Fifteen current and former Indiana Hoosiers competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. These Hoosiers represented six different countries; eight from the United States, three from Canada, two from Egypt, and one each from Israel, Brazil, and New Zealand. The Hoosiers earned a total of ten medals – four gold, five silver, and one bronze.
SWIMMING
LILLY KING
King is arguably the most famous Hoosier competing in this year’s Olympics. During her time in Bloomington she won the NCAA Championship in both 100 yard breaststroke and the 200 yard breaststroke all four years. While King was still in school at IU, she won two golds in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for the United States. Now graduated, she competed in the 100-meter breaststroke, 200-meter breaststroke, and 4×100-meter medley relay. In the 100m breaststroke, she earned a bronze medal, with a time of 1:05.54, after her fellow USA teammate, Lydia Jacoby, earned the gold. While in the 200m breaststroke she earned a silver medal sharing the podium with Indiana Swim Club swimmer, Annie Lazor. In the 4x100m medley relay, she only competed in the heat and not the final, however she still earned a silver medal due to her qualifying with the American team. King earned a medal in all her events in Tokyo which increased her medal count to five; two gold, two silver, and one bronze.
ZACH APPLE
Apple competed for Indiana from 2018-19 after transferring from Auburn University. During his time at IU, he earned a NCAA Championship in the 400 medley relay. Apple represented the United States and competed in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay, teaming up with fellow Indiana alum, Blake Peroni, the 4x200m Freestyle Relay, and the 100m Freestyle in the Tokyo Olympics. The 4x100m Freestyle Relay was the highlight of his time in Tokyo as he was the anchor and brought home the gold. He posted the best split of his three teammates, swimming the one hundred meters in just 46.6 seconds. The USA defeated Italy by just over a second with Australia finishing in third. In the 4x200m Freestyle Relay, Apple and Team USA finished in fourth, missing the podium by just over half of a second. In the 100m Freestyle event, he finished in sixth in semi-final two and did not advance to the final. However, the relay team bounced back well as he earned another gold medal in the 4x100m medley relay. Apple’s trip to Tokyo was highly successful as he brought back two Olympic gold medals.
BLAKE PIERONI
Pieroni, who was born and raised in Indiana, graduated from IU in 2018 and won a NCAA championship in the same year. Similarly to King, he also competed in the 2016 Olympic games where he won a gold medal in 4x100m freestyle. Pieroni swam this relay with fellow Hoosier, Zach Apple, and Pieroni can claim he is a back-to-back champion as Team USA won gold in the 4x100m freestyle again. Additionally, he swam in the preliminaries of the 4×100-meter medley relay, but similarly to King, he did not compete in the finals. Nevertheless, Team USA won gold and all members, including swimmers in the preliminaries, were awarded a gold medal. Pieroni is now the proud owner of three Olympic gold medals.
MICHAEL BRINEGAR
Brinegar, a current redshirt junior at Indiana, is a two-time All-American. He swam in the long distance events of the 800-meter freestyle and the 1500-meter freestyle in Tokyo. However, he was unable to advance to the final in either event. Brinegar now looks to return to Bloomington for another strong season of swimming.
MARWAN ELKAMASH
At Indiana, Elkamash, a 2017 graduate of IU, earned two All-American honors and First-Team All-Big Ten. Tokyo is Elkamash’s second Olympic appearance after competing in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro while representing Egypt. Elkamash competed in three different events, the 400m freestyle and the 800m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle event, he posted a 3:46.94 in his heat which did not push him through to the next round. Additionally, in the 800m freestyle he posted a 7:52.76 which was not enough to advance to the final.
ALI KHALAFALLA
Khalafalla earned multiple First Team-team All-Big Ten honors while swimming in Bloomington before he graduated in 2018. Additionally, he swam at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. In Tokyo, he swam the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle. Despite finishing second in his 100-meter freestyle heat, he did not advance in either category.
TOMER FRANKEL
Frankel just completed his freshman season in Bloomington. Even at his young age, he has accomplished a great deal being a three time Big Ten Champion. Frankel represented his home country of Israel and competed in the 100-meter butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay. He finished fourth in his 100m butterfly heat, barely missing the final. Frankel and his teammates did not advance to the semi-finals.
BAILEY ANDISON
Andison is a 2019 graduate of Indiana where she earned First-Team All-Big Ten. She represented Canada while swimming the 200-meter medley at the Olympic Games. Andison posted a time of 2:12.52, but did not advance to the semi finals.
VINI LANZA
Lanza graduated in 2019 and was the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and won NCAA championships in the 100-meter butterfly and 400-yard medley relay. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he swam in the 100m butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, and the 4×100-meter medley relay. Lanza won the 200m medley but did not advance. Additionally, he did not make it to the next round of the 100m butterfly while the Brazilian team was disqualified in the medley relay.
DIVING
JESSICA PARRATTO
Parratto, a 2019 IU graduate, was a NCAA Champion in 2015. She represented team USA at the 2016 Olympic games where she finished seventh overall in the synchronized 10-meter platform and tenth overall in the 10-meter platform dive. However, this time Paratto and her partner Delaney Schnell made history by being the first-ever U.S. women in the synchronized 10m platform to win a medal at the Olympic Games.
MICHAEL HIXON
Hixon, a 2018 graduate, was a NCAA champion in the 1-meter springboard during his time at school. However, in Tokyo he competed in the synchronized 3-meter springboard, with fellow and current Hoosier, Andrew Capobianco. They earned a silver medal which increased his medal count to two silvers after earning one in the same competition at the 2016 Olympic Games. Hixon’s medal count increases to two silver medals total.
ANDREW CAPOBIANCO
Capobianco will be a redshirt season this fall. He is a two-time NCAA Champion and most recently Indiana Male Athlete of the Year. Capobianco does have a friendship with fellow diver, Parratto. He jokingly mentioned in an Instagram that “We are not siblings,” when referring to Parratto. He continued “Jess is just like a big sister to me”. He followed in Parratto footsteps by earning a silver medal the day after she earned her medal. As previously mentioned, he teamed up with Hixon and the USA finished just over twenty-three points behind China and just under forty points of Germany in third. Additionally, Capobianco competed in the 3-meter springboard where he finished tenth overall.
WATER POLO
SHAE (FOURNIER) LA ROCHE
La Roche graduated from IU in 2014 and became the first water polo player at Indiana to earn Academic All-American honors and set the scoring record at Indiana with 302 goals. In the Olympics, La Roche scored two goals against Spain, a goal a piece against South Africa, China, and the Netherlands. The team of Canada finished with a classification after their win against China 16-7.
JESSICA GUADREAULT
Guadreault graduated from Indiana in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology and a minor in French. She was selected as an alternate so she never saw the pool. Nevertheless, being selected as an Olympic alternate is quite the honor and accomplishment.
SOCCER
GABI RENNIE
Rennie is a rising sophomore at Indiana studying exercise science. At IU last year, she played in every game and earned five starts. In Tokyo, she represented New Zealand and scored in their first game of the Olympics against Australia. Rennie played in every game, but New Zealand did not quite have the strength they needed going 0-3 in the Olympics.