All The New Jersey Athletes Competing In The Tokyo Olympics

NEW JERSEY — From Carli Lloyd to first-time Olympians like Nic Fink and even Bruce Springsteen's daughter, we've got the entire list of all the Olympians with strong roots to the Garden State.

The Olympics begin with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 23 and end Sunday, Aug. 8. These are technically the 2020 Olympics as they were supposed to be held last summer, but were postponed due to the pandemic.

Broken down by sport, here are all the athletes and coaches this year from New Jersey:

Track & Field:

Sydney McLaughlin, Dunellen: 400-meter dash. This 2017 graduate of Union Catholic Regional High School crushed a world record earlier this year when she became the first woman to run the 400-meter hurdle in under 52 seconds. McLaughlin ran that at 51.90 seconds, beating the previous record of 52.16. McLaughlin was born in Dunellen and raced for Union Catholic. This will be her second Olympics: At just 17, she was the youngest athlete to qualify for the U.S. track and field team in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She is now 21. Read her Team USA bio.

English Gardner, Voorhees: 100-meter dash. She grew up in Voorhees and graduated from Eastern Regional High School. Gardner won gold in the 100-meter dash in the 2016 Rio Olympics, so she's looking for a repeat this summer. In 2018, Gardner joined the Princeton University men's track & field coaching staff as a volunteer assistant. Since she joined, the Princeton Tigers men's team have gone on to win three Ivy League championships. Read her Team USA bio.

Ajee Wilson, Neptune: 800-meter dash. Wilson, 27, currently holds the U.S. record for the 800-meter dash, with a time of 1:55.61. She was a track star at the Academy of Allied Health & Science in Neptune Township, before going to Florida State, followed by Temple University and then turning pro. Here's her Team USA bio.

Keturah Orji, Mount Olive: High jump. Born in Hoboken, raised in Mount Olive, this 25-year-old got her start wowing fans at Mount Olive High School, where she set several school records. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in financial planning. This is her second Olympics; she competed in 2016 in Rio. Read her Team USA bio.

Athing Mu, Trenton: 800-meter dash. This 19-year-old originally from Trenton currently attends Texas A&M University. We're hearing lots to expect from this young contender. Here's her Team USA bio.

Curtis Thompson, Trenton: Javelin throw. A Trenton native who is a 2014 graduate of Florence Township Memorial High School; this will be his first Olympics. Thompson is 2018 graduate of Mississippi State University, with a degree in mathematics. His Team USA bio.

Sam Mattis, East Brunswick: Discus throw. Mattis, 27, is a graduate of East Brunswick High School and went on to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, where he was the 2015 NCAA national champion in discus throw. Mattis turned down a lucrative job offer from Wall Street powerhouse JPMorgan Chase to pursue his Olympic dream, according to Team USA. This is is his first Olympics. He spent the winter of 2020/21 training with the Rutgers track & field team. Read his Patch story: https://patch.com/new-jersey/e...

Rudy Winkler, Rutgers: Hammer throw. Winkler, who was raised in New York state but got his MBA from Rutgers, will make his second Olympics this summer; he went to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016. He placed 18th in hammer throw in 2016.

Rowing:

Tracy Eisser, Fair Lawn: Born in Summit and raised in Fair Lawn, this will be Eisser's second Olympics. She competed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, finishing fifth in the women’s quadruple sculls. She graduated from Cornell University and has a gold and bronze medal under her belt, according to her Team USA profile.

Kara Kohler, Princeton: OK, so she was born and raised in California, but Kohler now lives in New Jersey and trains with her Team USA teammates at the U.S. Olympic Rowing Center in Princeton. Kohler was actually a swimmer in high school and took up rowing while at the University of California. See her Team USA profile.

Molly Reckford, Short Hills: Raised in Short Hills, Reckford learned to row while attending Phillips Exeter Academy. She failed to be recruited but joined Dartmouth‘s open weight rowing team as a walk-on. Her grandfather, Bill Spencer, was a two-time Olympian and longtime coach for Team USA in Biathlon, according to her U.S. Rowing profile.

Fencing:

Dagmara Wozniak, Avenel: Wozniak moved to the U.S. from Poland at age 1, and her family settled in Avenel. She began saber training at a young age and graduated from Colonia High School. She was part of the Team USA women's fencing team that won bronze in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. Wozniak has since lived in Hoboken and Jersey City. She died her hair bright purple for the 2016 Olympics because she said she wanted to encourage people to be confident and not be afraid to stand out. Read her 2016 Patch profile: https://patch.com/new-jersey/w...

Jackie Dubrovich, Riverdale: Born in Paterson, this Pompton Lakes High School grad went on to graduate from Columbia University in 2016, with a degree in psychology and Russian literature. See her Team USA profile.

Alan Hadzic, West Orange: This Montclair High School graduate earned a degree in economics from Columbia. He is fluent in Serbo Croatian, according to his U.S. Fencing profile.

Francesca Russo, Wayne: This 2014 graduate of Wayne Valley High School went to Notre Dame. Here's an interview with her on USA Fencing: https://www.usafencing.org/new...

