The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, officially kick off on Friday, with some events beginning Wednesday. Here are the four Long Island natives to look out for as they compete for Team USA.
CRYSTAL DUNN
Rockville Centre native Crystal Dunn will make her second Olympics appearance on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT). The 29-year-old was a star athlete at South Side High School and won five Player of the Year awards during her senior year.
Dunn previously helped bring home the World Cup with USWNT in 2019 and scored a goal in the 2016 Rio Olympics. She’s listed as number 2 and a defender for the upcoming Tokyo Games, so look out for her during the first soccer match against Sweden on Wednesday.
KRISTINE O’BRIEN
Twenty-nine-year-old rowing star Kristine O’Brien grew up in Massapequa Park and graduated from St. John the Baptist High School in West Islip. Though this will be her first Olympics appearance, she’s already earned several accolades in rowing, including four gold medals in the World Rowing Championships.
O’Brien will be among seven other first-time U.S. Olympians and two returning Olympic athletes competing in the Women’s Eight and going for a fourth straight title in rowing. The first rowing event is this Saturday.
ANDREW CAPOBIANCO
Andrew Capobianco, 21, from Wantagh, will compete in men’s diving for his first time participating in the Olympics. The diving champ won a Nassau County diving title with Wantagh High School when he was just in seventh grade.
Capobianco previously won a bronze medal in the men’s 1-meter springboard diving final of the XVIII Pan American Games in 2019. Now he will appear in the Tokyo Olympics’ men’s 3-meter synchronized springboard event on July 28 and men’s 3-meter, individual springboard dive on Aug. 3.
SUE BIRD
Syosset native Sue Bird, 40, is an Olympics veteran and WNBA legend who holds four Olympic gold medals. She’s earned a combined nine Olympics and World Cup medals, the most of any basketball player in two major international competitions.
Bird will play as a guard wearing number 6 during the Tokyo Olympic Games, which Team USA enters in a match against Nigeria on July 27.
Sign up for Long Island Press’ email newsletters here. Sign up for home delivery of Long Island Press here. Sign up for discounts by becoming a Long Island Press community partner here.
