By Dalton Ray–

The 2016 Summer Olympics are coming to a close and a historic number of Louisville Cardinals raced for gold. Twelve current and former U of L student-athletes competed in Rio this August. Let’s review and see how they performed.

Angel McCoughtry, women’s basketball (United States)

Perhaps the biggest name to ever play for the women’s basketball program, McCoughtry won her second gold medal this year. Louisville’s all-time leading scorer averaged 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in eight games played. In the 130 minutes McCoughtry has played, she’s only coughed up the ball six times.

Kelsi Worrell, swimming (United States)

Four-time national champion Worrell lit up the Belknap campus this past year. She rode that momentum, qualifying for the Rio Olympics. Worrell is the first swimmer from the university to represent USA.

Worrell is the first U of L swimmer to win a medal in the Olympics. She swam the 4 x 100 medley relay that qualified USA as the top seed in the prelims. Swimming the butterfly leg with a time of 56.47, and the team’s overall time was 3:54.67. Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer and Simone Manuel won gold in the medal race with a time of 3:53.13.

Jessica Javelet, rugby (United States)

A three-time All-American field hockey player, Javelet played and coached field hockey in her time at U of L. After playing in the Women’s Football Alliance league, she moved into rugby and has been a star.

USA finished fifth this year after beating France 19-5.

Grigory Tarasevich, swimming (Russia)

A senior at U of L, Tarasevich is an All-ACC and All-American swimmer. In Rio, Tarasevich swam in the 100m-backstroke and the 4 x 100 medley. Tarasevich posted a 53.46 in the 100m-back to place ninth.

Joao De Lucca, swimming (Brazil)

The former national champion participated in the 200m freestyle, 4 x 100 medley relay and 4 x 200 medley relay. De Lucca’s highest finish came when his team finished fifth in the 4 x 100 medley with a time of 3:13.21.

Tanja Kyllainen, swimming (Finland)

Kyllainen swam in both the 200 and 400 individual medley. A time of 2:14.97 in 200m placed her in 25th. Kyllainen’s 4:45.33 in 400m earned her another 25th spot.

Carlos Claverie, swimming (Venezuela)

A sophomore, Claverie placed eighth in the 200m-breaststroke with a time of 2:11.56. Claverie only competed in three total events for Venezuela.

Andrea Kneppers, swimming (Netherlands)

A recent graduate of U of L, Kneppers competed in one heat. Netherlands failed to qualify after a heat-time of 7:58.74 in the 4 x 200m freestyle.

Marcelo Acosta, swimming (El Salvador)

Acosta participated in three heats but failed to qualify in Rio. His top finishes came in the 200m-freestyle and 1500m-freestyle. Both performances placed him 22nd.

Chinwe Okoro, track & field (Nigeria)

A former All-American for U of L, Okoro placed 14th in the women’s discus throw. Her throw of 58.85m was two meters shy of qualifying for the finals.

Matt Hughes, track & field (Canada)

A two-time national champion in the 3000m steeplechase, Hughes finished 11th in the 3000m steeplechase. He crossed the finish line with a time of 8:36.83.

Wesley Korir, track & field (Kenya)

2012 Boston Marathon winner Korir will race Sunday at 8:30 a.m. in the men’s marathon. Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge holds 2016’s best marathon time at 2:03:05.

Photo by Wade Morgen / The Louisville Cardinal