THE COUNTDOWN
285 Days to Go until Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony
5 Days to Go until the Pan Am Games
QUALIFICATION STATUS
Team USA has qualified a spot in 146 events (44% of events in Paris) as of Sunday October 15. They have qualified for a chance to win 246 medals (with multiple athletes in some events) and have qualified 336 athlete spots (about 58% of the total Olympic team that went to Tokyo). This number will fluctuate down at the very end of US Trials as some Team USA members like Noah Lyles (100M & 200M World Champ) could represent Team USA in two individual events at Paris
The numbers are updated daily here from @TeamUSATracker and page 2 includes 12 individual athletes named to Team USA through direct qualification.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR PARIS QUALIFICATION : PAN AM GAMES
Pan Am Games in Tokyo could see Team USA qualify in 45 more events and could increase their athlete quota by over 100 athletes
You can watch the action on PanAm Sports Channel
Below links will take you to the PanAm Results and Schedule page for that sport or to the USA Roster release on the Pan American rosters.
This will Part 1 looking at the Team Sports in the PanAm Games.
Tomorrow there will be a Part 2 looking at Team USA chance in the other sports like boxing, shooting, sailing, etc where an individual can qualify Team USA a spot for Paris.
PANAM TEAM USA TEAM SPORTS PREVIEW:
GOLD MEDAL FAVORITES: MEN’S AND WOMEN’S WATER POLO
Possible Qualification: 2 events, 2 teams, 24 athletes
Team USA Women’s Water Polo team has won Gold in 3 Olympics but an upset in 2023 Worlds QFS they now need to win Gold and should win Gold at the PanAm Games (Team USA Women’s Water Polo have done this in all but one PanAm Games). Women’s Water Polo bring a stacked team to Santiago with 6 members of Tokyo 2020 team including Ashleigh Johnson, Maggie Steffens, and Maddie Musselman and 9 members of the 2023 Worlds team that finished 5th at Worlds
The Men’s Water Polo team also bring a strong nucleus of 9 members from their Tokyo team and 11 members of their team that won bronze at the Water Polo World Cup in 2023. The last time the US men did not win Gold was the 1991 Pan Am Games. This US team beat Canada at the 2023 Worlds in playoffs of the tournament and will be the favorite over other PanAm teams that competed at Worlds: Canada, Brazil, and Argentina
Roster/When to Watch: (Oct 30 - Nov 4 )
GOLD MEDAL CONTENDER: ARTISTIC SWIMMING
Possible Qualification: 2 events, 1 team, 8 athletes
Team USA ended up as the last team out of Tokyo 2020 qualification at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier. Team USA will look for redemption after a strong 2023 Worlds where Team USA won a silver medal in Acrobatic Team portion (added for first time ever as part of the team competition in Paris) and bronze in Technical Team portion. USA Artistic Swimming will send the medal winning team from Worlds to Chile that features two time Olympian Anita Alvarez (who made international headlines for her coach rescuing Alvarez out of the pool at 2022 Worlds) and 44 year Worlds Gold Medalist and five time Worlds medalist Bill May
Roster/When to Watch:
Artistic Swimming Team (Oct 31 to Nov 3) -
If Team USA does not win Gold in Water Polo and Artistic Swimming they will have an opportunity to qualify at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in February. USA Water Polo will have to be a Top 4 (excluding 5 teams already qualified from continental qualification plus the 2023 Worlds finalists and host France) and Artistic Swimming will need to be Top 5 (excluding the 5 teams already qualified via continental qualification)
GOLD MEDAL UNDERDOGS: FIELD HOCKEY (MEN’S & WOMEN’S), MEN’S HANDBALL
Possible Qualification: 3 events, 3 teams, 46 athletes (14 for US Men’s Handball, 16 for USA Field Hockey team)
The Men’s and Women’s Field Hockey both did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. The last time the Men’s USA Field Hockey team competed at a non US hosted Olympics was 1956 and Women’s USA Field Hockey has only competed only at 4 non US hosted Olympics mainly in a stretch of three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016) that was snapped in Tokyo.
At the last Pan Am Games - Team USA won bronze in both men’s and women’s field hockey in 2019 and if they repeat that performance they will head to the Last Chance Olympic Qualifiers.
The Wolves (the nickname for USA Men’s Field Hockey) comes in as the 3rd seed behind Canada and gold medal favorite Argentina. The Wolves medaled for the first time ever at the PanAmGames in 2019 by defeating Chile in the Bronze Medal. Key for the Wolves will be beating Canada in their pool so they avoid Argentina until the Gold Medal Game. The Eagles (the nickname for Women’s Field Hockey team) are in the same pool as gold medal favorite on women’s side Argentina so wins over Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay will advance the Eagles to SFs and the Eagles could avoid Argentina for a rematch until the Gold Medal Game.
Both teams will get automatic bids as the host country in the LA28 so a lot of these athletes at the PanAm Games 2023 will likely be headed to the Olympics in five years.
Rosters/When to Watch: Field Hockey (Oct 25 to Nov. 4)
The US Men’s Handball Team won its first ever game at the World Championships this January and after a Top 20 finish at Worlds - Team USA comes flying high into the PanAm Games. Team USA Men’s Handball has not won a medal of any color at the PanAmGames since 1991 but brings a savvy group of dual nationals (who learned handball outside US) like Abou Fofana and Ian Hueter looking to medal for Team USA and possibly qualify for Paris with a gold. Team USA comes into this tournament as a favorite to make the Final 4 along with Argentina and Brazil both who also had Top 20 finishes at World Championships. A silver or bronze medal will get US Men’s Handball in a Last Chance Olympic qualification tournament.
Roster/When to Watch:
LAST CHANCE FOR RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS
Possible Qualification: 2 events, 1 team, 7 athletes
This is the last chance for Team USA to qualify a Rhythmic Gymnastics group. The good news is gold medal favorite Brazil qualified at the 2023 World Championships so only six PanAm nations will compete for one spot. Based on the results at Worlds the United States and Mexico are the slight favorite for the other two medals at PanAm Games so the key for Team USA Rhythmic Gymnastics group going to Paris is to beat Mexico. Like the World Games- the PanAm Games feature individual finals and medalists for ball, clubs, hoops, and ribbon apparatuses. Evita Griskenas who won four golds and a bronze at 2019 PanAm Games could qualify individually by winning gold in the AA again.
Roster/When to Watch:
Rhythmic Gymnastics (Nov 1 to Nov 4)
MEDAL FAVORITE: EQUESTRIAN JUMPING
Possible Qualification: 2 events, 1 team, 3 athletes and 3 horses
A Top 3 finish of any kind at the Pan Am Games will send the Tokyo silver medalist Equestrian Jumping Team to Paris. Actually a Top 4 finish could do it as Brazil has already qualified for Paris. USA normally does podium in Team Jumping at PanAmGames and they bring 3 Tokyo Olympians and McLain Ward’s 4 Olympic Medals (2 Gold, 2 Silver). The only person not back from the Tokyo team is Jessica Springsteen (Bruce Springsteen’s daughter) but there is a celebrity connection with the fourth member of the team Karl Cook who was married to Kaley Cuoco for three years
Rosters/When to Watch
Equestrian Jumping (Oct 31- Nov 3 )
TABLE TENNIS: FOCUS ON MIXED DOUBLES
Possible Qualification: 1 events, 1 team, 1 male athlete
Team USA has qualified Women’s Table Tennis Team for Paris 2024 and their spots in team and individual competition. At the PanAm Games Team USA can qualify a Mixed Doubles Team with a Top 2 finish. 3 time Olympian Lily Zhang will compete in Mixed Doubles with Jishan Liang (2 time Olympian Kanak Jha is still suspended for a whereabouts failure) .
Table Tennis - Mixed Doubles (Oct. 29- Oct 30 ) Competition including Singles, Doubles, and Teams -(Oct 29 -Nov 5)
ARCHERY: IN CASE YOU MIGHT NEED IT QUALIFICATION SPOT
Possible Qualification: 2 events, 1 team (Mixed Team), 1 male athlete
Team qualification trumps all other qualification in Archery. Team USA Archery (men and women) did not qualify a team at 2023 Worlds but still have three more chances to do so before Paris via PanAm Archery Championships (April 8-10 in Colombia), Last Chance Olympic Qualification Tournament (June 15-16 in Turkey) or via World Rankings (as of June 24 2024). So if Team USA fails to qualify a men’s and women’s team in either of these three ways- Pan Am Games qualification could matter. If Recurve Mixed Team of Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold repeat their 2019 PanAm Gold Medals then Team USA is guaranteed a Mixed Team and a male archer in Paris (Kaufhold already qualified a female archer spot by finishing 4th at Worlds). If Recurve Mixed Team does not qualify a spot - Brady Ellison or one of his three teammates (Jack Williams, Trenton Cowles, or Jackson Mirich) could qualify a male archer spot by winning Gold in men’s individual recurve. Note even if a US Archer qualifies a spot - the spot will be determined by USA Archery Trials- a six stage trial to get the team down to three athletes or one athlete. Compound Archery will also be featured at the PanAm Games after another unsuccessful bid to get Compound Archery added to the Olympics and LA28.
Archery - (Nov 1 to Nov 5)
WILL COUNT IN TERMS OF PARIS 2024 QUALIFICATION RANKINGS
3x3 Basketball - (Oct 21 to Oct 23) Team USA 3x3 Basketball is bringing the same men’s team they sent to World Cup this summer (Canyon Barry, Jimmer Fredette, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis). The Women’s 3x3 Team is lead by Cierra Burdick who was on the World Cup Gold Medal Winning Team for Team USA. With 3x3 Olympic rankings ending early November - Team USA looks to clinch up a spot for men’s and women’s 3x3 teams with PanAm Gold Medals.
TEAMS THAT COULD MEDAL
These teams could medal but since already qualified for Paris 2024 - these teams are sending some of their younger athletes as well.
Gymnastics (Oct 21 to Oct 25) - USA Gymnastics sends a strong team that will likely win some medals including 2021 Worlds Gold Medalist in PH Stephen Nedoroscik and 4-time Worlds and Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles
Full Rosters:Men's Gymnastics /Women’s Gymnastics
Rowing (Oct 21 to Oct 25) Rowing will showcase all 14 Olympic events and also add a Mixed Eight event (not featured at Worlds) for the first time in PanAm Games history. US Rowing roster mostly fresh faces from those athletes that qualified a lot of Team USA boats for Paris at 2023 Worlds.
Soccer (Oct 22 to Nov 4) Team USA will be competing in Soccer at PanAm Games for the first time since 2007
Men's Soccer U-22 is age limit in PanAm Games so USMNT sends a U21 team and will need to advance out of a group with Brazil, Honduras, and Colombia
Women’s Soccer USWNT went with a U-19 team. Of note USWNT World Cup member Alyssa Thompson younger sister Gisele Thompson is on the team
Equestrian Dressage (Oct 22 to Oct 25) Qualified for Paris at 2022 Worlds
Equestrian Eventing (Oct 27 to Oct 29) Qualified for Paris at 2022 Worlds
Softball (Oct 29 - Nov. 4) Softball will be back for LA 28 but not part of Paris 2024 so no qualification at stake here. US Women’s Softball Team has made the Gold Medal game in all 11 Pan Am Games that softball has been contested and won Gold in 9 of 11 games. Men’s Softball which was contested at the 2019 Pan Am Games and has been contested at 9 Pan Am Games will not be contested in 2023.
Rugby Sevens (Nov 3- Nov 4) USA Women’s Rugby Sevens is bringing their A Team including 7 Tokyo Olympians and some of their young stars on SVNS series like Sammy Sullivan and Spiff Sedrick . USA Men’s Rugby Sevens brings mostly players who are U23 eligible but that includes SVNS series regulars like Lucas Lacamp and Tala Talapusi. USA Rugby Sevens has never won gold at the PanAm Games and the men look to upgrade after 3 straight bronze medals and the women look to upgrade after 2 straight silver medals.
Men’s Rugby Roster/Women’s Rugby Roster
TEAM USA DID NOT SEND A TEAM
Women’s Handball (Oct. 24 to Oct 29) - Team USA Women’s Handball Team did not qualify and will not qualify for Paris. Puerto Rico did qualify their Women’s Handball Team
Baseball - (Oct 18 to Oct 28 )- USA Baseball did not attempt to qualify and are not sending a team. Cuba, Mexico, Panama and Dominican Republic will hold it down for Concacaf.
Volleyball (Oct 21 to Nov 4) - USA Volleyball did not send a Women’s or Men’s Volleyball teams to Pan Am Games. Team USA did qualify both Men’s and Women’s Volleyball teams for Paris 2024 in the last month by virtue of their winning their group at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Basketball (Oct 25 to Nov 4) - USA qualified but decided not to participate in 5x5 Basketball at the PanAm Games. In previous PanAm Games- USA Basketball had sent college conference all star teams but given the NCAA Basketball season has started with practices and exhibitions this was not an option in 2023.
New team sports added to LA 28: Flag Football, Lacrosse, and Cricket were not scheduled to be competed at the 2023 PanAm Games. I would imagine they would likely be added to the 2027 PanAm Games in Barranquilla. Hopefully they also add Mixed Flying Disc team event for USA Ultimate and Colombia to continue their heated rivalry!!