Jersey vs. the World: 24 Olympic storylines you won’t want to miss

We are fast. We are strong. We are agile.

We are swimmers. We are runners. We are gymnasts.

Hey, we are even great at Ping-Pong!

The Paris Olympics begin this week, and for 16 days, we will be going toe-to-toe with the world’s best athletes. And, to be clear, the “we” here is New Jersey. With dozens of athletes from the state, we are going to be all over France this summer.

We’ll be chasing gold medals in track, swimming, soccer, fencing, judo and even climbing, just to name a few sports. We’ll be some of the most televised athletes on NBC, and far away from the glare of that spotlight, we’ll be competing to set personal bests, or to prove something to ourselves, or just for the thrill of being in the arena.

We’ll mostly be competing for Team USA, of course, but a few of us will be wearing uniforms for the Ivory Coast, Puerto Rico and other nations. And the best among us will be climbing to the top of the medal stand, awaiting that priceless hunk of gold.

To get you ready, here are 24 Jersey-centric storylines for the 2024 Paris Olympics:

Track’s brightest U.S. star returns

This is hard to believe, but Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will be running in her third Olympics when she steps onto the purple track in Paris. In Rio in 2016, she was a happy-to-be-there teenager still a year away from graduating Union Catholic. In Tokyo five years later, she was a world-record holder who arrived with massive expectations and departed with a pair of gold medals.

Now? She is one of the marquee stars for Team USA and, as a result, will get more coverage on NBC than just about anyone not named Simone Biles.

Plenty has happened for McLaughlin-Levrone, a 24-year-old Dunellen native who arguably was New Jersey’s most accomplished high school athlete ever, since her success in Tokyo. She got married, published an autobiography and was sidelined at the 2023 world championships with a knee injury.

Few athletes will arrive in Paris with bigger expectations — and more pressure — than Team USA’s (and New Jersey’s) biggest track star. How many medals can she bring home?

Sydney vs. Femke: The showdown

They are the two greatest female hurdlers of their generation, yet somehow, they have only faced each other twice. If all goes according to plan, McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol of the Netherlands will race a third time — for gold.

The Jersey star is 2-0 in those matchups, first at the Tokyo Olympics and then again at 2022 world championships, and set a world record in both races. Bol, however, comes in as the reigning 400-meter hurdles world champion after McLaughlin-Levrone missed last summer with injuries.

McLaughlin-Levrone had a rival, 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, pushing her to raise her game before Tokyo. Since then, she has mostly been racing against the clock — and herself. Bol became the second woman ever to crack 51 seconds (50.95) at the European championships this month, but that’s still behind the record of 50.65 that McLaughlin-Levrone set at the U.S. trials.

Chances are, a showdown between the two best in the world is coming on August 8. Circle that date in red.

The world’s fastest man? There’s a Jersey angle

When two stars of the Seton Hall track team, Kevin Lyles and Keisha Bishop, became a couple in the mid ‘90s, the program’s legendary head coach made a half-joking prediction about their yet-to-be-conceived future offspring.

“Their children are probably going to be very fast people,” John Moon told the Asbury Park Press in 1995.

Here’s hoping Moon had stock tips back then that were as good, because Noah Lyles will be favored to be anointed “the world’s fastest man” in Paris. He won the 100 and 200 meters at the U.S. trials, and as a reigning world champion in the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay events, he will have a chance to bring home multiple medals.

Kevin Lyles, who also starred at Franklin High, was the Hall’s most decorated runner with Big East-record 17 individual gold medals. Bishop was a two-time NCAA champion with the Pirate women’s 4×400. At the men’s 100 on August 4, the track world will be watching to see if their talented son can make history.

New Jersey: The Fencing State

No sport will have more athletes with ties to New Jersey than fencing, with eight of Team USA’s 20-athlete delegation having connections to the state.

