Team Visa at Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

Visa is proud to sponsor a group of passionate, talented and hard-working athletes for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Get to know the Team Visa athletes

Megan Rapinoe

Football | United States of America

Two-time Olympian and FIFA Women’s World Cup™ star Megan Rapinoe (“ra-PEEN-oh”) is as famous for her highly technical style on the field as she is for her swagger and activism off the field. She was one of the first women’s players to sign up for ‘Common Goal’ that donates 1% of individual wages to soccer-related charities. She also co-founded a purposeful lifestyle brand that prides itself on reimaging the status quo — championing equity, creativity, progress, and art.

Kanoa Igarashi

Surfing | Japan

Even before he was born, Kanoa Igarashi was destined to surf. Both of his parents were ardent amateur surfers in their native Japan, and eventually immigrated to the United States in order to raise their children in the best environment to become top surfers. A dual citizen of the United States and Japan, Igarashi will be looking to represent Japan in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which will be the first Olympic Games to feature surfing. In fact, he was the first Japanese surfer on the world tour, and the first confirmed surfer to achieve qualification status for Tokyo 2020.

Oksana Masters

Para cycling | United States of America

Oksana Masters is an American athlete that has participated in three different paralympic sports: Para rowing, Para cross-country skiing and Para biathlon. For the Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020, she will be pushing her boundaries looking to medal in a fourth sport — Para cycling. Born in Ukraine with radiation-induced birth defects, Masters was abandoned by her parents to live in an orphanage until adopted by an American woman at age seven.

The opportunity to compete on the world stage while representing our country is truly an honor, and the encouragement and support we receive from teammates, family, friends, fans and our partners like Visa really means a lot as we pursue our lifelong goals and dreams.

– Simone Biles

Gymnastics | United States of America

Team Visa

Team Visa athletes span the globe

Visa sponsors athletes from all over the world through its Team Visa program. Team Visa athletes have competed in the Olympic and Paralympic Games since 2000 and 2002 respectively. Explore the global reach of the athletes representing Team Visa at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 in the map below.

Map of the world highlighting the markets from where Team Visa athletes hail to participate. More than 85+ athletes, 51 countries/regions and 30+ sports are going to participate.

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Team Visa roster

Team Visa has championed nearly 500 athletes since being founded in 2000. Athletes are selected based on athletic achievements, character and personal journey, and represent many of Visa’s brand values and priorities, including gender equality, social impact and small business.

Delfina Merino
Field Hockey | Argentina

Ellie Carpenter
Football | Australia

Poppy Starr Olsen
Skateboarding | Australia

Elvira Herman
Athletics - Hurdles | Belarus

Alison Cerutti
Beach Volleyball | Brazil

Daniel Dias
Para swimming | Brazil

Ivet Lalova
Athletics | Bulgaria

Andre De Grasse
Athletics - Sprints | Canada

Christine Sinclair
Football | Canada

Aurélie Rivard
Para swimming | Canada

Sean McColl
Sport Climbing | Canada

Chen Long
Badminton | China Mainland

Chen Aisen
Diving | China Mainland

Shi Tingmao
Diving | China Mainland

Xiao Ruoteng
Gymnastics | China Mainland

Ma Long
Table Tennis | China Mainland

Mariana Pajon
BMX - Racing | Colombia

Kenneth Tencio
BMX - Freestyle | Costa Rica

Pernille Bulme
Swimming | Denmark

Luguelin Santos
Athletics - Sprints | Dom. Republic

Lizzie Armanto
Skateboarding | Finland

Florian Wellbrock
Swimming | Germany

Lucy Bronze
Football | Great Britain

Nikita Parris
Football | Great Britain

Fran Kirby
Football | Great Britain

Adam Peaty
Swimming | Great Britain

Kim Little
Football | Great Britain (Scotland)

