ITHACA, N.Y. — The Summer Olympics are here with over 10,000 athletes from across the world gearing up to compete in Paris for the Olympic Games July 26-Aug. 11 and the Paralympics Aug. 28-Sept. 8.
Here are five local athletes to look out for during competition after the opening ceremony officially kicks off the Games Friday night. The full streaming schedule can be found here.
Olivia Coffey, Rowing
Hailing from Watkins Glen, Olivia Coffey is representing the Southern Tier on the Olympic stage for the third time, having qualified as an alternate for the 2016 Rio Games and competed in the women’s eight-person shell in the Tokyo Games.
The women’s eight missed the podium in Tokyo in 2021, finishing more than three seconds behind Canada who took gold and 1.57 seconds behind third place China. Team USA has historically been dominant in this event, winning every Olympic and world women’s eight title from 2006 to 2016. The women’s eight is looking for redemption this year with heats starting July 29.
Meghan Musnicki, Rowing
At 41 years old, Meghan Musnicki is the oldest American woman to row at an Olympics. She is a five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion looking to take home a third gold medal in her fourth Olympic Games in the same boat as Coffey.
Musnicki is from Naples, New York, and graduated from Ithaca College in 2005. She was a two-time NCAA Division III champion in 2004 and 2005, winning gold in the grand final of the women’s varsity eight race in 2004.
Emily Mackay, Track and Field
Emily Mackay’s second place finish in the 1,500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials with a time of 3 minutes, 55.90 seconds (a personal record by almost four seconds) punched her ticket to the 2024 Games.
Mackay is from Endicott and attended Binghamton University, graduating in 2022. Mackay was a five-time U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American while at Binghamton and was the 13th woman in American track and field history to break four minutes in the 1,500 at a meet in Marseille, France, in 2023. She currently runs for New Balance Boston and is competing in her first Olympics. Round one of the 1,500 in Paris is scheduled for Aug. 6.
Rudy Winkler, Track and Field
Rudy Winkler is competing in his third consecutive Olympics in the hammer throw. Winkler is from Sand Lake and graduated from Cornell University in 2017. He was a five-time All-American at Cornell and won the 2016 U.S Olympic Trials and competed in Rio, finishing 18th while a student. He was the NCAA Division I Champion in the hammer throw in his senior season, and in the Tokyo Olympics, Winkler finished 7th.
Winkler currently holds the American record for the hammer throw with a distance of 82.71m/271 ft 4 ¼ in. This year, he finished second in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials to secure his spot in Paris. Competition for the hammer throw will start Aug. 2.
Kyle Dake, Wrestling
Lansing native and Cornell graduate Kyle Dake will be competing in his second Olympics in Paris. At Cornell, Dake was the first NCAA wrestler to win national titles in four different weight classes and was the Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA tournament in 2013, his senior season. Dake finished his collegiate career with a 137-4 record and in 2023 was inducted into the Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame.
In Tokyo, Dake took home the bronze in the 74 kg men’s freestyle wrestling competition. Wrestling in Paris starts Aug. 5 and ends Aug. 11 with the men’s 74 kg freestyle starting the 9th.
Other New York athletes from the region competing in Paris include Anita Alvares, artistic swimming (Buffalo); Magnus Sheffield, cycling (Pittsfield); Todd Vogt, paralympic-rowing (Rochester); Jessica Pegula, tennis (Buffalo); and Matt Anderson, volleyball (West Seneca).
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