Three are Jersey natives, with Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale) competing in her second Olympics in foil and Elizabeth Tartakovsky (Livingston) and Mitchell Saron (Ridgewood) debuting in sabre. They will be joined by five products of the powerhouse Princeton fencing team — Kat Holmes, Maia Chamberlain, Maia Weintraub, Hadley Husisian and Tatiana Nazlymov — on the Paris piste.

Fencing figures to be among the cooler sports in Paris thanks to its popularity in France and its historic venue. The fencers will compete at the Grand Palais, an iconic monument located in the heart of the city on the Champs-Elysees. En garde!

A real-life Jersey Jedi Master

Most fencers have a unique story to tell about how they came upon their sport. For Mitchell Saron, it was a love of the Star Wars movies that sparked a childhood pursuit of fencing growing up in Ridgewood — and one that continues to shape how he competes as an elite saber fencer.

“I honestly think it influences some of the strategies I use in fencing because I do like to do a lot of parries in fencing and counter parries, which is most similar to what a lightsaber battle would look like when they’re going back and forth and blocking each other,” Saron said.

Saron and the all-Harvard U.S. saber team is ranked second in the world, which means the New Jersey native could be standing on top of the medal stand with a gold medal to show for his lightsaber obsession.

Can a Jersey athlete spark a soccer breakthrough …

John Tolkin is well aware of Team USA’s struggles in men’s soccer at the Olympics, a tournament it hasn’t even qualified for since 2008. The Chatham native, who plays professional for the Red Bulls, also doesn’t care about it — and maybe that’s the attitude that the Americans need to break through.

“It’s about making history,” Tolkin said. “If you look at the group we’re in, for sure, we think we’re making it through the group. The one thing on our mind is a medal. That’s something that nobody can take away from you, and that’s on everyone’s mind.”

Tolkin, a 21-year-old defender, will have theory tested early. Team USA opens against host nation France, one of the tournament favorites, on July 24 in Marseille.

… or can one help revive a soccer dynasty?

While the U.S. men have failed to medal in soccer, the U.S. women mostly have dominated at the Olympics. Which is why their finish in Tokyo — a bronze medal — was viewed by many as a disappointment.

That’s unfair, of course, especially given that the competition worldwide has improved dramatically since the U.S. Women’s National Team claimed the first Olympic soccer gold in Atlanta in 1996. But the Americans haven’t played for a gold medal since 2012, a fact that contributed to a major shakeup on the coaching staff.

New Jersey always seems to be well represented on the USWNT roster, and this summer will be no different. Casey Murphy, a Bridgewater native who starred at Rutgers, was named as one of the team’s two goaltenders, following a long line of Jersey soccer stars that includes Carli Lloyd, Christie Rampone and Heather O’Reilly.

Former Rutgers star Casey Murphy will be one of two goaltenders for the U.S. women’s soccer team in Paris. (AP Photo)

Hezly’s chance to steal the show

If you love the Olympics, you know NBC is going to dedicate a lot of primetime real estate to the U.S. women’s gymnastics team. That means Simone Biles will practically be subletting space in your family room this summer as the three-time Olympian looks to solidify her reputation as the G.O.A.T.

But there’s a new face on Team USA, and she’s from Oradell. Hezly Rivera, just 16, was a surprise addition to the team after several injuries to established stars. She aced her first big test at the U.S. trials, making what figured to be a tough decision for the selection committee an easy one.

It is likely that Rivera will compete in the much-anticipated team event in balance beam and uneven bars, which means she could play a huge role in determining if the Americans reclaim the top spot in the world after winning bronze in Tokyo.

She also could qualify for individual medals on both apparatuses, so if she performs well, she could establish herself as the future of USA gymnastics before Games are complete.

A Jersey family tradition … in Judo

Just months after celebrating his 21st birthday, Jack Yonezuka will compete against elite competition in a sport that isn’t exactly popular in the U.S. The West Long Branch native is an elite judoka who trained at the family’s longtime club in Cranford — and, in Paris, will keep an impressive family tradition alive.

“I want to carry on the legacy,” Yonezuka said.

