have for what I do, Connor wrote on Instagram, and suddenly looked up and found myself at the doorstep of the Olympics.

Led by the otherworldly Simone Biles, U.S. womens gymnastics touches down in Tokyo with one burning question: Can they win a third consecutive team gold? If so, they will join the storied company of the Fierce Five, the 2012 squad featuring UCLA gymnast Kyla Ross, and the Final Five, the 2016 squad featuring UCLA gymnast Madison Kocian. The womens first competition is July 25, but they already have one thing in common with these earlier teams: drawing from the incredible talent pool of UCLA gymnastics. Incoming freshman Jordan Chiles secured her place on the squad with top 3 performances in multiple events at the Olympic trials, while fellow incoming freshman Emma Malabuyo clinched a spot as an alternate. UCLA gymnasts will compete for other teams as well: incoming freshman Brooklyn Moors will represent Team Canada and alum Danusia Francis will represent Jamaica. At least one UCLA gymnast has competed at every Olympics since 1984.

While the UCLA gymnastics program often grabs the headlines (even in non-Olympic years, as Kaitlyn Ohashi and Nia Dennis show), they arent the only UC representatives in Tokyo. Charlotte Drury, a UC Irvine 2021 grad, is Team USAs second alternate in trampoline, and Dr. Marcia Faustin, of UC Davis, will be on the sidelines as co-head team physician for the U.S. women to help get them back on their feet, should they need it.

Womens soccer with players from UCLA and UC Berkeley kicked off the competition on July 21, even before the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, the U.S. womens team had their first defeat since 2019, snapping a 44-game winning streak against their nemesis, Sweden. Ouch.

But nobodys giving up just yet. The U.S. women can still advance from their group with strong showings against Australia and New Zealand. UC Berkeleys Alex Morgan will look to recapture the winning formula in those upcoming matches with her fellow UC alums in the starting 11, UCLAs Samantha Mewis and Abby Dahlkemper. But they will have their hands full facing Teagan Micah of Australia (UCLA) and Daisy Cleverley and Betsy Hassett of New Zealand (UC Berkeley) in their remaining group matches. If they succeed, Team Canada, featuring UCLA alum Jessie Fleming, may await them on the other side.

Could UCLAs Jrue Holiday have a better summer? On Tuesday, he helped deliver the first NBA championship in 50 years to the city of Milwaukee as the Bucks starting point guard. On Friday, hewill board a plane with teammate Khris Middleton and NBAfinals foe Devin Booker to try and nab a 16th Olympic mens basketball gold for the United States. In Tokyo, he will meet up with fellow UCLA alumZach LaVine (Kevin Love pulled out from injury). The two never shared a court together at UCLA, so fans of the campus storied basketball program are in for a treat.

While they wont meet him in a preliminary game, the UCLA duo could meet UC Davis Hugh Watanabe (as an Aggiehe competed under thesurname Hogland) when he plays for Japan in a knockout game. Watanabe holds dual citizenship with the U.S. and Japan, and the opportunity to play for one of his home countries, at home, will undoubtedly be special. The UCLA duo could also face off against UC Santa Barbara alum Gabe Vincent, the Nigerian guard who plays for the Miami Heat. Given that the U.S. men were recently stunned in an exhibition loss to Nigeria, it may or may not be an appetizing prospect for them. John Rillie, assistant coach for the UC Santa Barbara mens basketball team, will be helping coach the Australian mens team, who also shocked the U.S. in an exhibition game in the lead up to the Olympics. An ill portent, or an opportunity for revenge?

ThreeUCLA women will also be playing basketball in Tokyo; they are Nirra Fields for Canada, Atonye Nyingifa for Nigeria and Angela Dugali for Serbia. The U.S. typically dominates the event, but Canada could surprise Fields already has golds from the Pan American Games in 2015 and the FIBA Women's AmeriCup in 2017 to prove it.

