Texas Athletes Triumph in Tokyo Olympics

Athletes representing the United States at the 2020 Olympics led the country to the first place in the medal ranking.

Team USA won 113 medals in total, resulting in the country with the most medals overall and also, the country with the most gold medals.

There were roughly 100 athletes with Texan ties, many of whom also came back home as Olympic medalists.

According to the University of Texas, if current and former UT athletes were competing as a separate country, Texas would have ranked in 17th place among all nations in the number of gold medals earned and tied for 26th in the number of total medals won.

Here’s a list of Texans who brought gold medals to the Lonestar State.

1. Lydia Jacoby, from the University of Texas: She’s a 17-year-old who won gold at the women’s 100m breaststroke, also winning silver in women’s 4x100m medley relay.

2. Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Texas native from Katy: She won first place at the women’s 68kg freestyle, becoming the second wrestling gold medal ever claimed by an American woman and first for a black woman.

3. Ryan Crouser, former Texas Longhorn: Won gold at the men’s shot put and broke the Olympic record three times during the final.

4. Athing Mu, Texas A&M track star: Mu won two gold medals, the first one in women’s 800m and the second one in women’s 4x400m relay. As reported by Kxan, she also became the fourth Aggie to earn a medal in Tokyo and the first American woman in more than 50 years to win a gold medal in the 800m race.

5. Valarie Allman, UT volunteer coach: Won gold at women’s discus, also becoming the first American-born woman to win a discus medal since 2008.

6. Bryce Deadmon, Aggie runner: Bryce won a medal at the men’s 4×400 relay and bronze at the 4×400 mixed relay, also the first Aggie to become an Olympic medalist at the 2020 games.

7. Kevin Durant, former Longhorn: Third-time competitor at the Olympics, Durant won gold at men’s basketball. He is also the team’s all-time leading Olympics scorer.

8. Khris Middleton, former Texas A&M: Middleton won gold with Team USA at men’s basketball.

9. Ariel Atkins, former Austin Longhorn: Won gold alongside the USA Women’s Olympic basketball team.  

10. Brittney Griner, Houston native: The former Baylor University Bear won gold with Team USA in Women’s basketball.

11. Chiaka Ogbogu, from Coppell: the former UT Longhorn won gold with the women’s volleyball team.