Khalil Thompson, Teaneck: Thompson and his sister are both stand-out fencers; they got their start in the sport when it was offered as an after-school program at Teaneck High School. Thompson is currently enrolled at NJIT. Read this NJ.com profile of him: https://www.nj.com/sports/2020...

Triathlon:

Morgan Pearson, New Vernon/Spring Lake: Pearson, 27, is originally from Spring Lake, where he grew up as a competitive swimmer, ocean lifeguard and high school runner. He went on to run cross-country and track & field at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was a seven-time All-American. He currently trains in Boulder. His Team USA bio.

Equestrian:

Jessica Springsteen, Colts Neck: Yes, she's the daughter of the Boss and now she'll also compete in the Olympics. Daughter of famed New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen and singer-songwriter Patti Scialfa, Jessica was recently named to the U.S. Olympic equestrian team's jumping squad. She will compete aboard her 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion Don Juan van de Donkhoeve, which she keeps at her family's 368-acre Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck. Springsteen, 29, grew up in Rumson. She began riding at the age of four (she now resides in Los Angeles). Read her Patch profile: https://patch.com/new-jersey/m...

Soccer:

Carli Lloyd, Delran: She's a super star and a super Jersey Girl. Tokyo will be Lloyd's fourth Olympic games. Lloyd has already won gold twice, in the 2008 Olympics against Brazil and at the 2012 London Olympics against Japan. Originally from Delran, New Jersey, Lloyd attended Rutgers from 2001-2004 where, as a mere freshman, she took RU to their second-ever NCAA tournament. In fact, ever since Lloyd came on the team, the Rutgers women's soccer program has become a perennial contender, competing in 11 of the last 13 NCAA tournaments. Lloyd was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Fame in 2018. She still stands as the all-time leading scorer midfielder for the U.S. women's soccer team. Lloyd currently plays professionally for NJ/NY Gotham Football Club. Her Team USA bio.

Tobin Heath, Basking Ridge: Heath grew up in Bernards Twp. and graduated from Ridge High School in 2006. Just like Lloyd, this will be her fourth Olympics; she was on the 2008 and 2016 U.S. women's soccer team that won gold. Her Team USA bio.

Baseball (baseball is returning to the Olympics this summer for the first time since 2008):

Todd Frazier, Toms River: As a kid, Frazier was on the Toms River East American Team that won the 1998 Little League World Series. He went on to Rutgers, where he is considered one of the best baseball players to ever attend RU. He played for three seasons, leaving at the end of the 2007 season. He was a first-round pick in the MLB draft and has played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. He won the Home Run Derby in 2015. When he's not competing in the Olympics, you can watch Frazier as the third baseman for the Sussex County Miners.

Patrick Kivlehan, Rutgers: Outfielder Kivlehan played two sports in his time at Rutgers, football and baseball. He is originally from Nyack, New York. Kivlehan was a safety for the Scarlet Knights football team for four years and then joined the baseball program as a walk-on for the 2012 season. He took RU to its first triple crown in Big East history that year, with a .402 average, 10 home runs and 36 RBIs. The Mariners drafted him in the fourth round of the 2012 MLB draft. This most recent season, he played for the San Diego Padres.

Swimming:

Nic Fink, Morristown: This Morristown native qualified for the games after winning the men's 200-meter breaststroke in the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials; he swam it in 2:07.55. Fink, 27, graduated from The Pingry School in Basking Ridge (class of 2011) before enrolling at the University of Georgia, where he had several scoring appearances in the NCAA Championships. Fink fought to get to the Olympics for years now: He failed to finish in the top two at the 2012 and 2016 trials, and he also fell short with a third-place showing in the 100 breaststroke earlier this year. Perhaps that's why his joy is so palpable when he qualified earlier this year:

With a win in the 200m breaststroke, Nic Fink just booked his first ticket the Olympics! @USASwimming | #SwimTrials21 x #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/F4wWkW4DrV
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) June 18, 2021

Robert Griswold, Freehold: Griswold's hometown is Freehold and he's a graduate of Freehold High School, class of 2015. Look for him competing in the 400-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter medley.

Judo:

Colton Brown, Piscataway: Born in New Brunswick, Brown graduated from Piscataway High School in 2009. He first went to his first Olympics in 2016 and is coached by his father. His Team USA bio: https://www.teamusa.org/usa-ju...

Coaching:

Tatiana Kovaleva, Middletown/Holmdel, will coach Team USA Gymnastics: Kovaleva owns Elite Trampoline Academy in Middletown and she will head to Tokyo later this month, as she has been selected to coach two trampoline athletes for Team USA. She will coach Aliaksei Shostak, 26, and Nicole Ahsinger, 24, on the trampoline, who both train in Louisiana. This will actually be Kovaleva's second time going to the Olympics as a coach: In 2012, she coached U.S. gymnasts in the London summer Olympics. Read her Patch story: https://patch.com/new-jersey/m...

Darren Fenster, Rutgers, Team USA baseball coach: Fenster attended Rutgers from 1997-2000, where he was a two-time All-American shortstop and four-year starter. He went on to play five years for the Kansas City Royals. Fenster has been a coach with the Boston Red Sox since 2012. In this summer's Olympics, he will be the third-base coach.

Did we miss an athlete or coach? Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe