Who are Team USA's Most Anticipated Competitors at the Olympics & Paralympics

SELF Magazine

Team USA speaks to SELF about the countries and athletes they're most excited to compete against at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

Transcript

00:00I'm excited to play Argentina because we lost to them in Pan Ams and that would have been

00:07our first chance to qualify.

00:09And so I kind of want a little bit of revenge and be open against them.

00:12So that would be fun.

00:13Me, myself and that.

00:15I'm excited to just compete against myself.

00:17I mean, I'm excited to compete against the world.

00:20That's the coolest part about, you know, the Olympics, but it's an individual sport.

00:23So I try to just keep my focus on me and keep my focus on what the goal is.

00:28Yeah, I don't even think like that.

00:30Not looking forward to competing with anyone.

00:33It's Jamal and Jamal in the pool.

00:35You know, all the Jamals are coming together for the best swim that Jamal will ever have

00:39in his life up until that present moment.

00:41Best of luck to everyone else, though.

00:43You will need it.

00:44We have two girls in my class that, India and Thailand, they put up really big totals

00:50earlier in the qualifications and we haven't really seen them compete to that level since.

00:55So I kind of have no idea what they're capable of.

00:57I know what I'm capable of, which is what I'll focus on, but I'm interested to see like

01:02how the competition plays out.

01:04I have a lot of really, really good friends who I've competed against a lot.

01:07Very talented women, really, really experienced.

01:10So regardless of what happens, I know it's going to be really close, but I'm really proud

01:15of them, too.

01:16One of my very good friends is competing for Canada, another good friend competing for

01:19France on her own turf, Chile.

01:24And then, obviously, there's a couple of countries like Russia and China that have

01:27been big rivals for me that I'm really excited to go against.

01:31I love our 100 Brushstroke group from all around the world.

01:34Tatiana is like the sweetest person ever.

01:36She's from South Africa.

01:37Ruta is absolutely amazing.

01:39She's from Lithuania.

01:40Obviously, our USA contenders are incredible, Lily and all those girls.

01:45So I'm just excited to be there and race with those women.

01:47I'm wondering if they're going to watch this.

01:50Team Canada.

01:53Man, I just really want to play against them.

01:56I'm most looking forward to competing against, and I don't know if he'll be playing yet,

02:00but Mbave.

02:01I know he's said it a lot.

02:02I really like to compete with world number one.

02:07Actually, she's from Korea.

02:09Her name is Ahn Se-young because she's really young and she's really talented.

02:17So I can't wait to compete with her in the Olympics.

02:21Well, I just love competing against my own teammates.

02:23I feel like it's always fun, especially some of the older guys I've been playing with for

02:29the longest time.

02:31So like the Treyvon Jennifer, the Steve Searles, like some of those guys.

02:35I just love competing against them.

02:36We always joke in practice, you know, about like, you can't guard me or things of that

02:41nature.

02:42I feel like it just makes it very competitive and very fun.

02:44You know, I compete against these guys for a year and a half straight.

02:47So most of them are my friends.

02:48You know, I'm anxious to see what they pull out.

02:50You know, it is the Olympic Games.

02:52Anything can happen.

02:53But I'm pretty excited for them to see my stuff.

Category

Transcript

Recommended