We are merely two weeks away from the Rio 2016 Olympic games opening ceremony. Actually some of the competitions (like soccer match featured Calympian Alex Morgan and U.S.A. against Calympian Betsy Hassett and New Zealand) get underway before the ceremony (the previously mentioned soccer match is on August 3rd). Despite all of the problems that the Rio games are facing, this August should be a fun time for California Golden Bears fans to see some familiar (and some not so familiar...yet) athletes from around the world that have ties to our beloved alma mater.

In total 42* athletes and 9** supporting staff, a group that we here at CGB fondly dub as "Calympians", will be in Rio. Of course, here on California Golden Blogs, we have been unveiling profiles of Calympians for three weeks now (yes, I know, we are a bit behind the schedule to have a profiles out for every athlete before their competitions). Like our 2012 London game coverage, we shall have a special dedicated page for every Calympians athletes (the 8 supporting staff would have to share a page) up in the coming two weeks or so.

*If you saw the headline on the official CalBears.com release from few days ago, you will probably notice a discrepancy in our counts. For whatever reason, CalBears.com is currently not counting American swimmer Cierra Runge, a big part of the 2015 NCAA champion Golden Bears. Runge has decided to take the year off for training, and then announced a transfer to Wisconsin. However, the official page tracking all of the historical Calympians does list people like U.S. women's soccer legend Brandi Chastain - who transferred to Santa Clara after one year in Berkeley. Interestingly, the list also include winter Olympian Jonny Moseley (who name is spelled wrong, unfortunately) - who infamously was first a Cal commencement speaker in 2003 and Olympian gold medalist in 1998 before a student and then alum (class of 2007).

**[UPDATED ON JULY 29TH] Cal alum ('99) Cory Bosworth is the head coach for Team Bermuda in women's rowing. CalBears.com has only added her to their list today.

Before we give you the full list of Calympians, get hyped about the game via the video below (you can mute the video if you are not a Katy Perry fan).





Opening Ceremony and CGB coverage plan:

The Rio game opening ceremony will be on Friday, August 5th on NBC (one hour tape delayed on the East Coast...which may means a four hour tape delay for the West Coast).

Interestingly, NBC is calling their 2016 coverage as "the most live Olympics ever", despite the tape delay plan for the opening ceremony.

The networks and digital platforms of NBCUniversal will present an unprecedented 6,755 hours of programming for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this August. That's roughly 356 hours of coverage per day (19 days). If the 6,755 hours ran on one channel, it would take 281 days to finish airing. The Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics will air on Friday, August 5, on NBC. Competition begins two days earlier on Wednesday, August 3, with women's soccer on NBCSN and USA Network, and the Games conclude on Sunday, August 21, with the Closing Ceremony on NBC.

We expect every competition of every Calympian, even those that are not American, will be available online (and on your cell phone via the NBC Sports app).

For those who watches the Olympic in more traditional means, the NBC family of networks that will cover the action includes NBC and TELEMUNDO (en Espanol, of course) over the air and Bravo, CNBC, Golf Channel, MSNBC, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC UNIVERSO (in Spanish), USA Network, and "Specialty channels" (Basketball and Soccer) on Cable.

There is no excuse why you are not supporting these Calympians because their event is not being televised/streamed.

Without further ado, here are your 2016 Rio Calympians!!!

42 CALYMPIAN ATHLETES

A total of 42 Calympian athletes will represent their respective countries but also Cal. 10 different sports are represented. If you separate the men from the women, it is 15 different events. The sport with the most Calympian, a total of 19, is of course swimming. There are also 6 rowers and 5 water polo Golden Bears heading to Rio.

41 of the 42 Calympians were once, present, or future Cal Athletics student-athlete. The lone exception is Lily Zhang who is a Cal student who just also happened to be a world class table tennis player. Another Calympian of note is incoming freshman Abbey Weitzeil. Abbey has been a Cal commit from the class of 2015, but she decided to defer her matriculation until after the Rio Olympic games. She is considered an incoming Golden Bears, in the same category, as the recently graduated Rachel Bootsma in the 2012 London games.

[CORRECTED ON JULY 27TH WITH EXTRA INFORMATIONS] 16 Calympians are returning to the Olympic games. These Calympian vets are Alex Morgan, Anthony Ervin, Betsy Hassett, Damir Dugonjic, Dana Vollmer, Dora Antal, Farida Osman, John Mann, Lauren Boyle, Lily Zhang, Missy Franklin, Nathan Adrian, Olivier Siegelaar, Roser Tarrago, Stephanie Au, and Will Dean. Six of them (Morgan, Ervin, Vollmer, Franklin, Adrian, and Tarrago) have already won a medal. Technically, Missy Franklin, Dora Antal, Roser Tarrago, Farida Osman, and Lily Zhang were NOT "Calympian" in 2012 since they have not even signed Letter of Intend to attend Cal. So in someways, all five of these athletes, including two former Olympic medalists (Franklin and Tarrago), will be first time "Calympian".

19 Calympians will be representing the United States, which also means that we have 23 International Calympians. Some of them are true international Golden Bears while other are representing the heritage of their parents (Jahvid Best for St. Lucia, Toni-Ann Williams for Jamaica for example).

The 2nd most represented country by the Calympian after the United States is a tie between two country. The obvious one is Canada. The not so obvious answer is Hong Kong (okay, I know they are technically not a country). Each of them have 3 Calympians (the 3 Hong Kong Calympians are all swimmers and they will all swim in the 4x100 medley relay with a non-Golden Bears). Hungary, Serbia, New Zealand are each represented by 2 Calympian each.

