The (Anderson) Herald Bulletin (TNS)
At the Paris Olympic Games, Team USA’s 10-person diving squad will feature seven athletes with ties to a single state.
California? Texas? Florida? New York?
It would be natural to guess coastal states with large populations, right?
But the mecca of talent for the USA diving team is none other than Indiana.
If you know a little bit about the history of the modern Games, Indiana’s leading role in diving and swimming events isn’t surprising.
Noblesville and Purdue University diver David Boudia, the second-most decorated Indiana athlete in Olympic history, won four medals at three Olympics, including gold in London in 2012.
On the swimming side, one of the greatest of all time, Mark Spitz, trained at Indiana University. Spitz won seven gold medals, setting world records in each event, at the 1972 Olympics.
You might be more familiar with another Hoosier swimming legend from recent years, Lilly King. The queen of brash confidence, King won gold in two events at the 2016 Games and followed with two silvers and a bronze at the 2020 Games.
King, an Evansville native and IU product, is back again for her third Games.
She’ll be joined by Carmel sibling swimmers Aaron and Alex Shackell. The latter will be Team USA’s youngest competitor in any event at the Paris Games. Alex is just 17, two years younger than King when she captured her first Olympics medal.
In all, 12 of the U.S. swimming team’s 48 members have Hoosier ties. That’s a quarter of the squad.
Not bad, but well below the diving team’s 70% Indiana flavor. Here’s the roster, with Hoosier connections:
- Sarah Bacon, Cardinal Ritter High School in Indianapolis
- Andrew Capobianco, IU
- Tyler Downs, Purdue
- Greg Duncan, Purdue
- Carson Taylor, IU
- Jessica Parratto, IU
- Daryn Wright, Plainfield and Purdue
For those keeping score, that’s IU 3, Purdue 3. (In case you’re wondering, Bacon went to the University of Minnesota.)
In all, more than 40 athletes with Hoosier connections will have the opportunity to participate in the Paris Games.
Our hearts will be right there with them as the world comes together in Paris to celebrate athletic excellence and the spirit of competition and sportsmanship.
