Student Athletes Shine at Olympic Games

Precedent-setting wins are among the extraordinary accomplishments of the collegians who competed in Tokyo.

The path to the Olympic Games for athletes in sports like swimming, track and field, basketball and volleyball runs through intercollegiate competition. Many of the top competitors came to Tokyo with NCAA titles on their resumes.

For some, their college days were behind them, like 40-year-old Sue Bird, winner of her fifth gold medal in basketball, who won NCAA titles in 2000 and 2002 while at University of Connecticut. Others, like University of Michigan swimmer Maggie MacNeil, who won three medals representing Canada (gold in the 100-meter butterfly, silver in the 4x100 relay and bronze in the 4x100 medley relay), are returning to campus to complete their degrees after their Olympic glory.

Olympic gold and bronze medalist Trevor Stewart of North Carolina
A&T State University. (Courtesy of North Carolina A&T Athletics)These Olympics, delayed for a year due to COVID-19, were unlike any before them. There were no spectators other than athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers. International visitors were not allowed. Athletes could not have family and friends accompany them.

While the cheers may have been more subdued, the accomplishments were extraordinary and in some cases history-making. Trevor Stewart and Randolph Ross Jr. won Olympic gold medals as part of the U.S. men’s 4x400 relay, the first gold medals in the history of North Carolina A&T State University, an historically Black institution. Earlier in the Games, Stewart won bronze as part of the mixed 4x400.

“I would like to think that it continues to set the bar high for our students and student-athletes,” says Duane Ross, director of track and field programs at North Carolina A&T. “Great things are happening at NCAT and can also happen at other HBCUs when properly supported and encouraged.”

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