10 Athletes Looking to Qualify in Santiago

The U.S. Women's Water Polo team may just be the best dynasty you don't hear about often. The squad has medaled in every Olympic Games since 2000, when women's water polo first debuted in the Olympics. Even more impressive is the fact that they have won three consecutive Olympic gold medals dating back to the Olympic Games London 2012. From April 2018 to January 2020, they won a believed-to-be record of 69 straight international games, and went into the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on a 172-5 run over the previous five and a half years.
At the helm of the women's water polo team is utility player and Team Captain Maggie Steffens. The California native and Stanford star made her senior team debut when she was 16 years old, and has been a force for Team USA ever since. She has seen nothing but Olympic gold, given that her first Games appearance was at the London Games at just 19 years old. In Tokyo, she set a new record for the most goals scored by an individual player in Olympic women's water polo history. To date, Steffens has record 56 goals in Olympic tournaments. Additionally, she also held the record for the most goals in a single Olympic tournament (21) for nine years until Simone van de Kraats of the Netherlands eclipsed that mark in Tokyo.
If the squad takes home gold in Santiago, they will make their seventh-straight Olympic appearance. If they do so, Steffens will surely look to add to her all-time career Olympic goals record and continue one of the greatest team dynasties the U.S. has ever seen.

The USA Boxing team has tons of talent spread across all divisions such that choosing just one to watch would be difficult. However, if fans only watch one boxer in Santiago, it should be Robby Rahim Gonzales.
Gonzales has had to navigate several uncontrollable obstacles throughout his boxing career, including missing out on the Tokyo 2020 roster simply due to the effects of COVID-19 restricting his ability to fight in enough world tournaments. However, that has not deterred him from wanting a roster spot for Paris 2024.
The 2021 World No. 1 boxer in his division (light heavyweight), Gonzales is as ready as ever to earn an Olympic roster spot. Although not facing a fully "win and in" scenario, Gonzales still needs to make it to the finals and earn a silver or gold medal to qualify. Given his status as the top-ranked boxer in the world, all of his opponents will be coming at him with their best performances. Nonetheless, the Las Vegas native has proven he is up for the challenge, having claimed gold in two major tournaments in 2023 already (Strandja and Gee Bee Invitational). He has a 16-1 record over his last 17 bouts.

The Paris Olympics are set to achieve several firsts in Olympic history, including several sport-related milestones.
One such milestone will be the introduction of men's artistic swimming to the Olympics' program of events. Once a women-only Olympic sport, Paris is opting to include men's disciplines as well for the first time in history.
Hoping to earn his way to a roster spot is longtime artistic swimmer Bill May. A 44-year-old native of Syracuse, New York, May became interested in the sport at age 10, when he stayed at the pool after his competitive swimming lessons to watch his sister in her artistic lessons. Soon after, May and his coaches noticed he had what it took to compete at the highest levels of artistic swimming. Unfortunately, despite earning qualification status, May missed out on a chance to compete at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, given that those Games held only two women-only events. Then, after a 10-year retirement, he made history at the 2015 World Aquatic Championships in Kazan, Russia. He became the first man ever to win an artistic swimming gold medal at a major event by winning the mixed duet technical routine gold with his partner, Christina Jones.
Most recently, in 2023, May made even more history by becoming the first American man to win a world team medal, joining the U.S. team that secured silver in the acrobatic routine. Now, May can see the once-impossible right in front of him. If the U.S. artistic swimming team can claim gold, he'll become the first American man to qualify for an Olympic Games in artistic swimming. For more on May, fans can watch NBC's interview with him as part of their Chasing Gold video series.

Modern pentathlon is a sport that combines five seemingly uncorrelated events. Athletes compete in swimming, fencing, horse jumping, running and shooting events, hoping to earn the best aggreate score for the gold medal. It is certainly one of the most unique Olympic events in modern history and definitely worth a watch.
Hoping to stamp her ticket to Paris for Team USA via winning in Santiago is Jess Davis. A Connecticut native and former high school track-and-field athlete, Davis is the current reigning national champion in women's modern penathlon. Additionally, she recently added another national title to her resume in fencing. Focusing on one of her five disciplines, she became the Division IA Women's Epee National Champion last July at USA Summer Nationals. The experience and national title is great to have, given the high-stakes atmosphere in modern pentathlon fencing. Matches in fencing tournaments are to 15, while modern pentathlon fencing matchups last for just a single touch.
The experience certainly has prepared her to be at her best when she travels to Santiago with the hopes of claiming a roster spot. If Davis secures a gold medal, she will qualify by name for Paris 2024.

Hoping to leave her mark in the Team USA history books, Sunny Choi can claim an Olympic roster spot with a gold medal in breaking at the 2023 Pan American Games. If she does, she'll become the first U.S. women ever to qualify in the newest Olympic event.
Breaking, the technical term for "breakdancing," will be a sport subjectively graded on creativity and flow. While breaking athletes certainly have sets of body-twisting dance moves in their repertoire, each battle (or "cypher") has an improvisational element to it.
Choi, who competes as "B-Girl Sunny" in breaking competitions, is one of the best breakers in the world. She is ranked No. 7 overall in the world coming into the 2023 Pan American Games. Choi is hoping to claim one of the U.S.' four allotted breaking roster spots (two per gender) for Paris. If she wins, she'll take the second spot, after men's breaker Victor Montalvo secured his spot when he won the 2023 World Breaking Championships in September.

