How Western New York Atheltes Are Doing at Olympics

Representing your country at the Olympics is said to be one of the greatest honors, and the Buffalo area has three athletes doing just that — and it’s none of their first Games.

Anita Alvarez, an artistic swimmer, as well as tennis player Jessica Pegula and volleyball player Matt Anderson qualified for the trip to Paris and have been on the big stage.

Let’s take a look at how they’ve done against some of the world’s greatest athletes.

Anita Alvarez

Back for her third Olympic  Games, Alvarez has the most experience on the team as she competed at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. 

And this time, the Kenmore, NY native is leaving with a silver medal — Team USA’s first trip to the podium since 2004. 

The group performed three routines in as many days for a total score of 914.34, while China won gold with 996.14 points. It’s the third-ever Olympic medal for the USA in the sport.

The team was in fourth place after  day one  with their performance to “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson but shined on day two with the second-highest mark in  their free routine, called “I am Water.”  Their acrobatic routine also posted a second-highest score.    

Matt Anderson

The four-time Olympian is just one game away from a bronze medal if Team USA can hold off Italy in their match on Friday. 

Anderson and Co. fell to Poland in the semi-finals on Wednesday in the fifth set after holding a 2-1 advantage. Poland came back from a 20-18 deficit in the fourth to force the deciding fifth set. The 37-year-old led the team with 23 kills and one ace.

“Tough one to take,” Anderson said. “They served well, they hit the ball high and hard. In the sets two, three, and the beginning of the fourth we were bringing balls down and we got good touches when they were a little bit easier balls. We just didn’t necessarily take care of that late in the fourth.” 

This year’s Games is still better than the last for Team USA, as they did not make it out of group stage play in Tokyo at the previous Olympics. 

The West Seneca, NY native won gold at the  Beijing Games in  2008 and bronze at Rio in 2016.

Jessica Pegula

This Buffalonian is at her second Olympics, competing in singles and doubles for tennis. 

Despite being the top-seeded pair, Coco Gauff and Pegula fell in the second round of the Olympics to Czech duo Carolina Muchova and  Linda Noskova, and are out of medal contention in doubles. The Americans won their first doubles match against Australia’s Daria Saville and Ellen Perez, 6-3 and 6-1. 

Pegula won her first singles match against Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, winning 6-3 and 6-4 in two sets to advance to the second round.  She then fell to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina to end her quest for a medal in Paris. 

She took an early lead and won the first set against Svitolina, but was defeated in the second and third sets, 6-1 and 6-3, respectively. She finished 17th overall in the women’s singles competition.