Aggies In Tokyo: Olympics Recap
Aug 09, 2021 | General, Men's Basketball, Men's Tennis, Track and Field, Softball, Women's Swimming and Diving
TOKYO – Twenty-six Aggies made their way to Tokyo to compete in an Olympic summer games unlike any other. Despite all the challenges in such unique circumstances, Texas A&M athletes combined to bring home a total of seven medals, the most ever in a single Olympiad.
Athing Mu - USA - GOLD - 800M, 4x400M
Bryce Deadmon - USA - GOLD - 4x400M - BRONZE - Mixed 4x400M
Fred Kerley - USA - SILVER - 100M
Sydney Pickrem - Canada - BRONZE - 4X100 Medley Relay
Khris Middleton - USA - GOLD - Men's Basketball
The dynamic track running duo of Mu & Deadmon became the first Aggies in history to win multiple medals at the same Olympics.
Kerley, the Taylor, Texas native, became the first Aggie in program history to medal in the short sprints. He is the first Aggie to earn an individual track & field medal since 1996 when Randy Barnes '87 earned gold in shot put at the Atlanta Olympic Games.
Pickrem is the third women's swimmer, along with Breeja Larson and Christine Marshall, in program history to medal at the Olympic Games.
Middleton is the second Aggie men's basketball alum to win a gold medal, joining DeAndre Jordan, who won gold in 2016. He became one of six players since NBA players were allowed to play in the summer games in 1992 to win an NBA Championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.
Other top Aggie finishes:
In total, seven other Aggies competed in the finals of their respective events. Tahar Triki placed fifth in the triple jump, Annie Kunz sixth in the heptathlon, Lindon Victor seventh in the decathlon, Maggie Malone 10th in the javelin and Tyra Gittens 10th in the long jump. In the relays, Emmanuel Yeboah helped Ghana to its first finals appearance in the 4x100m since 1994 and Deon Lendore helped Trinidad & Tobago to an eighth place finish in the 4x400m.
Tori Vidales and Team Mexico finished just off the podium in fourth place in the softball tournament while Austin Krajicek of USA Tennis also nearly medaled in the men's doubles tournament, placing fourth.
The U.S. women's 4x400m relay team just won gold by almost four seconds ??
— ESPN (@espn) August 7, 2021
(via @NBCOlympics) pic.twitter.com/xU2tn5cqTv
At this point, it was a ??for ??@Brose_royce 44.01 split #OlympiansMadeHere pic.twitter.com/ZFGT7cfnO5
— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) August 7, 2021
Never doubt the man ??
— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) August 1, 2021
?? 9.84 (PB)@fkerley99 | #AggiesInTokyo
pic.twitter.com/UKY8aLNybf
Sydney Pickrem, Olympic Medalist ??
— Texas A&M Swimming & Diving (@AggieSwimDive) August 1, 2021
Sydney and the Canadian 4x100 medley relay team set a national record with a time of 3:52.60 to claim the bronze medal!#GigEm | #AggiesInTokyo pic.twitter.com/QqAR3HMBYK
?? x ?? pic.twitter.com/K71hgoyEY1
— Khris Middleton (@Khris22m) August 7, 2021
Welcome back to Aggieland ??
— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) August 10, 2021
?? @athiiing ?? pic.twitter.com/g5EmrfUiJC
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.