UC Irvine water polo head coach Dan Klatt is hoping to help his team cement their place in history in Tokyo. An assistant coach for the past two gold medal-winning womens teams, he is working alongside UC Berkeleys Chris Oeding and under UCLA alum and head water polo coach Adam Krikorian to try to steer them to a third. Establishing dominance in any sport is hard, but luckily for Klatt, four of his assistant coaches at Irvine will be going for gold in the pool: Jamie Neushul, Melissa Seidemann, Alys Williams and Kaleigh Gilchrist. Gilchrist scored six goals on the way to her first medal in Rio; she and Seidemann, who scored three goals in Rio, can show the newbies the ropes. If Seidemann and Klatt can make it to the top of the podium again it will be an extraordinary moment for both of them; Seidemann has competed in the pool in every Olympics Klatt has coached.

Check out our list of Olympic athletes, coaches and staff below to learn more about who is in Tokyo. Names underlined have links to profile pages where more information is provided.

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UC Olympians on a quest for gold at the Tokyo Summer Games - University of California

1994 felt like a world away. Nigeria had left the USA as heroes, with neutral adoration from all over the globe. Now they were back in the States - but the excitement around the Super Eagles had all but vanished.

It was the 1996 Olympic group stage and like so many defences to come, Nigeria had no idea how to deal with Ronaldo. He'd just drift. From the left wing to the right, back to the centre. Do you follow? Leave him? It was barely the performance of a striker: he was playing three roles, swinging across the frontline like a pendulum. Or was that... Ronaldinho?

In the presence of Ronaldo Guiaro, Il Fenomeno - who'd sign for Barcelona that summer - took the moniker "Ronaldinho" upon his back. He had the flair of his temporary namesake but he tore through Hungary and left the Super Eagles breathless with the coldness he'd become famous for. On 30 minutes, 21-year-old Sunday Oliseh would try and restrain the Brazilian sensation, only for him to literally shrug him off and bullet the ball into the bottom corner. Ronaldo was unplayable. You heard it here, first.

It was an evening of a cat toying with a mouse and it summed up a mood. It was tiring to watch: it was tiring to be a Nigerian defender. They were not having fun at the Olympics.

The attention was on this exciting, young Brazil side; on the United States' chances of winning gold in both the men's and women's event; on how good Argentina and Portugal's future sides could both be, with glistening youngsters brought along to blood in Atlanta. The Super Eagles were not fancied. They had other concerns. They had no money for transport, with the players having to spend their own money on buses. In a vile low point, hotel staff refused to launder the team's jerseys because of stories of AIDS, according to Victor Ikpeba.

We had quarrels in-camp, goalkeeper Joseph Dosu concurred. Some of our players were coming and going like Nwankwo Kanu who was trying to get his contract sorted at Inter Milan and Tijani Babangida flying back and forth to make sure he got his contract with Ajax sealed.

Nigeria looked like a divided house: especially so when they amusingly split up and sat next to the Hungarian players during mealtimes in the hotel, in an attempt to intimidate their opponents. Manager Jo Bonfrere had already quit over unpaid wage and was tempted back into the fold by players. It looked like an iffy decision: Brazil's 1-0 Ronaldo-inspired victory had seemingly put Nigeria in their place. They qualified for the next round - but on goal difference.

The Super Eagles galvanised. They had young talent amidst their ranks and players who would grow into leaders; titans of top sides. They called on individual talent in the next round: they could afford that, at the very least. This was a golden generation before the cliche got tossed around; a side of Jay-Jay Okocha, Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Oliseh and Kanu. Despite boasting the mercurial Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Mexico surely didn't stand a chance?

Okocha stepped up, channeling divine inspiration. His touch was velvet, his control devastatingly simplistic and 20 minutes into the game, he cushioned a wayward cross on his chest, before rocketing the ball past Jorge Campos. When Nigeria got a second to settle it six minutes from time, courtesy of a back-flipping Babayaro, all the off-field drama - Ikpeba having to drive a team bus and Kanu popping out to phone Milan - seemed to dissipate.

The semi-finals were a big deal for an African nation - even if this was youth level football. This was at a time, of course, when only Cameroon had won a knockout game in a World Cup - six years prior, in Italy. Nigeria had arrived at this tournament with expectations at rock bottom and now they were in the final four. Likeable, impressively able to switch off background noise... but could Nigeria actually progress much further? Unlikely.

