Olympics 2024: 25 athletes with CT connections to compete

At least 25 athletes with ties to Connecticut will be competing in the 2024 summer Olympic games, which kick off Friday with an opening ceremony.

Eleven Olympians and Paralympians who were born or raised in the state will be showing off their skills in France. Fourteen athletes who attended college in Connecticut are also in Paris.

The Connecticut Mirror analyzed information from a database maintained by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee to look at the state’s presence at past games and this year’s games. The database contains information on 8,211 athletes, including Olympians, Paralympians and members of Team USA who have not competed at any Olympic games.

Of the athletes in the database, 1.2% are Olympians or Paralympians with connections to Connecticut. They range from having competed at the 1920 Olympics to competing in this year’s games.

Thirteen of the Connecticut athletes going to Paris this summer are repeat Olympians or Paralympians, while the other 12 are newcomers to the international sporting event.

The number of Connecticut athletes competing in this summer’s games is the second-highest in the last 24 years. The summer Olympic games in Rio in 2016 saw the highest number of athletes from the state. While participation among those with ties to the state has trended upward overall since 2000, summer games have always seen more Connecticut participants than the subsequent winter games.

Rowing is the most popular sport among Paris 2024 athletes from the state. Seven Olympians and two Paralympians with Connecticut ties are competing in rowing events, which are set to run from July 27 to Aug. 3 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in France.

Others will be representing Connecticut across the next three weeks in basketball, field hockey and sailing, among other sports.

The prevalence of rowing isn’t new this year — throughout history, it’s the single sport that has sent the most Connecticut athletes to the Olympics. Ice hockey, basketball and various styles of skiing have also been popular among Olympians and Paralympians from the state.

Collectively, athletes with ties to the state have brought home 40 gold medals, 14 silver medals and 14 bronze medals over the years.

Olympians and Paralympians with ties to the state have medaled in 12 different sports. Basketball players have brought home the most medals, with nine athletes from Connecticut earning a total of 21 gold medals in the sport.

Don Schollander is the single athlete with a Connecticut tie who’s won the most medals, with seven gold and one silver under his belt. He attended Yale University and swam for the United States in the 1964 and 1968 Olympic games.

Connecticut athletes also boast some other unique achievements: Eddie Eagan, who also attended Yale University, is the only American athlete to medal in both the summer and winter Olympic games. Eagan earned a gold medal for boxing in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920 and another gold medal for bobsled in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1932, according to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.