2024 Charlotteans of the Year: Olympians and Paralympians

The 11 Charlotteans who brought 12 medals home from Paris

Kaylyn Brown, a 19-year-old University of Arkansas sophomore, brought home two medals from her first Olympics. She helped Team USA win gold in the women’s 4×400-meter relay and ran in the qualifying race for the mixed 4×400-meter relay, where Team USA set a world record of 3:07:41. Brown, a Mallard Creek High School graduate, then ran the last leg of the final relay, where her team took silver.

Quanera Hayes, 32, was born in Hope Mills and lives in Dillon, South Carolina. But she attended and ran for Salisbury’s historically Black college, Livingstone, from 2012 to 2015, where she was a 12-time All-American and four-time national champion in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. This was her second Olympics, where she was part of the team that won gold in the women’s 4×400-meter.

Emma Schieck, 23, earned her second Paralympic gold medal. Team USA’s sitting volleyball team beat China three sets to one, with Schieck on the court for a combined 10 minutes. The Statesville native was a star player at South Iredell High School and drew interest from Team USA when she was just 16. She also helped the team win gold in Tokyo.

Charlotte native, Davidson College graduate, Golden State Warrior, and NBA superstar Stephen Curry has a long list of athletic accomplishments, including being the NBA’s all-time 3-point leader. This year, however, brought a first for the 36-year-old: a trip to the Olympics, where he won gold with Team USA in men’s basketball. He scored 60 points in the team’s final two games against Serbia and France.

Charlotte native Anna Cockrell, 27, won silver in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in track and field, while achieving a personal-best time of 51.87 seconds. This was the Providence Day School alumna’s first medal and second trip to the Olympics. (She was disqualified in Tokyo in 2021 for stepping on a lane line during the 400-meter hurdles finals.)

Erika Connolly is from Modesto, California, but after her freshman year of high school, her family moved to Cornelius, where she attended Hough High. After graduation, she swam for the University of Tennessee, where she was a 22-time all-American and 18-time SEC champion. Now 26, Connolly is the eighth-fastest 100-meter freestyle swimmer in U.S. history, a two-time Olympian, and a three-time Olympic medalist. In Paris, she helped Team USA win silver in the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay. (She didn’t compete in the final, but she swam in the qualifying heat.)

This year, Seth Rider became the first Queens University alumnus to win an Olympic medal. He grew up in Germantown, Tennessee, before moving to Charlotte in 2015 to attend Queens as a triathlete. In Paris, the 27-year-old finished 29th out of 55 overall in the men’s triathlon, then helped Team USA win silver in the mixed relay. 

Charlotte native Carson Clough, 30, isn’t just the owner of The Giddy Goat Coffee Roasters in Plaza Midwood. The former UNC Chapel Hill lacrosse player began competing in triathlons just two years ago, but he won silver this year in the men’s PTS4 division of the Paralympics triathlon. He finished the 750-meter swim portion in 10:42, the 12.4-mile bike race in 31:05, and the 3.1-mile run in 17:23. His total time was 1:00:47—just 2:46 behind the gold medalist.

Evy Leibfarth, 20, hails from Bryson City, but she’s a biology major at Davidson College and regularly trains at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. At 17, she was the youngest athlete in history to represent the U.S. in canoe slalom at the Tokyo Games. In Paris, she won bronze in the same event with a final time of 1:09.95 seconds.

Charlotte native Cierra Burdick, 31, was a two-time state player of the year at Matthews’ Butler High School, University of Tennessee Lady Volunteer, and on eight WNBA teams before she joined the Valencia Basket Club, a professional team in Spain. The forward helped Team USA win bronze in women’s 3×3 basketball. After wins against Spain, France, Canada, and China, she scored three points and secured three rebounds in the bronze-medal game, a 16-13 victory against Canada. 

Naya Tapper was an All-American in track and field at West Mecklenburg High School, but at UNC Chapel Hill, she embraced rugby after she joined a club team. In February 2016, her senior year, she was recruited to the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team. Today, the 30-year-old is one of the best players in the country, holds the team record for most career tries (points), has competed in three Rugby World Cups, and is a two-time Olympian. She was her team’s co-captain in Paris, where she helped win the bronze-medal game against Australia. It was the U.S.’s first medal in rugby sevens, which was added to the Olympics in 2016. She announced in July that she would retire after the Paris Olympics.