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Meet the Team USA athletes participating in the Tokyo Olympics

23 July 2021
Dan Ackermann
Data: Team USA; Cartogram: Connor Rothschild/Axios

613 Olympians, plus a handful of alternates ready to step in at a moment's notice, will represent the U.S. in Tokyo over the next two weeks.

Why it matters: That's the largest contingent ever for a non-host nation, and the second largest in Team USA history (648 at Atlanta 1996). This is also the third straight Olympics in which women (329) outnumber men (284).

  • By state: 126 athletes are from California, which is more than twice as many as second-place Florida (51). Colorado (34), Texas (31) and New York (28) round out the top five.
  • Oldest: 57-year-old Phillip Dutton, who competes in equestrian eventing, is making his seventh Olympics appearance.
  • Youngest: 15-year-old swimmer Katie Grimes is the youngest U.S. Olympian — Summer or Winter — since Katie Ledecky in 2012.

Let's meet some of the athletes ...

Clockwise from top left: Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Sue Bird and Kevin Durant. Photos: Getty Images
  • Simone Biles (Spring, Texas): The gymnastics G.O.A.T. will compete in five events. If she wins them all, she'll tie Larisa Latynina of the former Soviet Union for most gold medals by a female gymnast (nine).
  • Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md.): The defending gold medalist in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle is even better in the 1500, which makes its Olympics debut on the women's side.
  • Kevin Durant (Washington, D.C.): With opt outs limiting the roster and other countries closing the talent gap, U.S. men's basketball is far from a lock to win gold. KD will be the face of the team, and has a chance to add to his legacy in a meaningful way.
  • Sue Bird (Syosset, N.Y.): The hoops legend is making her fifth Olympics appearance and will join baseball player (and Winter Olympics medalist) Eddy Alvarez as Team USA's flag-bearers.
Clockwise from top left: Caeleb Dressel, Allyson Felix, Noah Lyles and John John Florence. Photos: Getty Images
  • Caeleb Dressel (Orange Park, Fla.): The 24-year-old is favored in each of his three individual events. Add in four relays, and he's got a shot at tying Mark Spitz for the second-most golds in a single Olympics with seven (behind Michael Phelps' eight).
  • Allyson Felix (Los Angeles): The 35-year-old is just one medal shy of tying Carl Lewis for the most among American track and field athletes (10). This is her first Games since giving birth in 2018, which led to her departure from Nike after she criticized their poor maternity policies.
  • John John Florence (Haleiwa, Hawaii): Despite being fewer than three months removed from ACL surgery, the two-time surfing world champion may try to land a rare backflip if he catches the right wave.
  • Noah Lyles (Alexandria, Va.): Making his Olympics debut at 23, Lyles is the favorite to win gold in the 200-meter dash after recording the fastest time in the world this season (19.74 seconds at trials).

Go deeper:Full list of athletes (Team USA)

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.