Final Roster of Nine Finalized to Represent USA at Pan American Games
by Alyssa Jacobs, USA Artistic Swimming
The nine athletes who will swim in Santiago next month at the 2023 Pan American Games have been selected, USA Artistic Swimming announced today. The nine athletes will be eligible for selection for the eight-member free, technical and/or acrobatic teams. The three other athletes on the squad will not travel to Chile but will rejoin the team and resume training once they return. For the senior team, this marks another phase of selection during the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The entire squad of 12 athletes will be eligible for selection for next year’s World Cup, World Championship and Olympic Games rosters should the team qualify in Chile. The team has been working tirelessly through early mornings and long practices to accomplish the next program goal: return a USA team to the Olympic Games for the first time since 2004.
The nine athletes representing the stars and stripes in Santiago will be Anita Alvarez, Megumi Field, Ruby Remati, Calista Liu, Jacklyn Luu, Audrey Kwon, Dani Ramirez, Jaime Czarkowski and Bill May. Notably, this marks the first-time males will be allowed to compete at the Pan American Games and May will be the first American male to earn the opportunity. The selected squad includes three Pan American Games veterans, with Alvarez, Ramirez and Remati all claiming bronze medals at the 2019 edition of the competition. The final duet selection will be made from the roster of nine in the coming weeks.
Next week, the team will travel to Colorado Springs for a training camp at the Olympic Training Center where they will meet with sports specialists and test their training at altitude. Chile sits between 500 and 650 meters above sea level, while Colorado Springs boasts an elevation of over 1,800. With just over six weeks until the biggest test of the season, the team and coaching staff are intensely focused on the mission ahead.