Korda, Vu, Zhang preparing for Paris at the Amundi Evian Championship

Most of the world’s best women golfers are competing in this week’s Amundi Evian Championship, the fourth major championship of the season, and for many, it won’t be their only trip to France this summer.Sixty golfers will return to Paris on Aug. 7-10 for the women’s Olympic golf competition at Le Golf National, the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup. Former Duke star Celine Boutier, the defending Amundi Evian Championship winner, will represent France in the Olympics.

Each of the top 10 players in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings qualified for the Olympics, including world No. 1 Nelly Korda, No. 2 Lilia Vu and No. 8 Rose Zhang, who will all represent the U.S.

“Gosh, I’m so excited,” Korda said. “Any time I get to represent my country it’s just such a really big honor. To get to do that at the Olympics is going to be an amazing experience again. Getting to do it in Paris, maybe this year getting to watch a couple sports that we didn’t get to do in Japan and Tokyo.”

Korda, 25, is the defending gold medalist after finishing 17-under 267 at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021. She finished one shot better than Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko. Inami defeated Ko in a sudden-death playoff to claim the silver medal.

Korda battled the rain, heat and humidity to become the first U.S. woman to capture a gold medal since Margaret Abbott won at the Paris Olympics in 1900. Golf wasn’t included in the Olympics from 1904 to 2012.

In Tokyo, Korda’s sister Jessica carded a 7-under 64 for the low score of the final round and tied for 15th. Jessica Korda hasn’t competed on the LPGA Tour since May 2023 after dealing with a back injury. The six-time LPGA winner gave birth to her first child, a son named Greyson, in February.

“It’s going to be a little sad not getting to go with my sister,” Nelly Korda said. “I think that’s what was so special about 2021, was getting to share that experience with Jess. But, yeah, I’m just really excited to represent the USA at the Olympics again.”

Korda keeps her gold medal on a shelf in her office. Her mother, Regina Rajchrtová, competed in tennis for Czechoslovakia at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Her father, Petr Korda, was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world and won the 1998 Australian Open. Her brother, Sebastian, is also a professional tennis player.

“It was never really a dream for me because it was never a reality until 2016 when golf was introduced back into the Olympics,” Nelly said. “It was something every four years or even two years. We did love watching the Winter Games as well that we all watched as a family. Back then it was just my mom that got to represent her country.”