Yoshisada Yonezuka, his grandfather, coached the U.S. team at the 1988 and 1992 Games and is considered one of the men responsible for giving judo an American foothold. Nick Yonezuka, his father, qualified for the 1980 Olympic team but did not compete because of the U.S. boycott that year.

Mr. 9-to-5 is a 30-something inspiration

Nic Fink has a 9-to-5 day job as an engineer. He is married and his wife, a former Olympian named Melanie Margalis-Fink, is expecting the couple’s first child. He is doing things that are expected to happen in the life of a former swimmer.

He is very much not a former swimmer. Fink, a Morristown native, has enjoyed a late-career resurgence that has seen him emerge as one of the world’s best breaststrokers. He won the 100 meters at the U.S. trials, and given that he is the reigning world champion in the event, he will be among the favorites to win the gold medal in the event.

Fink, who turned 31 earlier this month, is has a master’s from Georgia Tech in electrical and computer engineering. He lives in Dallas and works for Quanta Utility Engineering Services, who give him the flexible hours to complete his job while training. “It’s really easy when everybody is on board with what you do and the method you do it,” Fink said.

Meet the future of U.S. swimming

Circling July 31 on your calendar. That’s when anyone turning on NBC will catch a glimpse of the future of American swimming — and, at the center of that youth movement, are Jersey natives.

Jack Alexy is just 21, and already, he is regarded as one of the fastest swimmers in the world. The Mendham native will compete in the highly anticipated 100-meter freestyle that night, but the Mendham native and Delbarton grad could leave Paris with multiple medals.

His old high school rival and club teammate, Matt Fallon, will race in the 200-meter breaststroke after setting the American record in the event at the U.S. trials. After a lifetime of preparation, he’ll have just over two minutes to forge an Olympic legacy.

Nic Fink, a Morristown native who swam at Pingry, is one of the world’s top breaststrokers. (AP Photo)

Will cheaters prevail in swimming?

After winning at the U.S. trials, Fink was asked if he worried that the swimming competition would be tainted after allegations surfaced that more than 20 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the same banned substance. He gave a long, thoughtful answer that essentially could be summarized in two words: Yes. Very.

Fink likely will face Qin Haiyang, who won the gold medals in the 50-, 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events at the 2023 world championships. Qin reportedly tested positive for clenbuterol, a banned substance that promotes muscle growth, but the World Anti-Doping Agency attributed the results to food contamination.

All of the New Jersey swimmers compete with a cloud hovering above the pool.

“I agree with the sentiment going around that some of the decisions that were made are certainly questionable,” Fink said. “We may not know results for years, but hopefully, it’ll be as clear as we can hope an Olympics would be.”

A Ping-Pong prodigy arrives

First things first: The game you played in your basement or garage growing up is called table tennis at the Olympics, and it is a serious, competitive, and wildly watchable event. And, when the best in the world gather in Paris, a 21-year-old national champion from Sewell will be competing among them.

It won’t be easy, as Team USA has never won a medal in this sport. But Amy Wang is used to knocking down barriers.

She made her first U.S. national team when she was just 12 years old, and after narrowly failing to qualify for the Tokyo Games as a 17 year old, won back-to-back titles at the prestigious U.S. Open Women’s Singles Championships in 2022 and 2023.

Climbing the medal stand — literally

Sports climbing debuted in Tokyo three years ago, and Jesse Grupper had good reason to believe that he wouldn’t be among the athletes competing for gold the second time that it was contested as an Olympic sport. He had spent more than a week hospitalized with ulcerative colitis in 2021.

“Through that period in the hospital I was definitely like, ‘Yeah, Olympics. Ha ha,’” the 27-year-old Montclair native said.

Grupper now manages his condition with a gluten-free diet and treats it with regular medical infusions. That has allowed him to climb (pun intended) to the top of the U.S. ranking in men’s lead climbing, giving Grupper hope that the biggest competition of his career this summer will be the best.

Will a BOOM drop in France?

