Three Long Islanders are going to the Olympics.
The summer games, which will take place in Paris, France, from July 26 to August 11, are 329 events in 32 sports. Here’s the rundown on the three locals who will compete in some of those competitions.
CRYSTAL DUNN
Crystal Dunn, a 31-year-old who plays for NJ/NY Gotham FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, was announced to the U.S. national team by coach Emma Hayes Wednesday. Dunn was born in New Hyde Park, grew up in Rockville Center and starred at South Side High School, where she led her team to New York state championships in 2006, 2007 and 2009.
The versatile forward is one of just 18 American women’s soccer players to make the cut. This isn’t her first rodeo either, as Dunn is now a three-time Olympian after participating in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. She earned a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games and scored her only Olympic goal in Rio de Janeiro.
Dunn is in her first season with Gotham FC, having also played for the Washington Spirit, Chelsea, North Carolina and Portland. She played for UNC from 2010-2013 and won the 2012 Hermann Trophy for best college soccer player.
Dunn comes in as one of the most experienced players on the women’s national team. She’s made 147 international appearances throughout her career, good for second-most on the roster, with 25 total goals and 19 total assists. The 5-foot-1 Dunn captained the US squad on March 8, 2020, against Spain at the SheBelieves Cup in Harrison, N.J. as she was honored pregame for her 100th career bout with team USA.
ANDREW CAPOBIANCO
Wantagh native Andrew Capobianco qualified for his second Olympic Games with a first-place finish in the three-meter springboard at the U.S. diving trials.
“I don’t really have words to describe it,” Capobianco told NBC. “I was just trying to be in the moment, not try to get ahead of myself too much.”
Capobianco was a two-time Nassau County diving champ as a seventh and eighth-grader, even breaking a 22-year-old Nassau County high school diving record, before moving to North Carolina where he attended Holly Springs High School.
The 24-year-old diver attended Indiana University and took part in the Tokyo Olympics, earning a silver medal in the three-meter synchronized competition. He’s won seven NCAA championships in three-meter diving, one-meter diving and platform, with three of those being gold medals. Capobianco also won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
SYLA SWORDS
At just 18-years-old, former Long Islander Syla Swords, who now lives in Sudbury, Ontario will make her appearance as the youngest player to ever put on a Canada jersey in the Olympic Games as the team commences their journey on Monday, July 29 against France.
Sword was one of 12 players named to the Canada women’s basketball team’s roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics following her two year stint playing at Long Island Lutheran in Brookville.
“Playing for Team Canada’s always been my ‘why’ for basketball,” Swords told CBC Sudbury.
Just months ago, Swords helped to lead the Lutheran Crusaders to the high school girls basketball national championship game. This week, she will have the grand opportunity of taking her talents to the global stage and fulfilling a lifelong dream at the Paris Olympics.
After an incredible run at Long Island Lutheran, Swords, a 6-foot guard finished her career as the nationally ranked No. 4 prospective player in the nation by ESPN, the 2024 Gatorade New York Girls Basketball Player of the Year, and a McDonald’s All American.
However, her passion and skill for basketball comes to no surprise as her father, Shawn Swords, also represented Canada on the men’s national basketball team at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
“He still gets emotional speaking about it, about the opening ceremonies and just the unity of the entire event, how special it is to represent your country at such a high level,” Swords told CBC Sudbury. “So I’m really excited to just have some type of feeling that we can share with that.”
During her time at Long Island Lutheran, Swords also began to represent Canada in the International Basketball Federations (FIBA) Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament and World Cups, however there was no guarantee this would place her on the Olympic roster.
Swords and the Canada women’s basketball team will start the tournament ranked fifth by the FIBA in the preliminary round at 11:15 a.m. EST at Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
After Canada’s Olympic run, Swords will then begin her next journey at the NCAA Division I level playing basketball for the University of Michigan this fall.
Andrew Capobianco will be competing Aug. 6 at 10 a.m. EST in Men’s 3-Meter Preliminaries.
Crystal Dunn and USWNT will be playing three group stage games on July 25, 28 and 31. First game is US v. Zambia in Nice, France on July 25 at 3 p.m. EST.
