Penn State Has an Olympics to Remember
The U.S. women's volleyball punctuated the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by winning its first gold medal, giving the U.S. team 113 medals at the Summer Games. The victory also capped a strong tour of Tokyo for Penn State athletes and coaches.
In all, six former Penn State athletes won medals at the Tokyo Olympics, with four of them being gold. The six medals marked the second-highest total in school history, after Penn Staters won eight medals at the Rio Games in 2016.
In addition, two coaches with Penn State ties were part of medal-winning teams.
Athletes from Penn State have won 43 Olympic medals: nine gold, 11 silver and 23 bronze.
Here's a look at Penn State's Olympic count in Tokyo:
Gold
- David Taylor, wrestling
- Micha Hancock and Haleigh Washington, women's volleyball
- Erin McLeod, women's soccer (Canada)
Silver
- Joe Kovacs, shot put
Bronze
- Alyssa Naeher, women's soccer
Coaches
- Tom Hovasse, Japan women's basketball (silver)
- Erica Dambach, U.S. women's soccer (bronze)
In addition, three wrestlers joined Taylor in representing the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club on the podium: Kyle Snyder (silver) and Thomas Gilman and Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (bronze). The club earned medals in four of the six men's freestyle weight classes.
Penn State athletes and coaches delivered some memorable moments during the Tokyo Olympics. Taylor scored a takedown with 15 seconds left in the final to become the first Penn State wrestler to win Olympic gold.
Kovacs, who nearly retired from international competition three years ago, won his second Olympic silver medal in the shot put. Naeher stopped three penalty kicks in a quarterfinal-round victory over the Netherlands that kept alive the U.S. team's medal hopes.
Washington and Hancock made big plays during the U.S. women's volleyball team's gold-medal run, with Washington totaling 42 kills and 20 blocks during the tournament.
And Hovasse presided over one of the Games' great stories. A 1989 Penn State graduate who ranks 12th on the program's career-scoring list, Hovasse guided Japan's women's basketball team to its first Olympic medal.
Japan reached the final before falling to the U.S., which won its seventh consecutive title. Here, Hovasse cheers on his team during the medal ceremony.
James Lang: USA Today Sports
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