The Tokyo summer Olympics are right around the corner. It's the arena for the best athletes in the world. The question stands: Does that include NCAA athletes?
The answer is, yes! In fact, many are attending this years games. There are more than 1,000 former and current NCAA athletes attending the games on Friday, July, 23rd. Out of these athletes there are competitors from Division I to Division III sports.
You can find a full list of athletes on the NCAA website.
Ohio State University has 26 current and former student-athletes attending the games this year. Eight of them are current students and four are in-coming freshman.
Five from Ohio State track and field, including @aaquilla39, @Annaavviiaa and @LAMARR__4, will take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which kick off Friday with the opening ceremony at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. pic.twitter.com/rXhqjVKK46
— Ohio State T&F/XC (@OhioStateTFXC) July 21, 2021
The University of Tennessee has five current athletes attending the games, along with some in-coming freshman as well.
A school record for University of Kansas will happen this year as they are sending 20 current and former athletes to the games. Four of those athletes are current and one will be in-coming.
NCAA can be tricky because they have a lot of rules about eligibility. The interesting thing about athletes that compete in the Olympics is that they are allowed to accept payment for winning Gold, Silver, or Bronze.
No one is getting “paid”. Athletes will be able to receive compensation for name, image and likeness. And, Olympic sports will totally benefit. Many olympians have left college because they weren’t allowed to receive sponsorship money while in school. Now they can stay in school https://t.co/rcBy1J3rZ2
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) November 9, 2019
This is also true if they compete and win a medal at World University Games, the World Cup, World Championships, and Pan American Games.
There are so many talented college athletes that will be attending the games this year. Keep you eyes our for you favorite schools and watch the athletes compete against the best.
If you are an athlete that's dream is to make it to the Olympics some day than you don't have to worry about it taking away your chance to play in college as well.
