Current and former Trojans begin quest for Olympic gold in Rio


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For the last 104 years, USC has been the only university to have at least one athlete compete in summer Olympics and bring home gold every time. This long-lasting record hopefully won’t be broken in Rio. Current and former Trojans are ready to battle in the “Marvelous City” to get on top of the podium.

The men’s volleyball team will try to repeat the gold medal of Beijing and stop Brazil’s attempt to win in what are the first Games to ever be held in South America. Playing in pool A, together with Italy, Brazil and France, head coach John Speraw will have two Trojans in his Olympic team: setter Micah Christenson and opposite Murphy Troy.

Christenson graduated in 2015 with a degree in human biology and was part of the squad that lost in the NCAA final in 2012 at home against UC Irvine. In the summer of 2013, after his sophomore year, he debuted with the U.S. National Team at the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation championship. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, his career was already successful in college. He won a gold medal at the World League finals in Florence, Italy, and a year later he helped Team USA qualify for the Olympics as they won the Men’s World Cup in Japan where he was named Best Setter. He started to play professional volleyball last season in Italy for Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova. Despite finishing first in the regular season, his team fell short in the semifinals of the postseason.

Troy graduated in 2011 with a physics degree. He was named AVCA Player of the Year in 2011 and led the Trojans to two NCAA Tournaments in 2009 and 2011, though neither resulted in a championship. He was part of the squad that won the gold medal at the FIVB World Cup in Japan. He started to play professional volleyball in Italy for Top Volley Latina, before moving to France and then Poland, where he won the Polish Cup and Polish SuperCup with Lotos Trefl Gdask. He will leave the Polish club next season but his next destination is still unknown.

On the women’s side, the team coached by Karch Kiraly will try to bring home the first gold of the program after two silver medals in London and Beijing, falling short to Brazil both times. Another former Trojan will be playing in Rio in the different-colored jersey of the libero.

Natalie Hagglund graduated in 2014 with a degree in communication. A three-time All-American, she holds the school record for digs. With the U.S. National Team, she won a gold medal at the Pan-American Games in Toronto last summer and finished third at the FIVB World Cup in Japan. She currently plays professional volleyball for Volero Zurich. Her team won both the national title and national cup in 2015.

The beach of Copacabana will host the beach volleyball tournament. The women’s side will have a Trojan trying to maintain the winning streak for the US that started in 2004.

April Ross graduated in 2005 majoring in international marketing. She was part of the indoor team that was back-to-back national champions in 2002 and 2003 — the last titles won by USC women’s volleyball. After graduation she pursued her professional career in Puerto Rico playing indoor before transferring to the sand. In 2007 she was named FIVB Rookie of the Year and AVP Most Improved Player. In 2007 she started her partnership with another Trojan, Jennifer Kessy, and one year later they were crowned FIVB World Champions in Stavanger, Norway. In London, at the last Olympics, they lost in the final to Kerri Walsh-Jennings and Misty May-Treanor, who get their third consecutive Olympic gold. Ross will be playing alongside Walsh-Jennings. They already qualified for the Games and they’re third in the rankings, just behind the two Brazilian pairs. This year they entered six main draws of FIVB international events and finished on the podium in each of them, getting four titles in Rio, Fuzhou, Cincinnati and Moscow; a second place in Vitoria and a third place in Xiamen.

Aquatic events will also give the Trojans plenty of opportunities to bring home a gold. The big one everybody will be watching is Katinka Hosszu. After graduating in 2012 with a psychology degree, the Hungarian swimmer first represented her country in Athens when she was only 15. Despite many attempts and world records broken, she has yet to win an Olympic medal, after finishing fourth in the 400m medley in London. Her nickname is “Iron Lady” due to her skills in all the different styles. She holds multiple world records and has already won five gold medals at the World Championships.

Santo Condorelli will be a senior next year, majoring in business. He will compete for the Canadian team. Condorelli finished fourth in the 100m at the past World Championships in Kazan and got bronze in the 4×100 free mixed relay. He is a four-time All-American.

USC has won 287 medals at the summer Olympics and, if it were a country, it would rank 16th in the all-time medal count. On six different occasions, it would have placed in the top ten.