Paris Summer Olympics 2024: 3 Howard County Athletes Qualify So Far

COLUMBIA, MD — Three athletes from Howard County have qualified for the Paris Summer Olympic Games as Team USA continues to take shape.

More than 10,500 athletes from around the world will compete in the Paris Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, between the opening ceremony on July 26 and the closing ceremony on Aug 11.

Included among the 32 sports are gymnastics, swimming, diving, track and field, archery, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, golf, tennis and wrestling.

One new sport — breaking, described by the Olympics as a “young, acrobatic and urban sport” with American roots — will be added this year.

Back for a second time are three sports that debuted in the Tokyo Summer 2020 Olympics — sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing.

Among the athletes who have qualified from Howard County are:

Aaron Russell, 31, of Ellicott City. He attended Pennsylvania State University and also plays volleyball professionally. He will be competing in the Olympics in volleyball.

Olympic Experience:

• 1-time Olympian; 1-time Olympic medalist (1 bronze)
• Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016, bronze (Team - Men)

World Championships Experience:

• Most recent: 2022 – 6th (Team - Men)
• Years of participation: Team - Men 2018, 2022
• Medals: 1 (1 bronze)
• Bronze – 2018 (Team - Men)

Jessica Stevens, 24, of Ellicott City. She attended Howard Community College and will be competing in trampoline gymnastics.

World Championships Experience:

• Most recent: 2023 – gold (All Around Team - Mixed), bronze (Individual Trampoline - Women), 6th (Trampoline Team - Women)
• Years of participation: All Around Team - Mixed 2021, 2022, 2023; Individual Trampoline - Women 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023; Trampoline Team - Women 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023; Synchro - Women 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
• Medals: 4 (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
• Gold – 2023 (All Around Team - Mixed)
• Silver – 2022 (All Around Team - Mixed); 2021 (All Around Team - Mixed)
• Bronze – 2023 (Individual Trampoline - Women)

Career highlights:

• Pan American Games, Santiago, 2023 (Individual Trampoline - Women, Synchro - Women)
• Pan American Games, Lima, 2019 (Individual Trampoline - Women)

Paris also hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924. The Summer 2024 Paralympic Games, also held in Paris, will take place from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.

The athlete from Howard County who has qualified for the Paralympic Games is Noah Hanssen who, according to the University of Maryland where he's a student, has used a wheelchair since he lost the use of his legs in a car accident at age 7. He'll be competing in parafencing at the Olympics.

More qualifying events will be held in the coming weeks.

The full schedule of events and competitions is found on the Olympics website.

NBC and its affiliated channels again have exclusive U.S. broadcasting rights. The network has said it will provide at least nine hours of daytime coverage during the Paris Games, including live broadcasts of favorite event finals. The NBC streaming service Peacock will provide coverage of every sport and event. The full broadcast and streaming schedules haven’t been announced yet.