BATON ROUGE, La. – With the 2024 Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony underway, 11 LSU swimming and diving athletes ride down the Seine River, marking the beginning of the Summer Games in France.
Four current Tigers have qualified for the Paris Olympics: Jere Hribar for Croatia, Sabrina Lyn for Jamaica, Helle Tuxen for Norway, and Jovan Lekic for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The seven Tigers set to compete at the summer games that are not on the current roster at LSU are Maggie MacNeil for Canada, Lizzie (Cui) Roussel for New Zealand, Brooks Curry for the United States, Juan Celaya-Hernandez for Mexico, Pavel Alovatki for Moldova, Adrian Abadia Garcia for Spain, and Chiara Pellacani for Italy.
The largest number of LSU athletes who qualified for the Olympics before this year was five Tigers at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The LSU representatives included Sion Brinn, Caroline Foot, Ruben Pineda, Guy Sandin, and Todd Torres.
The swimming and diving events begin on Saturday, July 27, when four Tigers compete in their respective disciplines. Inside the Paris La Defense Arena, MacNeil will compete in the 100-meter butterfly preliminary heats at 4:00 a.m. CT to try and advance and continue her journey to defend her 2021 Olympic gold medal. The prelims on opening day are televised on USA Network and available to stream on the Peacock app.
Pellacani gets things started for the diving Tigers by being the first Tiger to compete for a medal in the three-meter synchronized dive. The event will have a final only and begins at 4:00 a.m. CT inside the Aquatics Centre on the Peacock app.
In April, Hribar qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics by clearing the A qualification standard in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2024 Speedo Canadian Swimming Open in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is the fifth-fastest European swimmer.
Lyn, the Kingston, Jamaica native, secured her spot on the Jamaican Olympic Team in the 50-meter freestyle. In addition to Lyn’s qualification, Tuxen qualified for the Olympics and will compete for Norway on the three-meter springboard. Lekic will swim for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 400-meter freestyle.
MacNeil, who won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is returning to defend her title in Paris. MacNeil qualified for the Canadian team again and will compete in the 100-meter fly and 4×100-meter medley relay at this year’s games.
Curry won the Olympic gold in Tokyo in the 4×100 freestyle relay. He qualified for the 2020 Paris Olympics in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Roussel was an LSU diver under coach Doug Shaffer from 2015 to 2019. She qualified for the Olympic Games on the three-meter springboard. Roussel and Tuxen are awaiting official invitations from their countries, which should be delivered this week.
Three former LSU divers are joining the likes of Tuxen and Roussel at the Olympics, including Celaya-Hernandez, who will compete in the three-meter synchronized dive. A participant in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Celaya-Hernandez returns to action in Paris after narrowly missing the podium, placing fourth in the three-meter synchronized dive.
Pellacani, who dove for LSU for two seasons, qualified for the Italian diving team in the three-meter individual and synchronized events. Garcia took an Olympic redshirt during the second season to focus on training for Paris and qualified in the three-meter synchronized dive for his native Spain.
Alovatki, who also took the 2023-24 collegiate season off to train for the Olympics, qualified for Moldova in the 400-meter freestyle.
Every event can be streamed on the Peacock app, while USA Network, E!, and NBC will televise some of the same events concurrently.
SCHEDULE
Saturday, July 27
Maggie MacNeil
Event: 100-Meter Butterfly Heats
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: USA & Peacock
Maggie MacNeil
Event: 100-Meter Butterfly Semifinals
Time: 1:30 p.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Jovan Lekic and Pavel Alovatki
Event: 400-Meter Freestyle Heats
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: USA & Peacock
Jovan Lekic and Pavel Alovatki
Event: 400-Meter Freestyle Finals
Time: 1:42 p.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Chiara Pellacani
Event: Three-Meter Synchronized Springboard FINAL ONLY
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Sunday, July 28
Maggie MacNeil
Event: 100-Meter Butterfly
Time: 1:40 p.m. CT
Watch: NBC & Peacock
Tuesday, July 30
Brooks Curry
Event: 4×200 Meter Freestyle Relay Heats
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Brooks Curry
Event: 4×200 Meter Freestyle Relay FINAL
Time: 3:01 p.m. CT
Watch: NBC & Peacock
Thursday, August 1
Jere Hribar
Event: 50-Meter Freestyle Heats
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: USA & Peacock
Jere Hribar
Event: 50-Meter Freestyle Semifinals
Time: 1:44 p.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Friday, August 2
Jere Hribar
Event: 50-Meter Freestyle FINAL
Time: 1:30 p.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Adrian Abadia Garcia and Juan-Celaya Hernandez
Event: Three-Meter Synchronized Springboard FINAL ONLY
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Saturday, August 3
Sabrina Lyn
Event: 50-Meter Freestyle Heats
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Maggie MacNeil
Event: 4×100 Meter Medley Relay Heats
Time: 4:00 a.m. CT
Watch: NBC & Peacock
Sabrina Lyn
Event: 50-Meter Freestyle Semifinals
Time: 1:37 p.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Sunday, August 4
Sabrina Lyn
Event: 50-Meter Freestyle FINAL
Time: 11:30 a.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Maggie MacNeil
Event: 4×100 Meter Medley Relay FINAL
Time: 12:26 p.m. CT
Watch: Peacock
Wednesday, August 7
Chiara Pellacani/Lizzie Cui/Helle Tuxen
Event: Three-Meter Springboard Prelims
Time: 8:10 a.m. CT
Watch: E! Network/Peacock
Thursday, August 8
Chiara Pellacani/Lizzie Cui/Helle Tuxen
Event: Three-Meter Springboard Semifinals
Time: 3:00 a.m. CT
Watch E! Network/Peacock
Friday, August 9
Chiara Pellacani/Lizzie Cui/Helle Tuxen
Event: Three-Meter Springboard FINAL
Time: 8:00 a.m. CT
Watch: NBC and Peacock