The last time the Summer Olympics happened—Rio, 2016—Maryland had much to be proud of. Athletes hailing from our state brought home a collective 16 gold medals along with three silvers and a bronze. While Maryland doesn’t have as many athletes competing this year, these elites who will soon be heading to Tokyo for competition have impressive backgrounds and promise to make all their fans and followers here in Maryland proud once again.
One of the reasons it’s exciting to see locals competing in the Olympics—these athletes have been crushing it in their disciplines as far back as childhood, so those who can say they “knew them when” have been following their athletic careers since high school or even earlier.
Photo by Aleksandra Blinnikka
As for the Tokyo Olympics, athletes qualified as early as July 2019, but when the pandemic hit, it meant the 2020 games had to be moved to 2021—and members of Team USA kept on training.
Here are the Marylanders you can expect to see when the games commence (as of press time)
Farrah Hall, Sailing
Hailing from Annapolis, this Broadneck High School alumna of the class of 1999 discovered windsurfing when she was studying at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Thus began a long and accomplished career. Before graduating with a degree in biology, she established a windsurfing club that is still active today. After college, she continued to pursue her love of the sport while guiding and helping others—heading up training camps, coaching programs, regattas, and more.
Meanwhile, she’s built a resume of achievement in competition, including multiple World Championships. This will be her second time competing in the Olympics as an RS:X windsurfer; her first time was in 2012, when she placed 20th.
Photo by John Sachs
Helen Maroulis , Wrestling
Originally from Rockville, Helen Maroulis established herself as a wrestler when she was a student at Colonel Zadock Magruder High School, where she took sixth place in the Maryland state tournament. She later joined the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.
After college, her wrestling career took her to multiple World Championships, Pan American Games, U.S. Opens, and other elite competitions. She was even chosen as one of eight women from around the world to be an ambassador for the Super 8 Campaign, a program by the United World Wrestling that supports women in wrestling.
Maroulis has been named by Team USA as an athlete to follow this year, and it should be no surprise: When she competed in Rio in 2016, she made history by becoming the first woman from the United States to win a gold medal.
Photo by John Sachs
Kyle Snyder, Wrestling
This Woodbine native started his wrestling career in high school when he compiled a 179-0 record over in three seasons while competing for Our Lady of Good Counsel. He later transferred to Coronado High School in Colorado while he was a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center during his senior year. After studying at Ohio State University, he went on to make history as the first U.S. wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal at age 20 in Rio. Named an athlete to follow by Team USA for the 2020 games, he also holds titles as two-time Senior World champion, a two-time Pan American champion, among many other distinctions.
Photo courtesy of USA Fencing
Katharine Holmes , Fencing
While she’s not strictly from Maryland, fencer Katharine Holmes hails from nearby Washington, D.C., where she was born and raised. She took up fencing at age 9, and before graduating from National Cathedral High School, she was a finalist for Sports Illustrated Sports Kid of the Year and had taken a bronze medal and fourth place in the Youth Olympic Games. She first competed in the Olympics in Rio in 2016, when she placed 25th as an individual and fifth as part of a team.
The next year, she graduated from Princeton University with a degree in neuroscience, and then in 2018, she took the gold medal as part of a team and 10th place as an individual in the World Championship.
