Sacré Blue!: A Very Early Olympic Preview

I love the Olympics. Two weeks where all of the sudden my savant-like skill for knowing where sports are airing are relevant outside my household. Daytime sports? Yes please. Waking up and having sports already on? YES PLEASE.

In 2021 I compiled The Big Google Doc About Michigan at the Olympics, and completely reoriented my rooting interests watch priorities at the Olympics from "Americans" to "Wolverines" and you know what? It was the most fun I've ever had watching the Olympics.

As we have a little break before on-campus Olympic sports start again, I thought this was as good a time as ever to start setting the stage for this summer in Paris. A handful of Michigan alums have already qualified, while a number of alums, current students, and even commits are still on the qualification path.

Wrestling

Michigan had something of a coming out party at the 2021 Olympics. After not sending any wrestlers to the Olympics since 1984, Myles Amine and Stevan Micic both competed (both graduated in 2022). Amine won bronze in the 86kg class, joining two others in Tokyo as the first Olympians from San Marino ever to medal. He was then awarded the honor of being their flag bearer at the closing ceremonies Micic competed for Serbia, losing in the first round.

While it would not technically be accurate to say that both Micic and Amine have qualified for Tokyo, it's an extremely good bet. At the 2023 Wrestling World Champions, Myles Amine repeated his Tokyo performance, winning bronze. Not to be outdone, Stevan Micic won gold in 57kg, his first world championship. Due to their placements, both San Marino and Serbia earned Olympic places in their respective weight classes. They do not have to award those spots to Amine and Micic, but it would be shocking if they did not each maintain their top ranking in their countries and go to Paris.

At the World Championships, a third Wolverine medaled, as defending NCAA Heavyweight Champion Mason Parris earned the United States a berth in the Olympics at heavyweight. (Parris has since graduated.) By winning bronze at Worlds, Parris earned a direct qualification to the best-of-three final at the US Olympic Trials, where he'll face whoever wins the preceding tournament. Parris is fifth in the world rankings, and the next best American, Jordan Michael Wood (Lehigh grad), is ranked 30th, so if the field is similar to the lead-up to Worlds, Parris will be favored. However, do not rule out Tokyo gold medalist Gable Stevanson emerging from WWE and attempting to recapture his crown. US Olympic Trials are April 19-20 at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

Basketball

After an eighth-place finish at the 2020 Olympics, in 2023 the German men's national basketball team shocked the world, winning gold at the FIBA World Cup. That team was led by Mo Wagner and Franz Wagner, who I would imagine need no further introduction. While they were topped by the Raptors' Dennis Schroeder, the Wagner bros were the second and third most prolific scorers for Germany, with Franz at 16.8 PPG and Mo at 11.9. By winning the tournament, Germany qualified directly to the Olympics, no playoffs needed.

The Wagners will be Michigan basketball's headliners at the Olympics, but current Wolverine Olivier Nkamhoua and Finland still have a shot to qualify. While Finland finished fourth in their group, Nkamhoua was an important part of their rotation, tying as Finland's 3rd-leading scorer while shooting 60% from three. In July Finland will play in a six-team qualifying tournament, with just one spot reserved for the winner. Four such tournaments will occur simultaneously. The favorite at Finland's tournament will certainly be hosts Spain, but Finland will likely make it out of their prelims group. Finland opens against the Bahamas, and a win there should be enough to advance. Game two against Poland will be pretty evenly matched, but as Poland will have already played the Bahamas, that game may be between two teams that have clinched advancing.

Of course, my favorite potential basketball story of the 2024 Olympics is someone who hasn't even stepped on campus. Syla Swords is already a regular member of the Canada women's team, and will hope to stop in Paris on her way to her freshman season in Ann Arbor. Canada won the Americas Pre-Qualifying Tournament, where Swords made sporadic contributions. They'll now play a three-game group stage in February against Spain, Hungary, and Japan. However, as the top three teams will advance, Canada will certainly be favored to qualify. It could be an exciting preview for the highest-ranked recruit in program history.

Soccer

One of the two Wolverine golds in Tokyo came via the Canadian women's soccer team, which upset the United States in the semi-finals and then beat Sweden in penalties to take gold. That team featured long-time CanWNT-er Shelina Zardosky ('13) as well as Jayde Riviere ('22), who at the time was still on Michigan's roster. Both were regular rotation pieces in Tokyo, and both remain fixtures of Canada's roster. Canada already qualified for the 2024 Olympics after beating Jamaica in a playoff. While only Zardosky was called-up for the playoff, Riviere was back in the line-up for this week's friendlies.

Hey isn't it kinda cool I've mentioned eight athletes so far and only one of them represents the United States?

Swimming

After multiple Wolverines won Olympic medals in Tokyo, Michigan is poised to send a strong contingent to Paris. Swimming qualifying has a unique process.

Here's the short version: World Aquatics sets Olympic Qualifying Times (OQT). If you compete at a major event and finish under the OQT you're in the Olympics. However, each country can only enter two simmers per event, so if 3 or more people from your nation hit the time (a certainty for many countries, the United States included), you'll have to go to your national trials. US Olympic Trials are in June in Indianapolis, top two finishers per event will go to the Olympics. After all of the people who qualified on time are in, they fill out the field via a combination of Universality places, meant to increase the geographic diversity of the Games, and other berths going to people who put up times in between the OQT and the slightly-slower Olympic Consideration Times. Got that? Great.

Among the Tokyo stars, Felix Auböck (Austria, '20) has hit the qualifying time in the 200m and 400m freestyle. Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong, '19), who won two silver medals in 2021, has qualified in every freestyle event 400m and below. Maggie MacNeil (Canada, '22) will almost certainly be at the Olympics, but will have to get through Canadian Trials first where she has already qualified for a boatload of events. Those trials are in May in Montreal. Gal Groumi (Israel, '25) is a current student who competed in Tokyo before he was a Wolverine. He has achieved the standard in the 100m butterfly.

Past those four, here is just a list of current Michigan Wolverine swimmers worth watching out for in qualifying. There are almost certainly names that are not on this list but are on the roster and could swim their way in, but this is everyone who competed in Tokyo or at their 2021 national trials, or has already made the qualifying standard for this summer's trials:

Men

• Yousuf Al-Matrooshi (UAE, So.) was at the Tokyo Olympics, in the prelims for the 100m freestyle. He qualified through one of the UAE's Universality places held for nations that did not see anyone meet the time standard, and it seems very possible that will happen again.
• Ansel Froass (United States, Sr.) competed in the 2021 US Olympic Trials, and has hit the time for next summer in the 200m breaststroke and the 200m individual medley.
• Connor Hunt (United States, Jr.) was at the 2021 US Olympic Trials, and has achieved the qualifying standard for the 200m butterfly.
• Tyler Ray (United States, Fr.) has achieved the US Olympic Trials qualifying time in the 200m butterfly.

Women

• Stephanie Balduccini (Brazil, Fr.) was part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team for Brazil in Tokyo.
• Hannah Bellard (United States, Fr.) competed in several events at the 2021 trials and has hit the standard for next summer's trials in the 200m free, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m free and 1500m free.
• Kathryn Ackerman (Sr.), Anna Boemer (Fr.), Casey Chung (Sr.), Katie Crom (So.), Claire Donan (Sr.), Riley Francis (So.), Noelle Kaufmann (Sr.), Devon Kitchel (So.), and Sophia Tuinman (Sr.) all swim for the United States and qualified for the 2021 trials but have not yet achieved the standard for next summer's trials.

A couple other notable likely Olympians:

• Abby Andrews ('19) and Amy Ridge ('16) were in Tokyo with the Australian Water Polo team, which has already qualified for Paris with both still on the roster.
• Cameron Bock ('22) and Paul Juda ('24) competed for the United States in gymnastics in Tokyo, and both have competed with Team USA this year. Bock helped the US to gold in the team competition at the Pan-American Games, while Juda won bronze in the team competition at Worlds. The 2024 US Olympic Trials are in Minneapolis from June 27-30.

There are so many other sports, and I didn't even really attempt to sort out track and field stuff. Rest assured, this is not the final Olympic qualifying update in this space.