At the 2024 summer Olympic Games, approximately 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees competed across 32 sports — including some new ones. Since we’re all about keeping it local, meet the Olympians + Paralympians who took home medals for Oak City.
Katharine Berkoff, Swimming, 100m backstroke
Berkoff tears up the pool as a member of the Wolfpack and won big this year. Berkoff brought home a gold medal for the 4x100m medley relay and a bronze for the 100m backstroke. Berkoff is the daughter of three-time Olympian David Berkoff and is a five-time NCAA champ with the Pack.
Veronica Fraley, Track and field: Women’s discus
Hailing from Raleigh + a Wakefield High alum, Fraley was the 2024 NCAA discus champion with the all-time school record at Vanderbilt. Fraley unfortunately fell short of qualification, but didn’t leave Paris without a social media notice from rapper + women’s sports advocate Flavor Flav.
McKenzie Long, Track and field, 200m
Long ran with the Pack for four years and clinched a seventh-place spot in the 200m finals with a time of 22.42 seconds — USA teammates Gabby Thomas won gold and Brittany Brown took bronze in the same race.
Casey Murphy and Kerolin Nicoli, Soccer
NC Courage teammates Murphy and Nicoli faced off in the final as representatives for Team USA and Brazil, respectively, and USA brought home gold in women’s soccer for the first time in 12 years.
Diana Shnaider, Tennis, doubles
Although Shnaider was only a member of the Pack for one year before going pro, the Russian athlete scored silver in women’s doubles as part of Individual Neutral Athletes.
Paralympians
Hannah Aspden, Para swimming, 100m backstroke
Although Aspden didn’t medal at this year’s Paralympics, she’s the proud owner of four medals from her previous two appearances. Fun fact: Aspden made her first national team by a margin of 0.1 seconds at 13 years old and was the youngest Team USA member to medal in 2016.
Liana Mutia, Para judo
Mutia took home silver at this year’s Paralympics while describing herself as a “non-athlete” because she just went to Paris to have fun with her sport. As of December 2023, Mutia ranked No. 1 in the world for her division. This was the Oak City native’s second Paralympics — she finished ninth at the 2020 Olympics.