Crew:

Events Dates: August 6-13

Cal Men's Crew athletes:

Will Dean (Canada), Cal alum, 2nd time Olympian

Nareg Guregian (USA), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Marko Marjanovic (Serbia), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Olivier Siegelaar (Netherlands), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk (Poland), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Cal Women's Crew athlete:

Caileigh Filmer (Canada), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Golf:

Events Dates: August 11-14 (men)

Cal Men's Golf athlete:

Byeong-Hun An (South Korea), former Cal player who turned pro, 1st time Olympian (Golf just became an Olympic sport)

Gymnastics:

Events Dates: August 6-21

Cal Men's Gymnastics athlete:

Ryan Patterson (South Africa), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Cal Women's Gymnastics athlete:

Toni-Ann Williams (Jamaica), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Rugby Sevens:

Events Dates: August 6-11

Cal Rugby athlete:

Danny Barrett (USA), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian (Rugby just returned to the Olympics)

Soccer:

Events Dates: August 3-20 (women's group play: 3-9, knockout 12-19)

Cal Women's Soccer athletes:

Betsy Hassett (New Zealand), Cal alum, 2nd time Olympian

Alex Morgan (USA), Cal alum, 2nd time Olympian

Swimming:

Events Dates: August 6-13

Cal Men's Swimming athletes:

Nathan Adrian (USA), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Damir Dugonjic (Slovenia), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Anthony Ervin (USA), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Long Gutierrez (Mexico), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Ryan Murphy (USA), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Jacob Pebley (USA), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Josh Prenot (USA), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Tom Shields (USA), Cal aum, 1st time Olympian

Cal Women's Swimming athletes:

Stephanie Au (Hong Kong), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Kathleen Baker (USA), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Lauren Boyle (New Zealand), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Camille Cheng (Hong Kong), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Missy Franklin (USA), former Cal swimmer who turned pro, 2nd time Olympian

Yvette Kong (Hong Kong), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

Farida Osman (Egypt), Cal student, 2nd time Olympian

Cierra Runge (USA), former Cal swimmer who is transferring to Wisconsin, 1st time Olympian

Noemie Thomas (Canada), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Dana Vollmer (USA), Cal alum, 3rd time Olympian

Abbey Weitzeil (USA), incoming Cal freshman, 1st time Olympian

Table Tennis:

Events Dates: August 6-17

Cal affiliated athlete:

Lily Zhang (USA), Cal student, 2nd time Olympian

Track and Field:

Events Dates: August 12-21

Cal Football athlete:

Jahvid Best (St. Lucia), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian in 100m dash

Cal Men's Track and Field athletes:

Milan Ristic (Serbia), Cal alum (graduate transfer in), 1st time Olympian in 110m hurdles

David Torrence (Peru), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian in 5000m run

Cal Women's Track and Field athletes:

Inika McPherson (USA), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian in high jump

Water Polo:

Events Dates: August 6-20 (knock out stage 15-20)

Cal Men's Water Polo athletes:

Luca Cupido (USA), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

John Mann (USA), Cal alum, 2nd time Olympian

Cal Women's Water Polo athletes:

Dora Antal (Hungary), Cal student, 2nd time Olympian

Anna Illes (Hungary), Cal student, 1st time Olympian

Roser Tarrago (Spain), Cal student, 2nd time Olympian

Volleyball:

Events Dates: August 6-21 (knock out stage: 16-20)

Cal Volleyball athlete:

Carli Lloyd (USA), Cal alum, 1st time Olympian

10 CALYMPIAN STAFF MEMBERS

[UPDATED on August 11th]

In addition to the 42 athletes, Rio will also see 10 more Golden Bears (alum or current coaches) that will be there in a supporting role. You can read more on all 10 of these Calympian in the CGB profiles here.



W. Crew:

Cory Bosworth, the former Cal Women's Crew athlete is the coach for Bermuda rowing (delegating consists of one rower who Bosworth coached at Harvard)

Laurel Korholz, the former 3x Calympian athlete and 2004 Silver medalist is the Administrative Assistant/Assistant Coach for USA

W. Field Hockey:

Kelly Knapp, the former Cal Field Hockey standout goalie and then coach (and the only 2016 Calympian whom was in a same class as me) is listed as a "manager" for USA

M. Gymnastics:

J.T. Okada, the current Cal Men’s Gymnastics assistant coach will be the head coach for South Africa (Ryan Patterson)

Dr. David Kruse, the Cal alum is the athletic care coordinator for USA

W. Gymnastics:

Justin Howell, the current Cal Women’s Gymnastics head coach will be the head coach for Jamaica (Toni-Ann Williams)

M. Swimming:

Dave Durden, the current Cal Men’s Swimming head coach will be an assistant coach for USA

W. Water Polo:

Chris Oeding, the Cal alum and former Calympian athlete will be an assistant coach for USA women's team

M. Volleyball:

David Dante, the current Cal volleyball director of operations will provide technical support for USA men's team

*****

New Calympian Found: [Updated August 11th]

W. Water Polo:

Christopher Lee, the former (2012 - 2015) Cal Women's Water Polo assistant coach and Architecture (Building Sciences) graduate student is providing technical support for USA women's water polo.

*****

We are excited for this once (or twice for some, even third for others) in the life time experience for all of the 2016 Calympians. Have fun in Rio but also stay safe!

One last thing, 2012 London was the most successful Calympics result ever. The Golden Bears won a total of 17, which has been upped to 23 when one retroactively add the medals from Missy Franklin (5) and Roser Tarrago (1) to the mix. 17 was also the number of medals from 2008 Beijing. Cal fans, how many medals do you think the 2016 Calympians will earn in Rio?

GO BEARS!