The 2024 summer olympics opened Friday July 26 in Paris. Among the approximately 10,500 athletes competing at this year’s games are 10 Army personnel: 7 soldiers, 1 reservist, and 2 veterans.
Six of the Army personnel are competing in competitive shooting of various kinds; two will compete in track and field; and then one each in women’s rugby and greco-roman wrestling. Many Army Olympians come out of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), which was started in 1997 . But the Army’s history with the Olympics goes back much longer.
Left to right: Staff Sergeant Rachel Tozier, Sergeant Sagen Maddalena, Sergeant Ivan Roe, and Staff Sergent Will Hinton; members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit set to compete in the Paris Olympics. Source: DVIDS.
Buffalo Soldier Ralph Metcalfe, for example, who served in the Army during World War II, had previously competed in both the 1932 and 1936 Olympics. Similarly, General George Patton competed alongside Jim Thorpe as a pentathlete at the 1912 Olympics. Shea Stadium at West Point is named in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Richard Shea, Class of 1952, who qualified for the 1952 Olympics but instead deployed to Korea where he was killed in action in 1953.
Top to bottom: Congressman Ralph Metcalfe and General George Patton. Source: Library of Congress.
The deep connections between the Army and the Olympics speak to a broader relationship between the military and competitive athletics best summarized by a quote from General Douglas MacArthur, “Upon fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.” When the Greeks first started the olympics, for example, most of the competitors were soldiers. Given such longstanding ties, it’s not surprising that the Army has played a major role in starting and growing athletics programs throughout American history, a theme we will touch on repeatedly in Army 250.
For this week, however, we are sending our best to the 10 Army Olympians and to all of Team U.S.A. We’ll be cheering everyone on! U.S.A.! U.S.A!
Additional Resources:
Check out the Army’s WCAP Program here.
This article benefitted from many great stories on the Army 2024 Olympians, such as this piece from Army Times.
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