Fittingly for an Olympic Games, Athens was the scene of a date with destiny (though Georgia, not Greece), as Nigeria met Brazil once more. It was hard to predict anything other than "same again": Ronaldo was still possessed, scoring two to bury Ghana in the previous round, as Brazil struck four. When Flavio Conceicao put the Selecao into a lead a minute into the game, it looked like another tiring afternoon.

But the Nigerians never stopped fighting. A young Roberto Carlos would turn the ball into his own net for an equaliser, only for Bebeto and Conceicao once more to give Brazil a 3-1 lead into the break. Again, the Super Eagles fought back: temporary bus driver and substitute forward Ikpeba gave them hope with 12 minutes to spare, before Kanu equalised at the death. Four minutes into extra-time, he'd strike again, capitalising on a defensive calamity and calmly looping the ball over Dida, who dived too early.

It was the shock of the tournament: and it was entirely deserved. It felt surreal - and it fixed fractures.

Football is the one thing in Nigeria that brings us together, an emotional Okocha said after the game. For the people back in my country, this is maybe the happiest day of their lives.

With the Super Eagles on a high, Argentina awaited in the final. Finally, the feeling of 1994 was back.

But so were a few players who had beaten them two years ago - one of them being Diego Simeone in midfield. Nigeria would come to develop a weird rivalry with Argentina: they've faced them in four World Cups since '94. The generation changes. The result - still - hasn't.

That afternoon in Athens in 1996, however, saw a seesaw match that no World Cup would ever witness between the odd couple. Again, Nigeria went behind early, equalising through Babayaro before Hernan Crespo dispatched a contentious penalty to put Argentina a goal up once more. Just as he'd done against Brazil, Bonfrere looked to his bench, as Wilson Oruma and Emmanuel Amunike came on.

The Super Eagles were coming alive late on in games. As if on cue, 16 minutes from time, Daniel Amokachi found the answer, lobbing Pablo Cavallero for a leveller. The energy completely changed, as Argentina collectively sighed after twice letting a lead slip. This was becoming a habit for Nigeria, who pressed for a winner. That spirit of '94, of wanting to dominate, to drag the game to their opponents, hadn't left them: especially not with Olympic gold on the line. In the 90th minute, Amunike won a free-kick. The unthinkable happened for Argentina.

Like an unchoreographed line-dance troupe, the Albiceleste backline rose, trying to play Amunike offside. Roberto Sensini didn't move with the rest of the defence: the result was that the ball landed squarely at Amunike's feet. Time stood still for him to take a free shot at Cavallero, about 10 yards out. The Argentinians protested before the ball even hit the back of the net: but it was futile. Nigeria were Olympic champions.

Every one of those young gentlemen - even the three older stars - turned to precious metal at the final whistle. Immortalised in a country's national narrative; 18 pillars of sporting triumph. Try telling anyone from Nigeria that football at the Olympics doesn't matter, these days.

The win over Argentina that day became folklore back home, paving the way for successes from other African sides on the world stage and igniting the careers of future superstars. Sunday Oliseh called it the greatest moment in the Super Eagles' history - he was just 21 and would play for Ajax and Dortmund. Jay-Jay Okocha would become an icon transcendent of Nigerian football - but this moment was perhaps his proudest achievement, too. Kanu achieved greatness across Europe: but he was made in North America.

And despite the struggles that Nigeria endured, in the end, they didn't just rely on the individual brilliance of players that the nation would come to hold on its shoulders. There was grit in there. Because while the 1994 dazzled with their confidence, the class of 1996 dug in. This was a team who was never beaten. A team couldn't concede an inch to - especially in the final 15 minutes of games.

Argentina is good, Kanu said after the match. Nigeria is gold. And so was every member of that legendary side.

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The midfielder has now earned three senior caps while making a believer out of the U.S. head coach

U.S. men's national team boss Gregg Berhalter said he did not believe how good Gianluca Busio was until he got the midfielder in camp, despite consistent praise from Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes.

Vermes recently spoke to Goal about Busio's potential, likening the midfielder's game to Italian legend Andrea Pirlo.

And, as Busio looks set to move to Serie A side Venezia in a multi-million dollar transfer, Berhalter says he's now a believer after the teenager earned his third USMNT cap in a 1-0 win against Canada in the Gold Cup on Sunday.

