Completed Event: Women's Swimming and Diving at Oakland Golden Grizzly Classic on December 3, 2025 , , 2nd of 5
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at Oakland Golden Grizzly Classic
2nd of 5
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes send Te Flan, Muteti to Tokyo Olympics
7/19/2021 11:15:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Duo becomes 1st GCU pair to qualify for Summer Games
 Emily Muteti and Talita Te Flan have been training at the swimming pool where they have spent years of practices and competitions for Grand Canyon, but their work there has never been more meaningful than this summer.
Muteti and Te Flan continue to represent GCU and the Lopes' swimming and diving program, but they will swim for something greater this month at the Tokyo Olympics.
A year after the Summer Games and their Olympic dreams were canceled, Muteti and Te Flan will become the first sport duo to compete at the Olympics. Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer's program sent Jade Howard to the 2016 Olympics, where Te Flan also competed before joining the GCU program.
Muteti will make her Olympics debut in the 50-meter freestyle for Kenya while Te Flan will return to the world's grandest athletic stage in the 400-meter freestyle for Ivory Coast.
"I was ready last year, but I wasn't as good as I am right now," Muteti said. "I'm glad that we had another year to get extra prepared and be where I am right now. I feel more comfortable.
"It's definitely huge for me and my country. Being part of GCU, I'm not only swimming for me. I am swimming for everyone who has supported my journey to where I am today. This is my highest level of achievement and I can't wait to see what I can do there."
Muteti remains part of the upcoming season's GCU team while Te Flan graduated last year. In fact, she was ready to retire from competition after last year's Olympics were canceled until the Ivory Coast federation reached out to her shortly after the school year to re-offer her Olympic spot.
Te Flan initially considered passing on the offer because she is working a full-time business job in Phoenix but realized she could not refuse, even if it meant only having three months to train.
"I am very, very excited," Te Flan said. "I was not expecting this at all. Last September or October, I knew I wasn't going for sure and I thought the dream was over.Â
"The feelings are different because it is my second time, but the assignment is the same."
Te Flan re-engaged in the pool with another chance to represent her father's home county. This time, she gets to do it with the company she has been keeping in the pool this summer.
"It just keeps setting the bar a little bit higher and the expectations for other athletes to make it to the Olympics," Schaffer said. "It's good for us that the program is building and moving in a good direction."
The Olympics have been Muteti's dream for most of her life. She set it as a goal 15 years ago while growing up in Kenya and moved to Thailand for training and then to Phoenix to be part of GCU swimming. She is the second female Kenyan swimmer to compete in the Olympics.
"Being one of the best in the country is not something we take for granted," Muteti said. "I've been a top athlete and it's hard to maintain the top. I've been on top for a while. It was just a matter of holding on to the Olympics."
After Te Flan won the 1,650-yard freestyle at her final WAC Championships in 2020, Muteti claimed the WAC title in the 100-yard butterfly this year, swam on two first-place relays at the WAC Championships and finished second and third, respectively, in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races.
"It's exciting to be there with Emily," said Te Flan, who will swim Sunday. "Making the Olympics is great, but being able to share it with someone you know is even better."
Te Flan has been able to share her Olympic experiences with Muteti, who will get to watch her favorite men's swimmer, Caeleb Dressel of the U.S., and compete with her favorite women's swimmer, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden.
"Not everyone gets to go so it's something that's very rare," Muteti said. "I had to work harder than I ever had. It's going to be a good feeling to be surrounded by top world athletes in different sports and being one of them. We all have achieved to be there, so it'll be phenomenal to be around other world-class athletes and to feel like a highly accomplished athlete. Being in that type of environment will be something memorable."
Â
Muteti and Te Flan continue to represent GCU and the Lopes' swimming and diving program, but they will swim for something greater this month at the Tokyo Olympics.
A year after the Summer Games and their Olympic dreams were canceled, Muteti and Te Flan will become the first sport duo to compete at the Olympics. Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer's program sent Jade Howard to the 2016 Olympics, where Te Flan also competed before joining the GCU program.
Muteti will make her Olympics debut in the 50-meter freestyle for Kenya while Te Flan will return to the world's grandest athletic stage in the 400-meter freestyle for Ivory Coast."I was ready last year, but I wasn't as good as I am right now," Muteti said. "I'm glad that we had another year to get extra prepared and be where I am right now. I feel more comfortable.
"It's definitely huge for me and my country. Being part of GCU, I'm not only swimming for me. I am swimming for everyone who has supported my journey to where I am today. This is my highest level of achievement and I can't wait to see what I can do there."
Muteti remains part of the upcoming season's GCU team while Te Flan graduated last year. In fact, she was ready to retire from competition after last year's Olympics were canceled until the Ivory Coast federation reached out to her shortly after the school year to re-offer her Olympic spot.
Te Flan initially considered passing on the offer because she is working a full-time business job in Phoenix but realized she could not refuse, even if it meant only having three months to train.
"I am very, very excited," Te Flan said. "I was not expecting this at all. Last September or October, I knew I wasn't going for sure and I thought the dream was over.Â
"The feelings are different because it is my second time, but the assignment is the same."
Te Flan re-engaged in the pool with another chance to represent her father's home county. This time, she gets to do it with the company she has been keeping in the pool this summer.
"It just keeps setting the bar a little bit higher and the expectations for other athletes to make it to the Olympics," Schaffer said. "It's good for us that the program is building and moving in a good direction."
The Olympics have been Muteti's dream for most of her life. She set it as a goal 15 years ago while growing up in Kenya and moved to Thailand for training and then to Phoenix to be part of GCU swimming. She is the second female Kenyan swimmer to compete in the Olympics.
"Being one of the best in the country is not something we take for granted," Muteti said. "I've been a top athlete and it's hard to maintain the top. I've been on top for a while. It was just a matter of holding on to the Olympics."
After Te Flan won the 1,650-yard freestyle at her final WAC Championships in 2020, Muteti claimed the WAC title in the 100-yard butterfly this year, swam on two first-place relays at the WAC Championships and finished second and third, respectively, in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races.
"It's exciting to be there with Emily," said Te Flan, who will swim Sunday. "Making the Olympics is great, but being able to share it with someone you know is even better."
Te Flan has been able to share her Olympic experiences with Muteti, who will get to watch her favorite men's swimmer, Caeleb Dressel of the U.S., and compete with her favorite women's swimmer, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden.
"Not everyone gets to go so it's something that's very rare," Muteti said. "I had to work harder than I ever had. It's going to be a good feeling to be surrounded by top world athletes in different sports and being one of them. We all have achieved to be there, so it'll be phenomenal to be around other world-class athletes and to feel like a highly accomplished athlete. Being in that type of environment will be something memorable."
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
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