USC Price alumni, students compete in the Paris Olympics

Three years ago, Anna Cockrell reached the biggest stage in her athletic career: the 400-meter hurdles final at the Tokyo Olympics. The moment was the culmination of years of hard work after already having won an NCAA championship in the 400-meter race. 

Yet Cockrell, an alum of the USC Price School of Public Policy, wasn’t quite good enough.

“I got cooked,” recalled Cockrell, who finished 7th in the 2021 race and was disqualified for a lane violation. “I told myself and my coach that I’m tired of being in the back of world-record races.”

She wasn’t in the back this time.

Motivated by her disappointment in Tokyo, Cockrell won a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. With a time of 51.87 seconds, Cockrell ran the best race of her life, to date, and finished just behind USA teammate Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set a world record at 50.37 seconds.

“It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of things just coming together at the right time and putting it together at the right time. It was very emotional,” Cockrell said.

As a Trojan, Cockrall was in good company: USC has produced more Olympians and overall medalists than any other university in the United States. 

Cockrell, who earned a Master of Public Policy in 2021, sacrificed a lot over the past three years to make it back to the Olympics – and take home a medal this time. She traveled from Los Angeles to Texas to Budapest to China and more to compete against the best hurdlers in the world. She trained up to five hours a day up to six days a week to ensure she qualified for the Olympics again. She’s sponsored by Nike and Lowe’s, allowing her to run full-time. 

“I worked very hard. Missed a lot of family events. The work kind of never ends. But at the same time, I’ve just grown a lot, competed a lot, gained a lot of new experiences, and met a lot of new people. So for as much as I’ve sacrificed, I’ve gained,” Cockrell said. 

“I feel like the medal is a small symbol of what is really a years-long process with not just my own hard work, but the hard work of my coach and my family and my friends and my training partners and my boyfriend. It’s all of us doing this thing,” she added.

Plenty of Price Olympians 

Cockrell wasn’t the only USC Price School alum to take home a medal this summer. Nicole Yeargin, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Development (BRED) in 2021, won a bronze medal for Great Britain in the mixed 400 x 4-meter relay. 

In addition to Cockrell and Yeargin, the USC Price School was well-represented at the Olympics. 

Artem Selin, a swimmer currently pursuing a BRED degree, competed in the 50-meter freestyle – a sprint of a swim race that was seemingly over as fast as it began.

“Many people think that I just competed for 21 seconds, but in fact, my Olympic experience started probably years ago. That’s when I started training for this 21 seconds,” said Selin, who represented Germany. 

Selin, a dual citizen, swam for the Russian national team for the first 10 years of his career before switching in 2018 to Germany. After setting two meet records in the European Junior Championships, he decided to continue his career at USC, where he’s now a senior and team captain of the men’s swimming team. 

Moving to the U.S. was a huge change, but Selin said he’s enjoyed the states and plans to begin his post-graduation career here. His interest in real estate stems from his father, who works in real estate in Russia, and Selin worked for a developer in Beverly Hills that built single-family homes. He’s interested in pursuing a career in real estate finance, crediting USC Price School Associate Professor John Loper for getting him interested in that sector. 

“It’s not always been easy, but I still enjoyed it. I still learned a lot,” Selin said of training for the Olympics. “I’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs this season. I didn’t win gold, but I was definitely able to come out stronger after my Olympic experience.”

Selin was joined in Paris by USC teammate and fellow USC Price School student Michal Chmielewski.

Chmielewski, a sophomore in the BRED program, swam in the 200-meter butterfly for Poland and narrowly missed a chance to compete in the final by a fraction of a second. Although the Olympics was hardly just another meet, Chmielewski tried to treat the event as such, tuning out the ceremonies and hordes of journalists seeking interviews. 

“I was thinking about what I need to do to be focused on my race only, and not be overwhelmed by the crowd and by the cameras,” he said. “I think I was prepared really well.”

Chmielewski had a familiar face with him to help stay focused. His twin brother, Krzysztof, also competed for Poland’s swim team. Chmielewski insists there is no sibling rivalry – the two support each other’s swimming pursuits. 

“Having my brother there was really helpful,” he said. “We keep each other on the correct track, to stay healthy, go to sleep early and get better at swimming.”

A water polo goal-scorer

Verica Bakoc, a BRED alum from 2021, was also in an Olympic pool in Paris. She was a prolific goal-scorer for the Canadian women’s water polo team, which reached the quarterfinals. Bakoc, a specialist of sorts as a rare left-handed player, scored 13 goals in five games, including a whopping five goals in the quarterfinal match. 

“It was a great honor,” Bakoc said. “The feeling is unexplainable. Being able to play with the maple leaf on my chest and represent Team Canada on the biggest stage of the world is just unreal.”

Bakoc, a two-time NCAA champion for USC, began playing water polo at age 10 at the encouragement of her two brothers and father, who is from Montenegro, where the sport is popular. To prepare for the Olympics, she played for professional teams in Greece and Spain before training with Team Canada in Montreal.

The significance of her athletic achievement didn’t hit her until she entered the Olympic arena. Top water polo matches typically get a few thousand people in the stands, but there were roughly 15,000 people attending the quarterfinal in Paris. 

“Women’s water polo isn’t really that big of a sport, so to walk out to a stadium full of fans and everyone just cheering made me realize how high of an achievement it is,” Bakoc said.

Bakoc, along with other USC Price School athletes, now have their sights set on 2028 when the Summer Olympics will be a homecoming of sorts. The games are set to be hosted at USC’s home in Los Angeles. 

“Hopefully after the new year, I’m gonna go and play abroad for the next three years after,” Bakoc said. “Then prepare for L.A.”