HOUSTON — Who's house, Coogs house is temporarily moving across the pond to Paris this weekend for the 2024 Olympics.
The University of Houston Cougars will have six current or former athletes and one coach competing for six different countries: Great Britain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Barbados and South Africa.
They will compete in track and field, swimming and diving.
This will be the largest group of Coogs since the 2000 Sydney Olympic games where UH also sent seven representatives.
UH Cougars have earned a total of 41 medals, including 20 gold, 13 silver and eight bronze, in past Olympic Games.
The Paris Olympic Games will take place from July 26-Aug. 11.
UH Cougars competing in 2024 Olympics
Elizabeth Jimenez, 2023-present
- Dominican Republic
- Swimming
- 100m backstroke
Jimenez makes her Olympic debut in Paris, earning a qualification in the 100m backstroke. She also represented the Dominican Republic at the 2023 Pan Am Games where she finished 19th with a time of 1:04.23.
Alondra Ortiz, 2022-present
- Costa Rica
- Swimming
- 200m butterfly
Ortiz is representing Costa Rica in Paris after earning a qualification time in the 200m butterfly. She also represented the Central American country at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile where she finished sixth in the 200m butterfly.
Louie Hinchliffe, 2024-present
- Great Britain
- Track and Field
- 100m, 4x100m relay
Louis Hinchliffe, who is coached by Carl Lewis at UH, heads to his first Olympic Games after winning the men's 100m at the United Kingdom Athletics Championships in June. He will also compete in the 4x100m relay pool. Hinchliffe is the first UH track and field student-athlete to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games.
Shaun Maswanganyi, 2021-present
- South Africa
- Track and Field
- 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay
Also coached by Carl Lewis, Shaun Maswanganyi will compete in his second Olympic Games for South Africa in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay pool. Maswanganyi competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games where he was a semifinalist in the 100 and 200.
Cecilia Tamayo-Garza, 2019-23
- Mexico
- Track and Field
- 100m, 200m
Tamayo-Garza, who trains with Carl Lewis, makes her Olympic debut in Paris, earning qualifications in the 100m and 200m for Mexico. She is only the second Mexican woman to compete in the 200 after a 56-year absence. She's only the third Mexican woman to qualify in the 100.
Tristan Evelyn, 2018-21
- Barbados
- Track and Field
- 100m
This will be Tristan Evelyn's second Olympic Games for Barbados where she will compete in the 100m. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, she finished sixth in her heat with a time of 11.42.
Jane Figueiredo coached UH from 1990-2014; member of the UH diving team from 1983-86
- Great Britain
- Diving coach
This will be the ninth Olympics for Jane Figueiredo as a diving coach for Great Britain. She competed as an athlete for Portugal in 1984 and coached for Russia or Great Britain in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020.
Figueiredo has coached Olympians who have medaled in five events, including former UH standouts Yulia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdniakova. At the 2020 Tokyo Games, Figueiredo mentored British duo Tom Daley and Matty Lee as they won Olympic Gold in the synchronized 10-meter springboard.
