Olympic Tradition
A longstanding tradition continued as four Villanovans traveled to Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Games
There has been at least one Villanovan in each Summer Olympic Games since 1948, and the pandemic-delayed 2021 games in Tokyo was no different. Summer Cook Rappaport ’13 CLAS, a member of the Swimming and Cross Country teams at Villanova, competed for the US in triathlon (pictured top left).
Two Villanova track standouts also went for gold: Patrick Tiernan ’17 CLAS, NCAA cross country national champion in 2016, made his second Olympic appearance for Australia, running the 5,000 and 10,000 meter events (pictured bottom left), and Siofra Cléirigh Büttner ‘18 CLAS, a seven-time All-American and 10-time Big East champion, represented Ireland in the 800 meter event (pictured bottom right).
And Men’s Basketball Head Coach Jay Wright was on the sidelines as an assistant coach for the US national men’s basketball team (pictured top right).
NEXT IN CLASS NOTES
The Class of 2021 was formally welcomed to the Villanova Alumni family during a joyous Commencement Weekend