These are the athletes representing Sacramento and the Central Valley in the Paris Olympics

The opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics on Friday in Paris will be a spectacle — and Sacramento and the Central Valley will be well-represented.

The festivities will happen outside a stadium for the first time in Olympic history.

The ceremonies will take place throughout France’s capital with athletes riding down the Seine on boats toward the Trocadéro, the site of the final show.

Floating as part of Team USA will be a number of athletes from California hoping to bring home medals from the iconic event.

The opening ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. Friday and air on NBC.

The Paralympic Games begin Aug. 28, also in Paris.

Here’s a quick look at some locals participating in the Summer Olympics.

Chelsea Gray, Women’s Basketball (Manteca)

The Manteca native has become one of the biggest names in the WNBA following her high school career at St. Mary’s of Stockton. Gray is a three-time WNBA champion, including winning the last two with the Las Vegas Aces, Finals MVP (2022), four-time All-Star honors and a gold medal from the 2021 games in Tokyo.

Team USA’s women’s team is heavy favorites to repeat as gold medalists, which would give the program its 10th overall and eighth in a row.

Nyjah Houston, Skateboarding (Davis)

Houston is one of the most prominent names in skateboarding. The 29-year-old’s resume includes 15 gold medals at the X Games and three wins at the SLS Super Crown World Championships.

However, he’ll be looking for his first Olympic medal after finishing seventh in the men’s street skating event in Tokyo.

Mark Barr, Paralympics Triathlon (Davis)

Barr is set to compete in his fourth Paralympics after losing his right leg as a teenager to bone cancer. He competed in swimming in the 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio de Janiero Paralympic games.

This summer will mark his first Paralympics competing in the triathlon.

Erika Connolly, Swimming (Modesto)

Connolly is a two-time medalist but is looking for her first gold after swimming in three events in Tokyo. The Modesto native is a two-time national champion and has the eighth fastest times in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle in U.S. history. She took home silver in the 4 x 100-meter medley relay and bronze in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay.

Kym Crosby, Paralympics Track and Field (Yuba City)

A three-time bronze medalist in 100 meter and 400 meter in Tokyo and Rio, the Chico State alum has carved out a track and field career despite dealing with albinism, which leaves her without pigment in her skin. She is also legally blind with 20/400 vision.

Crosby married a U.S. Paralympic Track and Field teammate, Erik Hightower.

Christella Garcia, Paralympics Judo (Sacramento)

The two-time Paralympian trains in San Mateo and Capital City Judo in Sacramento, and does strength and conditioning at Sacramento’s Olympus Gym. Garcia won bronze during her second Olympic appearance in Rio in 2016.

When she’s not competing or training, she works as a licensed massage tech and sells hair and skin products.

Sagen Maddelena, Shooting (Groveland)

Maddelena walked on to the prestigious Alaska Fairbanks in college before earning her way to compete internationally. She competed in her first Olympics in Tokyo and finished fifth.

She’s a three-time medalist in the world championships, including winning gold in 2022 in the 50-meter rifle prone mixed team event.

Fiona O’Keeffe, Track and Field (Davis)

The 26-year-old Stanford alum won the U.S. Olympic trials with a record time of 2:22:10 and will be competing in her first Olympics.

Her run in the trials was her first ever marathon.

Alex Obert, Water Polo (Loomis)

Obert will be competing in his third Olympics after going to Rio and Tokyo, though he is looking for his first ever medal with the men’s water polo team.

The 32-year-old attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Michelle Sechser, Rowing (Folsom)

Sechser began her rowing career as a 14-year-old for the Capital Crew rowing team in Folsom. She’ll be making her second Olympic appearance after finishing fifth in Tokyo in the lightweight double sculls event.

She earned a silver medal in world championships in 2023.

Luca Urlando, Swimming (Sacramento)

The 22-year-old is making his Olympic debut after setting the University of Georgia’s records in the 100-meter backstroke, 100 meter butterfly and 200 meter butterfly. He finished fifth in the 200 meter butterfly in the 2022 world championships.

Urlando graduated from McClatchy High School in 2020.

Jamie Whitmore, Paralympics Cycling (Somerset)

The Valley High School graduate became a decorated XTERRA mountain biker by winning 37 events, six national titles and a world title. But in 2008 it was discovered she had a cancerous spindle cell sarcoma that wrapped around the sciatic nerve in her leg.

Surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy required her to re-learn how to walk — and she later won gold and silver medals at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio.

Isaiah Piñeiro, Basketball (Auburn)

Piñeiro went to Placer High School after being born in Auburn to parents of Puerto Rican descent. He went on to play for the Sacramento Kings Summer League team in 2019 before joining their G League team in Stockton.

He currently plays professionally in Puerto Rico and made the national team, where the team is grouped with Team USA. Puerto Rico will play the Americans on Saturday, Aug. 3.