Rutgers wrestling coach Scott Goodale is a man of few words — well, one word — when his program lands a big recruit or accomplishes something significant. He’ll drop a “BOOM!” onto his social media feeds, leaving everyone in the Rutgers community scrambling to figure out what made him so excited.

Well, if Goodale drops a boom on Aug. 11, he’ll likely be celebrating one of his wrestlers winning an Olympic medal. Sebastian Rivera, a Toms River native who went 30-1 for Rutgers and finished third in the NCAA championships, is competing for Puerto Rico in the 65 kilogram weight class. He’ll have plenty of confidence after winning a silver medal at the world championships in 2023, and the honor of being Puerto Rico’s flag bearer.

Boom? We’ll see.

Former Rutgers wrestler Sebastian Rivera will compete for Puerto Rico in Paris. (Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media)

Jersey goes international

Rivera isn’t the only New Jersey native who will be competing for another country. Perhaps the most compelling is Cheickna Traore, a late-blooming track star who started his career at Snyder High in Jersey City before breaking records at Division 3 Ramapo College.

Traore, who moved here from the Ivory Coast when he was 5 years old, transferred to Penn State for his final season of college last summer. There, he continued to prove himself as one of the NCAA’s best sprinters, not only breaking a pair of Penn State records this spring but running an Olympic-standard time in the 200 meters to punch his ticket to Paris.

Raekwon Noel moved to Voorhees from Guyana just three years ago to live with his father to pursue better academic and swimming opportunities. Now, after training with South Jersey Aquatic Club, he’ll compete in Paris for his home country.

College pride in Paris

Traore won’t be the only athlete representing an under-the-radar track program in Paris.

You want another Cinderella from FDU? The slipper fits Salif Mane, who soared to a personal-best 57-5.75 in the triple jump to win the U.S. trials by nearly two feet. The Bronx native, who graduated from the Bergen County university last month with a degree in civil engineering, will need another big jump to shock the world in Paris.

New Jersey lost one of its brightest track stars when Athing Mu stumbled in the 800-meter final at the U.S. trials. But the 28-year-old Allie Wilson, who worked as a nanny to support her track career after losing a sponsor, finished second to become the first track athlete ever from Monmouth University to compete in the Olympics.

“Only so few people in this world can call themselves an Olympian,” Wilson said. “And I can’t believe I can be one of them.”

Coaching a dynasty

How about this for a juggernaut: The U.S. women’s basketball team has won seven straight gold medals and boast a 70-3 record in Olympic play. It would be a massive upset if the national anthem of any other country is playing when the competition ends.

That brings with it a level of pressure, of course, not that Cheryl Reeve is unaccustomed to facing big expectations. Reeve, who grew up in Washington Township in Gloucester County, has won four WNBA titles as head coach of the Minnesota Lynx and has served as an assistant coach at the last two Olympics.

Now, as head coach, Reeve will have to bring together an All-Star roster in short order knowing that anything less than gold would be a huge disappointment. And if the team does stumble, critics will no doubt point to the controversial decision to leave superstar Caitlin Clark off the roster.

From the Jersey Shore to the Seine

Growing up in Spring Lake, Morgan Pearson encountered plenty of rocky waters as a Jersey Shore lifeguard. Now, as a triathlete for Team USA, he’ll encounter some, uh, potentially toxic waters in the Seine River. At least the course will be stolen from a tourist’s guidebook. From the Olympics website:

“After their swim in the Seine, the athletes will take in Le Grand Palais, Le Petit Palais, l’Assemblée nationale, Le Musée d’Orsay, Avenue des Champs-Elysées (with the Arc de Triomphe in their sights), Avenue Montaigne, Quai d’Orsay and Quai Anatole France as well as Boulevard Saint-Germain on the biking and running phases.”

Pearson, a Delbarton graduate who won a silver medal in the mixed triathlon relay in Tokyo, is having a strong 2024 season heading into Paris. He became the first American man to win a World Triathlon Series event since 2009 when he claimed victory at a prestigious race in Japan in May.

