Auburn Tigers Well Represented in the Olympics: Your Guide

There are 10 different Auburn Tigers competing in four different sports at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Sunisa Lee / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The opening ceremonies took place to kick off the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 26. There are 10 different former and current Auburn Tigers that will be competing for the chance to stand on the podium as the world watches. 

Nine different countries will be represented by the Tigers, with the athletes competing in four different sports. 

Swimming/Diving 

Auburn has a unique combination of young and old representing them on the world stage with Emily Hallifax and Valarie Tarazi making their inaugural Olympic appearances, while Marcelo Chierighini will be making his fourth outing at the games. Marcelo will tie the Auburn record for most Olympics competed by a swim and dive athlete. Fred Bousquet also made four Olympic appearances. 

Even though it is only her first games, Tarazi has the honor of being the flag bearer for the country of Palestine. 

Emily Hallifax (Diving/France)
Valarie Tarazi (Swimming/Palestine)
Marcelo Chierighini (Swimming/Brazil)

Track and Field 

The talent level is off the charts from the Auburn representation at this year’s Olympics. Makanakaishe Charamba and Azeem Fahmi were both members of the 4x100 relay team that won the National Championship last year in outdoor track and field. Kanyinsola Ajayi was not only named First-Team All-SEC, but he was also the SEC Men’s Freshman Runner of the Year. Donald Thomas is coming into his fifth Olympic games, becoming only the fifth Auburn athlete ever to compete in that many Olympics. All these athletes have the ability to win medals this year. 

Makanakaishe Charamba (200m/Zimbabwe)
Azeem Fahmi (100m/Malaysia)
Donald Thomas (High Jump/Bahamas)
Kanyinsola Ajayi (100m/Nigeria)
Favour Ashe (100m/Nigeria)

Tennis

Tim Puetz will be representing the Tigers while competing in the Men’s Doubles competition. He will be alongside his partner Kevin Krawietz. As a pair, they are ranked 24th in the world. Puetz has been finding recent success in the sport after winning the French Open Mixed Doubles title in 2023.

Tim Puetz (Men’s Doubles/Germany)

Gymnastics

Last but certainly not least, Sunisa “Suni” Lee will represent Auburn in gymnastics. Lee had an all-time performance at the 2020 Olympics, winning gold in the all-around competition. She is the heavy favorite out of all the Tiger athletes to not only medal, but to have a shot at bringing the Tigers gold. 

Sunisa Lee (Gymnastics/USA)