Tampa, Fla. July 12, 2024 – South Florida Track and Field sprinters Abdul-Rasheed Saminu and Zahria Allers-Liburd have been selected to compete for their countries in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
 
"We are very happy for Zahria and Rasheed. They will become members of a very elite group of people in the world with the title Olympian," Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Erik Jenkins said. "Competing in the Olympics is the dream of people worldwide. They have earned the opportunity to represent themselves, their country, and USF in Paris and we could not be prouder of them."
 
EVENTS COMPETING IN
Rasheed is a native of Ghana and will compete in the men's 100m dash, while also running a leg on Ghana's 4x100m relay team. The men's 100m dash preliminary round will take place at 4:35 a.m. ET on Saturday, August 3. Ghana's 4x100m relay team is scheduled to run at 5:10 a.m. ET on Thursday, August 8.
 
Allers-Liburd is a native of St. Kitts and Nevis and will compete in the women's 100m dash. The preliminary round is scheduled to take place at 4:35 a.m. ET on Friday, August 2.
 
The Paris Olympics will be streamed and available to watch on NBC.
 
HOW THEY GOT THERE
Rasheed qualified for the Olympic men's 100m dash with his fifth-place finish in the NCAA Championship's 100m dash final on June 7^th in Eugene, Ore. He broke the program record wind-legal time with the finish (10.02) and earned First Team All-American status in the event.
 
Ghana's 4x100m relay team qualified for Paris on May 5, at the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas. Rasheed has been selected to be a part of the relay pool for the country. He first ran for them back in June at the African Championships held in Cameroon. Rasheed ran the anchor leg for Ghana's 4x100m relay which took first and the gold medal in the event.
 
Rasheed also earned Olympic qualification in the 200m dash with his program record time (20.12) that placed him third in the NCAA Championship and earned him First Team All-American status. In Paris, Rasheed will focus only on competing in the 100m dash and 4x100m relay.
 
Zahria Allers-Liburd qualified for the Olympic women's 100m dash. Allers-Liburd holds the third-fastest 100m dash time in program history (11.43) and is a multiple time All-American.
 
South Florida graduate and two-time NCAA National Champion, Romaine Beckford, will compete in the High Jump qualification on August 7, at 10:05 a.m. ET.
 
ABOUT USF TRACK AND FIELD
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The USF track and field men's team won the 2024 Indoor and Outdoor AAC Championship. Romaine Beckford won the 2023 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the men's high jump as a Bull. The team has earned 56 All-America selections and at least one All-American in 10 of the last 12 years, including a record eight athletes claiming 11 honors in 2021. Tampa native Shaniya Benjamin set a program record earning three All-American honors during the 2021 outdoor season, while triple jumper Matthew O'Neal, a 2016 graduate, became USF's first six-time NCAA All-American. Bulls have posted two NCAA runner-up finishes since 2013 - O'Neal (triple jump, 2016) and Courtney Anderson (high jump, 2013). Head coach Erik Jenkins took over the program in 2020 and in the 2021 outdoor season the Bulls posted seven program records and 40 top 10 all-time program marks. USF hosted the 2018 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary and the 2021 AAC Outdoor Championship at the USF Track and Field Stadium located on the east end of campus.
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