Mike Ridaught
On Sunday former Florida Gator Kelsey Stewart hit a walk-off home run to lift No. 1 Team USA past No. 2 Japan, 2-1. The big hit helped the United States finish 5-0 in pool play and earn a spot in Tuesday’s gold medal rematch.
The U.S. softball team would go on to lose to Japan 2-0, but the silver medal for Stewart pushed the Gator total to six already in the opening days of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A total of 32 Gators representing 15 countries are on Olympic rosters in eight different sports: baseball, basketball, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and track and field. Of those, eight are current or incoming Gators.
A total of three former Gators were participating on the women’s softball team: Stewart, Michelle Moultrie and Aubree Munro. This year marked the first time that Gators had competed in softball, which returned to the games for the first times since 2008.
With the silver medal in softball, Gator athletes have now won 135 Olympic medals since 1972. As of this afternoon, the Gators had won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals in the 2020 Olympics.
On Sunday, former Gator swimmer Caeleb Dressel and Team USA won that gold medal in the men’s 4X100 meters freestyle relay.
Dressel will compete for another gold medal in the men’s 100-meter freestyle at 10:37 p.m. ET tonight, after a second-place finish in the final heat, and overall, with a time of 47.73.
The former Clay (Green Cove Springs) Blue Devil will also compete in the 100-meter butterfly and the 50-meter freestyle this week.
Dressel, who won two gold medals in 2016, is one of three Gators who had won a medal entering this year’s Olympics, joining Will Claye (USA: two silver, one bronze) and Deanne Rose (CAN: 1 bronze).
Bobby Finke, who is a junior for the Gators’ Swimming & Diving team, set a new American record with a time of 7 minutes, 42.72 seconds in the 800 free. He will go for the gold at 9:30 p.m. ET tonight.
On Friday, Adriana Leon and Deanne Rose will be competing for the Canadian soccer team at 4 a.m. in the quarterfinal against Brazil.
Mark Kolozsvary will represent the Team USA baseball team. Pool play begins at 6 a.m. ET against Israel.
Gators will compete in track and field beginning on Friday.
According to the UF, the 32 Gators are the third most for the Summer Olympics, following the 35 who participated in 2008 and 2012.
Only USC (61), Stanford (51), California (46), and UCLA (42) have more representation than the Gators on this year’s roster.
Follow @GatorsOlympics on Twitter for the most official and up-to-date news on Gators competing in the Olympics.
You can also find more information online at GatorsOlympics.com, as well as a complete schedule for the Gators, when they are participating, and how they have fared.