Latter-day Saints at the Olympics: 5 medals, plus several records in Tokyo

From the rugby pitch to the shot put circle and the gymnast’s vaulting table to the weightlifting platform, five athletes connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints won medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Aside from the medal counts, several athletes made history for their countries in weightlifting and track in an Olympics known for the yearlong pandemic-related delays and protocols. Here’s how these 15 athletes did at the Games.

• Semi Radradra, 29, helped the Fiji’s rugby sevens team defend its Olympic gold from 2016 in Rio. He was called in from England, where he plays with the Bristol Bears, and has been part of the Fijian national rugby league team.

• USA’s MyKayla Skinner, 24, won silver on the vault apparatus final in gymnastics. The Arizona native made the 2020 Olympic team as an individual. Although she qualified for the vault final, she was fourth behind two other Team USA athletes and out due to the two-per-country rule. She was back in the competition when a teammate withdrew from the vault final. She was an alternate in the 2016 Olympics and was a college champion at the University of Utah.

• First-time Olympian Rhyan Elizabeth White, 21, helped Team USA earn a silver in the 4×100-meter medley. The Utah native who swims for the University of Alabama swam the backstroke leg in the preliminary heat. The four-person team took second in that heat and qualified Team USA for the final. A different group of four swimmers swam in the final, winning silver for the team. White also competed in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke events and came in fourth in the finals in both events.

• New Zealand’s Valerie Adams, 36, won shot put bronze — her fourth medal in the event over five Olympics. She won gold in 2008 and 2012 and silver in 2016. Since 2016, she’s had two children, who are 2 and 3 years old. As the competition wrapped up, she held the New Zealand flag high and showed a photo of the children as she celebrated her bronze-medal standing.

• USA’s Sarah Robles won bronze in over-87-kilogram weightlifting — the day after her 33rd birthday — and will go in the record books as the first U.S. woman to win two Olympic weightlifting medals. It’s her third Olympics and she won bronze in 2016 in Rio. She’s also the first American — woman or man — to win multiple Olympic weightlifting medals in 57 years, since 1964. During one of her lifts, the California native who lives in Houston, Texas, smiled and winked.

• Australia’s Peter Bol, 27, came in fourth the 800-meter race after holding the lead until being passed in the last 200 meters by the trio who ended up on the podium. While in Tokyo, he did set a couple of Australian records for the 800-meter race. In the semifinals, the South Sudan native broke the Australian record he set the day before. The new record is 1:44.11.

• The Brazilian women’s soccer team, including defender Bruna Benites, placed sixth overall of the 12 teams in the Olympics. They lost to Canada in the quarterfinals — a match that was determined by a penalty-kick shootout. Canada went on to the win gold and the medal match also ended in a shootout. Tokyo was the third Olympics for the 35-year-old professional soccer player and Brazilian native. The Brazilian women’s team was fourth in 2016 in Rio.

• On the rugby paddock at Tokyo Stadium, Team USA was sixth overall in the rugby sevens tournament. Jordan Matyas, 28, a forward on Team USA, played for Brigham Young University before playing rugby professionally. Team USA was undefeated in the preliminary-pool round but lost to Great Britain in the quarterfinal knockout round. Matyas was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, raised in Canada and lives in California.

• On the basketball court, the Australian Opals, including guard Leilani Mitchell, placed eighth overall after losing to the United States in the quarterfinals. Toyko was Mitchell’s second Olympics. The 36-year-old Washington state native is a University of Utah alumna and plays for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. Her mother is Australian.

• Tonga’s Kuinini “Nini” Manumua, 20, also competed in the over-87-kilogram weightlifting class and was eighth of the 14 competitors. The first-time Olympian is the first woman to compete for Tonga in Olympic weightlifting. She was born in America Samoa and her family lived in her parents’ native Tonga before moving to San Francisco, California, when she was 10.

• Team USA, including outside hitter Taylor Sander, was overall in 10th place in volleyball. The team went 2-3 in the preliminary-pool round and didn’t advance to the quarterfinals. The four teams that advanced from their six-team pool are all in the final games for medals on Saturday, Aug. 7. Sander, 29, of California, played at BYU and was part of USA’s bronze-winning team in 2016.

• In beach volleyball, United States’ Jake Gibb, 46, and teammate Tri Bourne made it to the round-of-16 matches after the preliminary round, but lost to a duo from Germany, who advanced to the quarterfinals. Tokyo was Gibb’s fourth Olympic games. The Bountiful, Utah, native and University of Utah graduate who lives in California changed teammates days before the opening ceremonies when Taylor Crabb tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Japan.

• Team USA’s Alexis “Lexi” Lagan competed in three shooting competitions in her first Olympics. In the 10-meter air pistol qualifications, she was 38th of 53. In the 25-meter pistol shoot, she was 18th overall of 44 competitors. In the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event, Lagan, with teammate Nicholaus Mowrer, placed 16th of 20 teams. A Nevada native, Lagan, 28, is a University of Utah alumna and lives in Colorado.

• First-time Olympian Josue Dominguez Ramos, 24, of the Dominican Republic, swam in the 50-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke races. Overall, he placed 39th and 34th, respectively. A native of the Dominican Republic, he swims for Brigham Young University and is a returned missionary.

• Puerto Rico’s Jarod Arroyo, 20, swam in the 400-meter individual medley and the 200-meter individual medley races, overall placing 22nd and 39th, respectively. Tokyo is the first Olympics for the Arizona native whose father is from Puerto Rico.

Read more of Church News’ coverage of athletes connected to the Church competing in the Olympics