10 Things to Know for Tokyo

STARKVILLE – The Olympics are here.

The opening ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, took place on Friday, officially kicking off what is still being called the Tokyo 2020 games, even as it's happening one year later than originally scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the next couple of weeks, the top athletes from around the globe will compete. Those include several who used to wear the maroon and white of Mississippi State.
Here are 10 things to know regarding former MSU athletes who'll be giving it their all in Tokyo:

Six former Bulldogs are competing in this year's Tokyo Olympics. It's the highest number of former Mississippi State athletes to ever compete in a single Olympics. The six who once wore maroon and white are Marco Arop, Erica Bougard, Marta Pen Freitas, Brandon McBride, Anderson Peters and Curtis Thompson.
Arop and McBride are each a part of Team Canada and will be participants in the men's 800m. Arop was at Mississippi State from 2018-19, while McBride shined for the Bulldogs from 2013-16. Arop was a three-time All-American at MSU while McBride tied the school record by being chosen as an All-American on nine different occasions.
Bougard and Thompson are both competing for the United States. Bougard was at State from 2012 through 2016 and stands among the most-decorated student-athletes in MSU history with 16 All-American honors and five school records. She'll participate in the heptathlon. Thompson will compete in the javelin. One of the key pieces of turning Mississippi State into JavU, Thompson was at MSU from 2015-19 and is a four-time First Team Outdoor All-American, the 2016 NCAA Javelin Champion and a two-time USATF champion.
Freitas will run for Portugal in the 1500m. At State from 2015-17, Frietas was the 2015 NCAA Champion in the 1500m and NCAA All-Region for cross country the following fall. She is one of only three MSU athletes to ever be named a cross-country All-American. She is a six-time Portuguese National Champion with four 1500m titles and a pair of wins in the 800m.
Peters is set to throw the javelin for Team Grenada. At MSU from 2018-19, Peters holds the NCAA Championships meet record, the SEC Championships meet record, as well as the MSU freshman and school records in the javelin. He is a two-time NCAA and SEC Champion and holds seven of the Top-11 javelin throws in NCAA history.
Bougard scored 6,667 in the heptathlon at the U.S. Trials in June. Should she come close to replicating that score in Tokyo, she could very well be in the hunt for a medal. Only twice in global championship history has a score of 6,600 not been sufficient for a medal. The only two occasions where a score of 6,600 wasn't enough to medal came at the Olympics in 1992 and 2016.
Peters is in Tokyo as a reigning world champion. He won the 2019 IAAF World Championship in the javelin, throwing 86.89m. He also boasts a personal best of 87.31m. A similar throw might let Peters take home some new hardware from Tokyo. An 87.31m toss would've been good enough for a javelin medal in every summer Olympic games held since 2004 and would've been enough for gold on two of those occasions.
Arop and McBride's careers have both followed similar paths from their beginnings in Canada, to MSU, and now to Tokyo. Everywhere the two have gone, they've found success. Arop holds the Canadian indoor record in the 800m. McBride holds the Canadian outdoor mark. Interestingly, Arop nearly topped McBride's outdoor record earlier in July when he ran a 1:43.26 at the Diamond League meet in Monaco. Should Arop and McBride get somewhere around that number in Tokyo, it could mean success. That time would've been good enough for a gold medal in three of the last five summer Olympics.
Speaking of medals, should any Bulldog win one in Tokyo, they'd join the three other former MSU athletes who have taken home medals in previous Olympic games. Those are C.S. Cochran (USA), who won gold in the 4x400m relay in the 1924 games; Falilatu Ogunkoya (NGR), who won both silver and bronze medals (4x400m relay and 400m respectively) in the 1996 Olympics; and Jude Monye (NGR), who became a gold medalist in the 4x400m relay in 2000.
If you're looking to keep up with all the former Bulldogs in action in Tokyo, here are the times to watch events in which they either will or may be participating:

July 30: Men's 800m Qualifying (Arop and McBride) – 7:50 p.m. CT
Aug. 1: Men's 800m Semifinals (Arop and McBride) – 6:25 a.m. CT
Aug. 1: Women's 1500m Qualifying (Freitas) – 7:35 p.m. CT
Aug. 3: Men's Javelin Qualifying (Peters and Thompson) – 7:05 p.m. CT
Aug. 3 & 4: Heptathlon Day 1 (Bougard) – Begins at 7:35 p.m. CT on Aug. 3
Aug. 4: Women's 1500m Semifinals (Freitas) – 5 a.m. CT
Aug. 4: Men's 800m Final (Arop and McBride) – 7:05 a.m. CT
Aug. 4 & 5: Heptathlon Day 2 (Bougard) – Begins at 7:40 p.m. on Aug. 4
Aug. 6: Women's 1500m Final (Bougard) – 7:50 a.m. CT
Aug. 7: (Men's Javelin Final (Peters and Thompson) – 6 a.m. CT

Mississippi State University Athletics

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Marco Arop

Erica Bougard

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