PHILADELPHIA – Add another Olympian to the University of Pennsylvania ledger for the Games that start later this week in Tokyo.
 
Rising senior Keanan Dols holds the distinction of being the only Penn undergrad competing in Tokyo, as he is scheduled to represent Jamaica in swimming the 200 individual medley. He joins alums Shaul Gordon (men's fencing), Sam Mattis (men's track & field) and Regina Salmons (women's rowing) at the 2021 Games.
 
Dols was selected for the Jamaican male Olympic universality spot following his International Swimming Federation (FINA) B cut time of 2:02.15, which he swam at the Mission Viejo stop of the 2021 Pro Swim Series in April. He was the only Jamaican male to nab a FINA A or B cut. Jamaica was given two "universality" roster spots—one for each gender—for their 2021 Olympic roster, and since no male Jamaican has been invited to the Olympic meet Dols will attend as a Universality swimmer.
 
Dols becomes the first Penn swimmer/diver to make the Olympics since current Penn diving coach Robert Cragg's 1976 berth in Montreal a year after he graduated. Dols is the fifth Penn-affiliated Olympic swimmer but the first to actually swim while an undergrad at the University. The closest comparison is William Slater, who swam for Canada at the 1956 Games before coming to Penn in the fall of 1958. He would go on to captain the 1961-62 Penn swim team and was that year's recipient of the University's prestigious Class of 1915 Award. (Canada did not send a team to the 1960 Olympics.) Jack Medica (1932/1936) and George Breen (1956/1960) were Penn coaches during their Olympic stints, while Francis Jones Gosling (1948) swam for Bermuda several years after his graduation from Wharton.
 
The Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in Tokyo from July 21-August 8, with swimming & diving slated to run from July 24 to August 1. The men's 200 IM heats will take place on Wednesday, July 28 with the semifinals slated for the next day and the final taking place on Friday, July 30.