Katerina Stefanidi
Athletics | Greece

Erick Barrondo
Athletics - Race Walking | Guatemala

Cheung Ka-Long
Fencing | Hong Kong

PV Sindhu
Badminton | India

Eko Yuli Irawan
Weightlifting | Indonesia

Gary O'Donovan
Rowing | Ireland

Paul O'Donovan
Rowing | Ireland

Sagi Muki
Judo | Israel

Gergorio Paltrinieri
Swimming | Italy

Bebe Vio
Para fencing | Italy

Gregorio Paltrinieri
Swimming | Italy

Shelly-Ann Frasier-Pryce
Athletics - Sprints | Jamaica

Kanoa Igarashi
Surfing | Japan

Rim Nakamura
BMX | Japan

Daiya Seto
Swimming | Japan

Kanako Watanabe
Swimming | Japan

Monika Seryu
Para canoe | Japan

Hajimu Ashida
Para athletics | Japan

Ritsu Doan
Football | Japan

Ayumu Saito
Fencing & Modern Pentathlon | Japan

Mönkhbatyn Urantsetseg
Judo | Mongolia

Soufiane El Bakkali
Athletics - Steeplechase | Morocco

Shanice van de Sanden
Football | Netherlands

Dame Valerie Adams
Athletics - Shot Put | New Zealand

Divine Oduduru
Athletics - Sprints | Nigeria

Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal
Athletics | Norway

Alonso Edward
Athletics - Sprints | Panama

Stefano Peschiera
Sailing | Peru

Carlos Yulo
Gymnastics | Philippines

Marcin Dzieński
Sport Climbing | Poland

Amelia Brodka
Skateboarding | Poland

Marcin Dzienski
Sport Climbing | Poland

Adriana Díaz
Table Tennis | Puerto Rico

Abdullah Abkar Mohammed
Athletics - Sprints | Saudi Arabia

Milica Mandić
Taekwondo | Serbia

Quah Ting Wen
Swimming | Singapore

Akani Simbine
Athletics - Sprints | South Africa

Tatjana Schoenmaker
Swimming | South Africa

Saul Craviotto
Canoe / Kayak | Spain

Teresa Perales
Para swimming | Spain

Kosovare Asllani
Football | Sweden

Wen Tzu-yun
Karate | Taiwan

Ratchanok Intanon
Badminton | Thailand

Ecem Güzel
Sailing | Turkey

Olga Kharlan
Fencing | Ukraine

Daria Bilodid
Judo | Ukraine

Yelyzaveta Mereshko
Para swimming | Ukraine

Simone Biles
Gymnastics | USA

Noah Lyles
Athletics - Sprints | USA

Megan Rapinoe
Football | USA

Oksana Masters
Para cycling | USA

Carissa Moore
Surfing | USA

Katie Ledecky
Swimming | USA

Kate Courtney
Cycling | USA

Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên
Vietnam | Swimming

Olympian and Paralympian athletes at Visa

Visa’s connections to the Olympics and Paralympics extend beyond our sponsorship of the Games. The skills that make Olympians and Paralympians successful in sport extend to the workforce as well. After the Games, a number of these elite athletes have taken the opportunity to join our global team where they are investing in their careers and making an impact that is felt everywhere.

Through our Olympian and Paralympian Business Development Program, Olympians and Paralympians are placed in business-critical rotational assignments, allowing athletes to gain broad exposure to strategic aspects of our business.

Meet some members and graduates of the program

Greg Billington

Triathlon
Rio de Janeiro 2016

Greg represented US National Triathlon Team from 2011-2017 and now works in Visa Business Solutions helping businesses to thrive through products that provide better cash flow, productivity, administrative efficiency, control and acceptance.

Kelly Crowley

Swimming, Cycling
Athens 2004, London 2012

As a swimmer, Kelly won two gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. As a cyclist, Kelly was a World Champion time trialist in 2007 and won two bronze medals in cycling at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. She is currently on rotation with the Visa Direct North America Commercialization team. Her prior rotations were in Global Marketing and Global Government Engagement.

John Fennell

Luge
Sochi 2014

John is a 2014 Olympian, competing in the sport of luge at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014. His current rotation is in the global communications department where he’s learning about how Visa approaches its Olympic and Paralympic sponsorships from a business perspective.

Peter Frenette

Ski Jumping
Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014

After competing in both the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010 and the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 in ski jumping, Peter joined Visa in 2019 and is currently helping to develop the go to market strategy on the global product team.

Nareg Guregian

Rowing
Rio de Janeiro 2016

Nareg is a 2016 Olympian, competing as part of the Men’s Coxless pair that finished 11th at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. He joined Visa as part of the inaugural class of Olympian & Paralympian rotational associates and now works full-time as a product manager on the connected car team.

Devery Karz

Rowing
Rio de Janeiro 2016

Devery competed in Rowing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and has competed in a multitude of World Cup Races. She was on the national team for seven years and retired after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Devery is now working at Visa on rotation within our CyberSource business, having previously completed rotations through Account Level Management (Visa Core Products) and Community Issuers (North America Sales).

Mariya Koroleva

Synchronized Swimming
London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016

Mariya is a veteran of the US Olympic team as a participant in the Olympic Games London 2012 and Olympic Games Rio 2016 in synchronized swimming. Mariya joined Visa in 2019 and currently is a part of the Global Co-brand Partnerships team, where she works to grow Visa’s reach around the world.

Sam Ojserkis

Rowing
Rio de Janeiro 2016

Sam competed in the Olympic Games Rio 2016 as a coxswain for the men’s eight. He joined Visa in 2018 in the second cohort of the Olympic and Paralympic rotational program and is currently working in the Global risk department. Previously, Sam rotated through Co-brand Relationship Management and Global Fintech teams.

Show us what you’ve got

Are you a retiring athlete looking to kick-start your career in business? Applications to the September 2020 San Francisco Bay Area athlete rotational program are open. Express your interest here.

Not an Olympic or Paralympic athlete but interested in upping your game by working with them at Visa? Check out open roles near you.

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Check out the Visa Blog for the latest news on Team Visa and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 as well as innovation, security and social impact updates.

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