The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is scheduled for Friday, July 24 as six Bulls are set to represent their home countries and the University of South Florida at the XXXIII Olympic Games. South Florida’s six Olympians are the most among any school in the American Athletic Conference.
Current student-athletes Zahria Allers-Liburd and Abdul-Rasheed Saminu along with former Bulls Katie Kitching, Bethy Munuga, and Evelyn Viens are set to compete. Additionally, former Bull and South Florida graduate Romaine Beckford, who won two NCAA National Championships in the Green & Gold, will compete.
Women’s soccer officially kicks off the Olympic Games on Thursday, July 24 and on Friday, July 25 a pair of former Bulls, Kitching and Viens, will face off on the pitch as Canada takes on New Zealand at 11 a.m. ET.
To coincide with the Opening Ceremony, Olympic gold medalist and USF sailing coach Allison Jolly will throw out the first pitch at Friday’s Tampa Bay Rays game at 6:50 p.m. Jolly won the gold medal at the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul as part of the first-ever women’s sailing event in the Olympic Games.
Country | Event/Sport | Schedule
Zahria Allers-Liburd – St. Kitts & Nevis – 100m
- Preliminary round on Friday, August 2 at 4:35 a.m. ET
- Complete track & field schedule
Abdul-Rasheed Saminu – Ghana – 100m, 4x100m relay
- Preliminary round on Saturday, August 3 at 4:35 a.m. ET
- Relay round 1 on Thursday, August 8 at 5:35 a.m. ET
Katie Kitching – New Zealand – women’s soccer
- First game vs. Canada on Thursday, July 25 at 11 a.m. ET
- Complete women’s soccer schedule
Bethy Mununga – Belgium – women’s basketball
- First game vs. Germany on Monday, July 29 at 7:30 a.m. ET
- Complete women’s basketball schedule
Evelyn Viens – Canada – women’s soccer
- First game vs. New Zealand on Thursday, July 25 at 11 a.m. ET
Romaine Beckford – Jamaica – high jump
- Qualifying round on Wednesday, August 7 at 10:05 a.m. ET
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics currently sponsors 21 varsity men’s and women’s teams that compete in 13 different sports, 20 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference, including the recent additions of women’s lacrosse and women’s beach volleyball. The Bulls’ athletic program began in 1965 and is in its 58th season in 2023-24. More than 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. USF garnered two national championships in 2022-23 as Romaine Beckford won NCAA indoor and outdoor high jump titles. The Bulls have claimed 32 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, including four in 2023-24, and own 146 conference titles in 16 sports in department history, led by 20 each for men’s tennis and men’s soccer. USF has claimed 80 men’s conference championships and 66 women’s titles, led by 14 in women’s tennis and 12 in volleyball. The Bulls have posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for a program record of 19 straight semesters as of spring 2024. USF has had over nearly 700 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.
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