NC State Goes to the Olympics: Part II

This blog post authored by Claire Warr, Special Collections Graduate Desk Assistant.

As the 2024 Summer Olympics approach, Special Collections reflects on NC State's impressive Olympics history. To learn more about NC State’s participation in the Olympics, see the previous post in this series, NC State Goes to the Olympics Part I.

David Fox

Over 40 members of the Wolfpack have gone to the Olympics and over half of them competed in swimming, one of the Pack’s strongest sports. David Fox (‘94) is one of NC State's most accomplished swimmers. During his time as a student-athlete, he won seven ACC titles, an NCAA title, and was the 1993 recipient of the Alumni Association Athletic Trophy. He also held the school record in the 100 meter freestyle for 21 years, which was the longest held record in the event until Jonathan Boffa broke it in 2013. 

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Fox won a gold medal as a member of the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay team. Fox retired from swimming after the 1996 games and has been inducted into both the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. 

Cullen Jones

Cullen Jones, who attended NC State from 2002-2006, remains one of the Wolfpack’s most decorated Olympians. Jones took home a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a member of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay team, and he was the second African American swimmer from the United States to win this medal. 

Jones’s Olympic success continued at the 2012 London games. He won silver medals in the 50 meter freestyle and the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay. He also won a gold medal as a member of the 400 meter medley relay team, in which he swam the freestyle portion of the relay.

Over ten years after leaving school to go pro, Jones returned to NC State to finish his degree. He graduated in 2018 with a BA in English, and was inducted into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame the same year. 

Ryan Held

Ryan Held (‘18) won gold as a part of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay team in the 2016 Rio Olympics, alongside Michael Phelps, Caleb Dressel, and Nathan Adrian. Held swam the third leg of the relay, which Phelps passed off to him with a one-second lead on France, the next closest team. Footage of Held in tears as he received his gold medal garnered a great deal of media attention, resulting in a number of TV appearances and interviews. After finishing fifth in this year’s US Olympic Trials, Held will return to the Olympics this summer as a member of Team USA, where he will compete in both the 50 and 100 freestyle. 

Nate McMillan

NC State’s gold medal legacy is not limited to swimming. At the 2008 Beijing games and the 2012 London games, former NC State basketball player Nate McMillan brought home gold medals in his position as assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski for the U.S. men’s basketball team. The 2008 team was nicknamed the “Redeem Team” as a play on the name of the 1992 US Olympic team, known as the “Dream Team,” and as a reference to the U.S. Team’s disappointing performance in 2004. 

McMillan played on the men’s basketball team at NC State from 1984 to 1986, during which time he helped lead the team to a first-place tie in the 1985 ACC tournament. He also played on the men’s basketball team that went to the elite eight in the 1985 and 1986 NCAA championship tournaments. Since graduating from NC State in 1986, McMillan has played and coached for several NBA teams. 

Gabriele Cunningham

Gabriele “Gabbi” Cunningham (‘19) became NC State’s first female Olympic hurdler at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She competed in the 100m Hurdle, and placed seventh in the final.

 During her time at NC State, Cunningham was an NCAA All-American for the Indoor 60m in 2018 and for the Indoor 60m and the 60m Hurdle in 2019. She currently holds all-time school records in six events. 

2024 Paris Olympics

Eight current or former NC State students will be competing in the Paris Olympics this summer. Katharine Berkoff and Ryan Held have joined the swimming roster for Team USA. Kacper Stokowski (Poland), Bartosz Piszczorowicz (Poland), Sophie Hansson (Sweden), Nyls Korstanje (Denmark), and Andreas Vazaios (Greece) will all swim for the teams of their respective countries. Diana Shnaider will compete in tennis, making her the first tennis player from NC State to compete in the Olympics. 

For more information about NC State in the Olympics, see our timelines for the Athletics department and individual sports teams.  If you have any questions or are interested in viewing Special Collections materials, please contact us at library_specialcollections@ncsu.edu or submit a request online. 

The Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only. Appointments are available Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm and Saturday, 1pm–5pm. Requests for a Saturday appointment must be received no later than Tuesday of the same week.