Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo 

Olympic Games, The Michi-
gan Daily takes a look at 
Michigan’s olympic athletes 
and their performances at 
the Games, both past and 
present. The data takes a 
deep dive into what coun-
tries Wolverines hail from, 
what sports they perform 
best in and how they stack up 
against their Big Ten rivals.

Michigan students per-

form in the highest arenas 
of college sports. They’re 
also no strangers to shoul-
dering the dreams of their 
countries at the Olympics.

After Friday’s opening 

ceremony, 
29 
Michigan 

athletes will look to join 
Olympic heavyweights like 
Michael Phelps, Gustavo 
Borges and the duo of Meryl 
Davis and Charlie White in 
bringing Olympic glory to 
both their countries and 
their university.

Since 1900, 243 Michigan 

students, future students, 
and alumni have competed 
at the Olympics. The num-
ber of Wolverines at each 
Olympiad has grown over 
time, and 38% of them have 
medaled.

While the majority of 

those 
competitors 
hail 

from the United States and 
Canada, Michigan students 
have represented 32 nations 
at the Games. Wolverines 
from every continent but 
Antarctica have competed 
in an Olympiad. 

Some Michigan Olympi-

ans hail from nations as far 
apart as Nigeria and Ban-
gladesh, while many come 
from 
European 
nations 

like the United Kingdom, 
Ireland, Austria and Hun-
gary. Seven athletes have 
represented Scandinavian 
countries including Fin-
land, Sweden, Norway and 
Denmark.

This 
year, 
Wolverines 

from 12 different coun-
tries 
will 
carry 
their 

nations’ Olympic aspira-
tions, including wrestlers 
Myles Amine (San Marino) 

and Stevan Micic (Serbia). 
Both are the first Michi-
gan students to represent 
their respective countries 
at the Games, and both will 
be coached by Wolverines 
coach Sean Bormet at the 
Games.

Bormet will not be the 

only 
current 
Michigan 

coach in Tokyo, as swim 
coach Mike Bottom, div-
ing coach Mike Hilde and 
men’s 
gymnastics 
coach 

Jordan Gaarenstroom will 
hope to guide their athletes 
to top performances. They 
will coach athletes from 
Yemen, the United States 
and Nigeria, respectively.

In total, Michigan ath-

letes have won 73 gold med-
als — and Americans have 
earned most of them. The 
only 
non-American 
gold 

medal winner was Austra-
lian John Davies in the 1952 
200-meter 
breaststroke. 

Davies 
set 
an 
Olympic 

record in the event, some-
thing Wolverine athletes 
have done 21 times. 

Twelve of those broken 

records belonged to Phelps, 
who attended Michigan but 
did not compete in NCAA 
swimming. The most deco-
rated Olympian in history 
still holds seven of those 
records, and he earned 23 
gold medals in his illustri-
ous career.

Former shot put record 

holder Ralph Rose earned 
the 
second 
most 
med-

als among the Michigan 
community, a more reach-
able six over three Games. 
Borges, 
swimmer 
Peter 

Vanderkaay, kayaker Greg 
Barton 
and 
track 
star 

Archie Hahn have each 
earned four Olympic med-
als. 
Borges 
represented 

Brazil, while the rest com-
peted for Team USA.

While the athletes head-

ed to Tokyo might not 
challenge for such acclaim 
just yet, some Wolverines 
headed to the games domi-
nated in their sports while 
on campus, including Cana-
dian soccer player Jayde 
Riviere, Canadian swim-
mer Maggie MacNeil, and 
German basketball player 

Moritz Wagner, the first 
Michigan Olympian from 
his country.

Swimming, diving and 

track and field have been 
the bread and butter of 
Michigan 
Olympians. 

Eighty 
Wolverines 
have 

competed in swimming, 
20 have dived and 67 have 
performed in track and 
field 
events.Michigan’s 

first Olympians — John 
McLean, Howard Hayes, 
Charles Dvorak and Char-
lie Leiblee — all competed 
in track and field for the 
United States. 

Some of these athletes 

come from South America. 
Five Peruvians competed 
in swimming and diving 
events, but none were able 
to medal. Guyanese sprint-
er Adam Harris competed 
in 2008’s Beijing Games, 
while two Brazlians have 
earned 
four 
medals 
in 

swimming.

From Asia, two of three 

Wolverine 
Olympians 

competed in swimming or 
diving. The other was Ban-
gladeshi 
gymnast 
Syque 

Caesar. This year, Siobhan 
Haughey and Jamie Yeung 
will add Hong Kong to 
that list as they compete in 
swimming.

Outside of those popular 

events, Michigan athletes 
have participated in the 
more unique competitions 
across 
Olympic 
history. 

American decathlete Ken 
Doherty captured bronze 
in 1928, while Eeles Land-
strom competed in the 
event for Finland in 1952.

Five-time All-American 

Steve Bastien will be the 
first Michigan athlete to 
compete in the decathlon 
in 69 years at this year’s 
games. He qualified for 
the event with one of the 
best athletic displays of 
his career, setting person-

al bests in seven of the 10 
events. Now he shifts his 
focus to breaking those 
records again on a much 
more 
intense 
stage 
in 

Tokyo.

Some 
Wolverines 
will 

appear in their first Olym-
piad this month. Michi-
gan’s 
record 
for 
most 

Olympics belongs to Turk-
ish swimmer Derya Buyu-
kuncu, who competed six 
times from 1992 to 2012 but 
was unable to earn a medal. 
He was the first Wolverine 
from Turkey to compete at 
the Olympics.

