Beyond the national pride that the 2021 Olympics hails, we Washingtonians can relish in the fact that several state-local athletes made their way to the world’s biggest stage to compete.
Jordan Chiles, hailing from Vancouver, was a member of a USA gymnastics team that was reeling from the loss of Simone Biles. The USA went on to win the silver medal in gymnastics regardless, in no small part due to Chiles’ contributions. She scored a 14.666 on the vault and a 14.166 on the uneven bars (after posting a terrible score in the qualifiers). A 13.433 on the balance beam put the USA in prime position to strike for the gold medal, but she stepped out of bounds on her floor routine and finished with an 11-point performance, netting silver for the USA.
Redmond native Tatyana Forbes opted to join the Mexican Olympic softball team en route to their fourth-place finish at the Olympics. She had a middling performance overall, going 2-7 in four games with the official at-bats.
Zach LaVine, another Redmond native and NBA player, got onto the Olympic team and has played two games so far: a 76-83 upset loss to France and a 120-66 domination victory over Iran. Over those two games, LaVine accumulated 21 points, six rebounds, 11 assists and a steal so far.
36-year-old Adrienne Lyle from Coupeville, WA attended on the US Equestrian team. Lyle performed admirably in the Team Grand Prix, scoring 2504 of the team’s 7747 points (roughly 32 percent) as they claimed the silver medal behind Germany. However, she did not place in the Individual Grand Prix on the following day.
Mathisse Thybulle out of Sammamish, WA landed on the Australian Olympic basketball team. Currently, they sit at 1-1 so far this year. Over those two games, he netted 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists, six steals and a block. Richmond native Leilani Mitchell is on the same Australian team, albeit on the women’s side. Having just played one game, an 85-70 loss to Belgium, Mitchell picked up two points, a rebound and seven assists.
A number of other Washington natives are representing at the Olympic games, but haven’t gotten to showcase their talent yet:
- Nevin Harrison (Seattle) is on the canoe team
- Adrian Hegyvary (Seattle) is on the cycling team
- Harrison Maurus (Auburn) is a weightlifter
- Jacob Riley (Bellingham) is a track runner
- Katrina Young (Shoreline) is on the diving team
This doesn’t even include the dozens of former Huskies or players who have some other relation to the state of Washington (like Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird). We Washingtonians have every right to be proud of our state for producing such an incredible density of Olympic-level athletes.