The U.S. women's field hockey team is on the rise in international play, and now they have an opportunity to become the first U.S. field hockey team to make an Olympic Games since 1996.
Boasting a highly-touted young core and a few veterans, Team USA's women's field hockey athletes are starting to put other countries on notice. Along with Amanda Golini and netminder Kelsey Bing, Ashley Sessa is part of that young core hoping to rewrite the script.

Sessa is one of the nation's top college field hockey players, playing forward and midfielder for the University of North Carolina. Although she has just 26 caps under her belt, her scoring prowess has already begun to make waves internationally. Recently, she picked up a gold medal with the U-21 national team at the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships in April.
The U.S. has a few tough battles ahead of them, including Argentina, who claimed the silver medal at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. However, if they can pull off the upset, they will be bound for Paris 2024. Look for Sessa to make an impact on offense for the U.S.

Coming off an unprecedented top-20 finish at the 2023 IHF World Men's Handball Championships — the best finish in U.S. men's handball history — the U.S. men's team handball squad are hoping to make a giant leap in year five of their 10-year plan to become a top handball team by the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.
The team started making headlines this year after picking up their first-ever win at a world championships against Morocco, allowing them to move into the next round of games. There, they picked up another win against Belgium, further improving their final finishing place.
Now, they are entering the 2023 Pan American Games feeling as confident as ever. And with a veteran lineup that include longtime handball player, Gary "Hangtime" Hines, anything is possible.
Hines earned the nickname after scoring 12 goals in his U.S. national team debut, soaring over the crease for several of them. Soon after, he picked up a bronze medal at the Pan American Games Santo Domingo 2003. Now 20 years later — with several seasons of playing professional handball in Germany under his belt — the Atlanta, Georgia native has a chance to make more U.S. handball history.
In addition to handball, Hines has also showed off his athletic prowess on two Ninja Warrior circuits. He made the Ninja Warrior Germany finals in 2016 and 2017, and competed on the 2022 version of American Ninja Warrior.
Fans should definitely tune in to watch Hines and the rest of the men's handball squad go for the gold in Santiago.

An Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 athlete and USA Climbing veteran, Brooke Raboutou is back and looking to make her second Olympic roster with a victory in Santiago.
Born to French parents, making the Paris 2024 roster would be a dream come true for Raboutou. The bouldering specialist, who coincidentally resides in Boulder, Colorado, is already having a superb year on the International Federation of Speed Climbing's (IFSC) World Cup circuit. In April, she secured her first-ever gold medal at the IFSC World Cup stop in Hachioji, Japan. In August, she added a bronze medal at the world championships and a fifth-place finish in lead. Overall, she ranks second in the world in boulder — one spot behind teammate Natalia Grossman — and seventh in lead.
A win in Santiago would mean Raboutou secures a roster spot for Paris 2024. If she does so, she will join fellow climbers Emma Hunt and Colin Duffy, who both qualified for the speed climbing event a few months ago. At the Tokyo Games, speed climbing, which greatly differs from bouldering and lead, factored into the climbers' overall score when it came to the final standings. However, speed climbing will be its own separate event in Paris. This will allow boulder and lead specialists (like Raboutou) to focus on their perferred disciplines and produce a better final score.

Competing in a sport which requires the ultimate mixture of grace, technique and precision, U.S. rhythmic gymnastics veteram Lili Mizuno is hoping to secure a spot to her second Olympics after compeition becomes final in Santiago.
A member of the 2020 Olympic rhythmic gymnastics team, Mizuno has been a part of the senior national team since 2017. During that year, she experienced immense success, winning four individual silver medals (all-around, hoop, ball and ribbon) and a team gold medal at the Pan American Championships. A year later in 2018, she secured her second team gold medal at the same event.
Recently, Mizuno opened up to Team USA about creating a "character" on the floor during her routine. In recent competitions, she has become more expressive, rather than focusing solely on the technical aspects. The increase in scores have followed suit, as judges began noticing an increase in energy and fun in her performances. Those intangibles will be needed in Santiago, as she aims for her first Pan American Games medal. If Mizuno can claim gold in an individual discipline, she will earn a Paris 2024 roster spot. Even better, if her team places first, they will earn the team spot as well. All signs point to the top podium spot being a two-way battle between the U.S. and Brazil when they take the floor in Santiago.

Just as the women's water polo team has a chance to qualify for the 2024 Olympics, the U.S. men's water polo team can also qualify if they claim gold in Santiago.
While not as dominant as the women's squad, the men's water polo team has put up impressive stats against some of the world's toughest competition. They will be coming into Santiago off a bronze-medal finish at the 2023 FINA World Cup — their first medal finish in the event since 1997.
A key reason for their medal finish and increase in rankings has been the play of veteran attacker Alex Bowen. The Santee, California, native is looking to make his third consecutive men's Olympic water polo team. Bowen currently plays professionally in France and has plenty of experience in facing some of the world's top players. He has also played professionally in Serbia and Greece. He tallied 14 goals apiece in the 2023 World Aquatics Championships and 2023 World Aquatics Cup in Los Angeles. Look for Bowen to make a major offensive impact for Team USA while competing in Santiago.