NC State Olympians Sparkle in Paris

One of the most successful academic years in NC State athletics history is drawing to a close in sparkling fashion — specifically shiny gold and silver.

At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, two former Wolfpack female athletes won medals, bringing the school’s haul to three among the record 13 Olympians from State who have competed at this year’s Olympics.

Swimmer Katharine Berkoff, a five-time NCAA champion and 30-time All-American from Missoula, Montana, won a gold medal as a member of the United States’ 4×100 medley relay team, and professional tennis player Diana Shnaider, a native of Russia, won a silver medal in women’s doubles as part of the Independent Neutral Athletes.

On Sunday, the final day of the swimming competition, Berkoff earned a gold medal as part of the 4×100-meter medley relay. The  23-year-old graduate with a degree in microbiology swam in the preliminary round of the event with Emma Webb, Alex Shackell and Kate Douglass. In the finals, an entirely new squad of Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske set a world record of 3:49.63. All who swam in the heats and finals received gold.

Earlier in the Olympics, Berkoff won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke, becoming just the second woman with NC State roots to medal at the Olympics and the first since Joan Benoit won the gold medal in the inaugural women’s marathon in 1984.

Berkoff follows in the wake of her father, David Berkoff, who won gold, silver and bronze medals as a backstroker in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics.

Taking in the glory of Berkoff’s achievement is NC State men’s and women’s swimming coach Braden Holloway, an assistant coach for the United States’ Olympic swimming team. It’s the first Olympics as a coach for Holloway.

Shnaider, a former Wolfpack women’s tennis player, quickly followed Berkoff on the medal podium by winning a silver medal with partner Mirra Andreeva in the women’s doubles. Shnaider is a native of Zhigulevsk, Russia, who played at NC State for one season before turning professional. She’s currently ranked No. 23 in the world as a women’s professional player.

She and Andreeva competed as Individual Neutral Athletes, the designation used during this Olympics for athletes from Russia and Belarus.

Shnaider’s silver brings the number of sports to win Olympic medals by former Wolfpack athletes up to six: men’s and women’s swimming, men’s basketball, women’s track and field, men’s rifle and women’s tennis.

In a 12-month period that was declared by the New York Times as the best in school history, adding three Olympic medals goes with a third consecutive NCAA championship in women’s cross-country, appearances in the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours and a third trip for baseball to the College World Series in 12 years, along with a school-record-matching five ACC titles in women’s cross-country, men’s basketball, wrestling, swimming and diving, and gymnastics. 

This post was originally published in NC State News.