"Peter's been singing his praises for the last couple of years and I didn't really know what he was about until I started working with him," Berhalter said after the USMNT's 1-0 win over Canada in their Gold Cup group stage finale. "When I see this kid in training and games, he is special.

"For him to deal with the game like he did and play the way he did, it shows a lot about his quality. I thought, in the beginning of the game, he was excellent in his position. Again, we asked him to have a complicated role moving up in offense and down in defense and he was able to understand it, grasp it and perform well."

Busio wasn't the only youngster to earn the praise from Berhalter after what ended up as a fairly ugly 1-0 win over Canada.

He also discussed the rise of Miles Robinson and James Sands, both of whom shined after captain Walker Zimmerman went down with an injury.

Robinson is seen as a player that could play his way into the World Cup qualifying squad, and Berhalter acknowledged that the Atlanta United defender has leveled up in recent days.

"When you have speed like he does,it makes it so much easier on your group, whether that's stepping in or it's recovering behind you," Berhalter said. "He had a number of one-v-one duels, I think of one in thesecond half against [Tajon] Buchanan, who is a really good player, and he handled it well.

"Miles has taken the next step and now it's about in knockout games, can he recover now and then, in a knockout game, can you repeat that same type of performance?"

Sands, meanwhile, shined in a unique role that saw him step into the midfield in possession.

The NYCFC youngster has shown that he has plenty of ability on the ball, and Berhalter believes there's more to come from Sands in the weeks and years to come.

"with James, I really liked him movingup into midfield," Berhalter said. "He gave us a numerical advantage and we're happy with it. I think at times it worked really well.

"James, in the first 20 minutes was, I think, one of the best players in the field. He dominatedthe game stepping forward, winning the ball, really calm on the ball, and then as it went, like most of the team, it was hard to sustain that level."

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USMNT boss Berhalter: I didn't believe how good Busio was until I started working with him - Goal.com

England's captain Harry Kane broke his goalscoring drought as England overcame Germany 2-0 in the Euro 2020 round of 16 at Wembley.

England eventually made the breakthrough when substitute Jack Grealish fired the ball into the feet of Harry Kane who passed outwards to Luke Shaw.

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The hosts then doubled their lead with four minutes of time to go, as Grealish crossed to find the head of Kane. The Tottenham Hotspur striker headed into the net past a helpless Manuel Neuer.

England's captain Harry Kane missed a golden opportunity in the final seconds of the first half when the ball bounced kindly to him in the Germany box. A poor first touch allowed the German defense to clear.

The second half started in the same manner before Sterling scored allowing England to control the game.

Speaking to the BBC after the game, goalscorer Sterling said: "We knew we needed to put a big performance in against a good side and we did that today.

"Doing it for your country will always be special and it is a special moment for me."

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England finally beat Germany in a major tournament knockout game after a 55-year wait, moving on to the Euro 2 - Business Insider India

LONDONThe brutal efficiency, the defensive rigor, the cold-eyed finishes. England had seen them all over decades of heartbreaking clashes with Germany. And it knew that Tuesdays Euro 2020 knockout game against its historically punishing opponent would only bring more.

What the Three Lions couldnt predictbecauseyears of frustration had taught them not towas that all those killer qualities would belong to England for a night.

In its most significant victory since the 1966 World Cup final, England not only beat Germany 2-0 to cap a wild 72 hours of tournament soccer. It also opened up the most promising path to the Wembley Stadium final of any team left in the Euros.

Englands road now runs through Ukraine, in Saturdays quarterfinal, and then the winner of Denmark vs. Czech Republic. The other half of the draw, meanwhile, still contains Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, all ranked in the top 13 teams in the world.

Englands players resisted the urge to get carried away. Forty-five thousand fans were inside Wembley Stadium on Tuesday to do that for them. They had stewed over defeats to Germany at Euro 1996 and the 1990 and 2010 World Cups. Entire generations of England supporters had come and gone without experiencing a single knockout-round win over their bitter rival.

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England Opens a Lane to the Euro 2020 Final - The Wall Street Journal