Morgan Pearson, a former Delbarton athlete who was a lifeguard on the Jersey Shore, won a silver medal in the Tokyo Games. He will compete in the triathlon again this summer. (AP Photo)

Following her grandfather’s footsteps

When Molly Reckford visited her grandparents as a child, she would look on the wall and see an unusual decoration: an Olympic torch. That’s because her grandfather, Bill Spencer, carried one during the torch relay in the lead-up to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Spencer, a two-time Olympian in the biathlon and also a longtime coach in the event, has served as an inspiration for his granddaughter — even if their chosen sports couldn’t be any different. Reckford, a Short Hills native, will compete in her second Olympics as a Team USA rower.

Reckford, 31, had to walk onto the Dartmouth rowing team out of high school and, after giving up the sport after college, rediscovered her passion for it as a Masters athlete. She’ll reunite with teammate Michelle Sechser in the lightweight women’s double sculls. The duo finished fifth in the rowing event at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Golf? Tennis? Jersey* has medal contenders

This one depends on just how far you are willing to stretch the definition of a Jersey native, which is why we’ve slapped the asterisk on it.

Scottie Scheffler, who is indisputably the best player in golf right now, is the prohibitive favorite to win the Olympic gold medal. He was also born in New Jersey and lived in Montvale for the first six years of his life. That’s when he moved to Texas, which is where he’ll say he’s from if you ask him.

Tommy Paul, the highest ranked American tennis player in the world, will compete in singles and doubles on the red clay of Roland Garros, the home of the French Open. He was born in Voorhees but moved to North Carolina when he was young — very, very young. He was 3 months old.

Are these two from New Jersey? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t claim them this summer.

Two track legends seek a career capper

Keturah Orji is one of the greatest U.S. track athletes ever in an event that gets a fraction of the attention of the higher-profile races.

The Mount Olive native is headed to her third Olympics in the triple jump, and after a pair of top-10 finishes in Rio and Tokyo, she believes this is her best chance to win a medal. That this is also her last chance — she announced that she is stepping away from the sport after Paris — makes the stakes even higher for the former record-setting high school star.

Few American men have done better in the javelin throw than Curtis Thompson, who is back for his second Olympics after winning his fourth national title at the U.S. trials. After placing 22nd for Team USA in Tokyo, he’ll need a career throw to climb the medal stand in Paris. But aren’t moments like that what makes the Olympics great?

Need more field action: Sam Mattis, an East Brunswick native, will compete in the Olympic discus throw for the second time.

Jersey’s many TV ties

Plenty of New Jersey natives will be in your living room — or, given that it’s 2024, on your computer screens — during NBC’s multiplatform coverage of the Games.

For the second straight Olympics, 2016 gold medalist Laurie Hernandez will be part of the gymnastics broadcasting team. Noah Eagle, the rising industry star from Essex Fells, will be NBC’s lead voice for men’s and women’s basketball. Devils fans, meanwhile, will recognize the voice of the man calling the preliminary heats of track and field as Bill Spaulding, the NHL team’s play-by-play announcer. And there are others you’ll recognize.

Love wrestling? You’ll have Sicklerville native Jordan Burroughs, one of the best ever, helping with the analysis. Love Rutgers? That’ll be Kathryn Tappen, a former athlete in Piscataway, hosting on the USA Network.

Up next: California Dreamin’

The curtain will drop on the Paris Olympics with the Closing Ceremony on Aug. 11, and as it always does, the focus will shift to the next Games. Four years is an eternity in the life of a competitive athlete, of course, but several of these Jersey stars still will be in the prime of their careers in 2028.

And they’ll have added incentive to keep competing. The next Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, the first time the quadrennial event will take place on U.S. soil since 1996. Will the Jersey star in Hollywood be a familiar face like McLaughlin-Levrone? Or will it be an unknown athlete now competing in your backyard?

It’ll be here sooner than you think.