Despite the plethora of 

Michigan athletes in the 
Olympics, 
the 
Paralym-

pics have only recently 
seen Wolverines compete. 
Jerome Singleton compet-
ed in 2008 and 2012, earn-
ing silver and gold track 
medals 
for 
the 
United 

States at his first Olympi-
ad. Zach Burns won a sil-

ver medal in rowing at the 
2016 Rio Olympics. Non-
Americans from Michigan 
have not competed at the 
Paralympics yet.

Andy Potts, an Olympic 

triathlete who placed 22nd 
for Team USA in 2004, 
will compete as a guide for 
American 
paratriathlete 

Kyle Coon. After beating 
dominant 
paratriathlete 

Aaron Schneidies for the 
first time earlier this year, 
Coon and Potts could claim 
gold medals at the end of 
their event.

When the opening cer-

emonies conclude, Michi-
gan will see its students, 
coaches and alumni pursue 
their Olympic dreams for 
nations scattered all across 
the Earth. They will join a 
long list of Wolverines to 
participate in the games, 
and some will likely add to 
the 160 medals they have 
accumulated.

Olympic tradition includes Wolverines from across the globe

CONNOR EAREGOOD

Daily Sports Writer

Graphic by Zach Breger, Eric Lau / The Michigan Daily

U-M Olympians across the globe: Olympians associated with the University have competed for 32 countries. 

With a Central Michigan 

forward streaking toward 
the goal, senior defender 
Sydney 
Shepherd 
found 

herself in a jam. Shepherd 
paced just a few inches 
behind the attacker, who 
saw nothing but open grass 

ahead and eight minutes 
left in the game.

As the forward pre-

pared to fire a shot past 
senior 
goalkeeper 
Izzy 

Nino, Shepherd made her 
move. She swept toward 
the ball, pushing around 
the attacker to break up 
the play.

The only chance the 

Chippewas could muster 
was snuffed out. The ensu-
ing free kick was easily 
saved by Nino, and the No. 
18 Michigan women’s soc-
cer team won 1-0.

From the start of the 

game, the backline of Shep-
herd, senior Janiece Joyner 
and junior Jayde Riviere 
controlled the pitch.

Much of this came from 

maneuvering 
around 

attacking players. Wheth-
er they boxed them out or 
shook them off with fancy 
footwork, the trio would 
give the Chippewas just 
one or two touches before 
winning it back and lob-
bing the ball to an open 
Wolverine midfielder.

Michigan didn’t force 

the play, however, choos-
ing to keep possession and 
rotate back. These came 
often, as the Wolverines’ 
speed kept Central Michi-

gan playing from catch up.

“I think the backline 

was really cohesive the 
entire game,” Shepherd 
said. “But I can give a lot 
of credit to the holding 
mids and the midfield that 
dropped back and played a 
big role in staying tucked 
and together defensively. 
We’ve really been working 
on staying together as a 
unit in training, so I think 
it all kind of came through 
this weekend.”

That teamwork led to 

a 26-1 shot-attempt dis-
parity. However, commu-
nication seemed to fall 
apart deeper in the offen-
sive zone. Multiple times, 
Michigan attackers found 
an overwhelming chance 
but ran offside, squander-
ing the opportunity. This 
even caused a goal to be 
disallowed late in the sec-
ond half.

Part of that came from 

the very root of their style: 
aggressive play. With mul-
tiple Wolverines swarm-
ing the goal, there were 
more players to manage. 
Michigan 
struggled 
to 

find a solution to break 
them 
down 
throughout 

the game.

Other problems surfaced 

when the Wolverines took 
longer passes. With more 
time to track the ball, the 
Chippewas broke up many 
passes to deep midfield-
ers, putting more weight 
on Michigan’s defenders. 
While they handled this 
with no panic, substitu-
tions came quickly and 
often to keep them from 
wearing out, and to put 
the pressure on Central 
Michigan.

With so much posses-

sion time, the Wolverines 
remained 
frustrated 
as 

the game continued, and 
Chippewas’s 
goalkeeper 

Allison Lapoint gobbled 
up shot after shot. She 
single-handedly kept the 
game within reach.

Early in the second half, 

fifth-year midfielder Nicki 
Hernandez faced Lapoint 
one-on-one, with yards of 
open net on both sides. She 
shot across, and finally, 
Lapoint couldn’t get there 
in time. A tinny clang rang 
through the stadium as 
the ball bounced off of the 
goalpost and was cleared 
by Central Michigan. Her-
nandez put her hands to 
her head. She would even-
tually break through with 

the game’s only goal on 
a quick pass from junior 
forward Lily Farkas in the 
63rd minute.

“I think we just need 

to get some better timing, 
timing within our move-
ment, speed of our passes,” 
Michigan coach Jennifer 
Klein said. “I think we’ll 
clean a lot of that up. The 
ideas are right, and now 
it’s just making sure we 
can get the execution.”

Michigan entered Sun-

day’s game with an expec-
tation to win the game 
handily. While the defense 
performed like a brick 
wall, the offense couldn’t 
find the same rhythm.

Back line powers Wolverines to victory over Central Michigan

CONNOR EAREGOOD

Daily Sports Writer

BECCA MAHON/Daily 

Senior defender Sydney Shepherd helped anchor a staunch Michigan defense on Sunday. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, September 1, 2021 — 11

