Former Spartans Tori Franklin, Shay Colley will compete at Paris Olympics

A pair of former Michigan State athletes both learned Tuesday they will be competing in the Olympics later this summer in Paris.

Tori Franklin, a Spartan standout from 2012-15, will compete for Team USA in track and field in the triple jump and Shay Colley, an MSU women's basketball player from 2017-20, will play for Team Canada in Paris.

Franklin, who is from Evanston, Illinois, will be participating in her second Olympics. She competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and finished 25th in the triple jump. Despite earning the bronze medal in the triple jump at the U.S. Trials on June 22, Franklin did not have the Olympic standard and had to wait until Tuesday to officially be named to the team by USA Track & Field. Franklin finished third with a leap of 13.72 meters.

In 2022, Franklin earned bronze at the World Championships to become the first American woman to medal in the triple jump at a World Championship. No American has finished better than fourth at the Olympics in the event.

Track & field action in Paris will run Aug. 1-11. The qualifying round of the women’s triple jump is Friday, Aug. 2. with the finals being held on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Colley will also be making her second appearance in the Olympics after playing for Canada in 2020 in Tokyo.

Team Canada qualified for its fourth straight Olympic Games, finishing third in one of four FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments last February. Paris will be Team Canada’s eighth appearance in the Olympic women’s basketball tournament since it debuted at Montreal in 1976.

Colley played three seasons at Michigan State with her last season coming during the 2019-20 campaign. As a Spartan, she averaged 12.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

The women’s basketball tournament will take place from July 27-Aug. 11. Canada’s first game will be on July 29 (11:15 a.m. ET) against France.

Heath Baldwin, a current MSU graduate student out of Kalamazoo, will also compete in Paris in the decathlon after winning the event at the U.S. Trials on June 22.