With the Olympics right around the corner (or, at least, hopefully around the corner), you might be wondering which athletes in red, white, and blue you should be pulling for. Well, it’s never a bad idea to root for the local hero. Here are eight athletes with ties to North Texas who will be going for gold in Tokyo at the end of the month.
Track and Field, USA: Ronnie Baker
After graduating from TCU in 2016 with a degree in kinesiology, Ronnie Baker decided to remain in North Texas and now calls Fort Worth home. While in college, Baker was a two-time national champion in the 60-meter dash and, since graduating, has continued to grow his impressive collection of medals. His resume includes competing in IAAF and USATF championships — most recently bringing home a fifth place finish in the 100 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 2019.
In the Olympic trials, Baker placed second in the 100 meters with a lightning-fast time of 9.85 seconds. The Kentucky native is coached by TCU’s own Darryl Anderson.
You can read more about Baker in his Q&A with Fort Worth Magazine here.
Diving, USA: Hailey Hernandez
Not long after 18-year-old Hailey Hernandez graduated from Carroll High School in Southlake, she took the second spot in the 3-meter individual competition at the Olympic trials to become the youngest female diver on this year’s U.S. Olympic Diving Team. She is part of the North Texas-based diving club GC Divers with coach Jeff Bro and will attend the University of Texas at Austin in the fall.
Hernandez boasts an impressive record of championships, sporting two silver medals each from the 2018 and 2019 Junior World Championships along with a gold in the 2019 synchronized 3-meter. Despite often having a lower degree of difficulty in her dives, Hernandez is known for her impeccable consistency that accounts for her high-ranking scores.
Track and Field, USA: Jasmine Moore
Jasmine Moore, a 20-year-old from Grand Prairie, will head to the Olympics to compete in the triple jump. Moore is a rising junior at the University of Florida with an impressive resume of athletic success, including everything from a World Championship in cheer with the team Spirit of Texas to the 2020 SEC Women's Indoor Freshman Field Athlete of the Year award, which she won while attending the University of Georgia.
Moore made it to the third spot on the triple jump team for the U.S. with an Olympic trials performance of 46 feet, 5 1/4 inches.
You can read Fort Worth Magazine’s Q&A with Moore here.
Shooting, USA: Austen Smith
19-year-old skeet shooter Austen Smith turns 20 on the first day of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, making her the youngest member of the USA Shooting Olympic team this year. Smith made the Olympic team in March 2020 shortly before graduating high school — and this despite having only shot competitively for six years. Her recent medals include gold at both the 2021 ISSF World Cup and the 2019 ISSF Junior World Cup.
Smith hails from Keller and is enrolled at the University of Texas at Arlington majoring in aerospace engineering.
Karate, USA: Tom Scott
Tom Scott will represent Team USA in karate’s Olympic debut. Scott is originally from Richardson but graduated from TCU in 2012. He has since received his Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and has racked up a list of athletic accomplishments a mile long. Scott is a 10-time USA Open Champion, 15-time National Champion, and 6-time Pan American Champion, and holds numerous other medals dating back to 2012.
Scott teaches karate classes at the Academy of Classical Karate in Plano with his longtime coach Brody Burns.
Track and Field, Great Britain: Lorraine Ugen
Long jump athlete Lorraine Ugen was born in London and will compete for Great Britain at the Olympics. She graduated from TCU but now lives in Atlanta and trains with coach Dwight Phillips. Her personal best is 7.05 meters — only .1 meters away from the gold medal winner at the last Olympics. She was also the long jump champion in the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Track and Field, South Africa: Derrick Mokaleng
A South African native, Derrick Mokaleng, a 2020 TCU graduate, will compete for his home country at the Tokyo Games. A 400 meters pring specialist, Mokaleng will run in the 4x400 relay. While at TCU, he amassed an impressive record, setting the school’s records in the 400 meters as well as raking in Big 12 medals in the 4x400 meter relay and the 400 meters. In May, he posted a time of 45.36 seconds at a meet in Austin.
Golf, Finland: Sanna Nuutinen
Finnish professional golfer Sanna Nuutinen is yet another TCU graduate representing her country in the Olympics. After graduating from TCU with a degree in Sports Psychology in 2014, Nuutinen went on to play at a high level, winning top tournaments like the 2016 NordicTrack Open de Strasbourg and placing runner-up at the Lavaux Ladies Championship in 2019.
Placing third at tournaments on the Ladies European Tour enabled Nuutinen to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
