The world’s biggest event kicked off in Paris on Friday, and Olympic fever is sweeping along Olympic Boulevard at the Magpies’ home base - the venue that hosted multiple water-based events in 1956.

Whether it be on the track and field, the basketball court, or the soccer pitch, Collingwood has some fantastic athletes that excelled before ultimately choosing football.

So, let’s take a look at the players that could quite easily be wearing green and gold, if they weren’t already in black and white.

Brianna Davey & Sarah Rowe (Soccer)

Last year’s AFLW Captain and 2020 AFLW Best & Fairest Bri Davey was an accomplished soccer player before joining the AFLW in its inaugural year, pulling on the Matildas guernsey 17 times.

Her first cap came back in 2012, as the goalkeeper pulled on the green and gold alongside some of today’s stars such as Sam Kerr and Steph Catley.

Making the move to football after seven years for Melbourne Victory and City – as well as a stint with Swedish team Linkoping – Davey was an accomplished sports star even before her Magpie days.

But while Davey is a dual-sport star, Sarah Rowe can lay claim to being a triple-code star with AFLW, Gaelic Football, and Soccer all on her resume.

The latter of those could easily have seen her representing Ireland at the Olympics, with Rowe pursuing a spot in Ireland’s World Cup squad last year.

Iliro Smit (Cycling Mountain Bike)

Already making an impact having arrived at the Club just two months ago via the mid-season, what you might not know about Iliro Smit is his expertise in mountain biking.

As an 11-year-old, Smit won the Victorian Schools MTB Championship Series, before turning his focus to footy as he entered his teenage years.

Scott Pendlebury (Basketball)

Did you know Scott Pendlebury has a basketball background?

While the Collingwood champion is on the verge of 400 AFL games, he could quite easily be over in Paris helping turn their ‘rose gold’ from the Tokyo Games into a genuine Gold Medal this time around.

A much know story of Pendlebury’s basketball career – his place in the AIS squad, which he vacated after three weeks – was taken by Boomers star Patty Mills who is entering his fifth Olympic Games.

Pendlebury maintains his love of basketball to this day, often shooting hoops on gameday as a way of passing the time.

Nell Morris-Dalton (Skateboarding)

Part of the new era of Olympic sports, skateboarding’s inclusion in the last Games means AFLW star Nell Morris-Dalton could quite easily head over to Paris to represent her country.

First beginning to skate when she was 11, Morris-Dalton has got all the moves and often uses her time away from footy on the hails and going down the half pipe.

Oleg Markov (Pole Vault)

While Oleg Markov is a fan favourite at the Pies with his fun-loving personality and dash off half back, had he followed in his father’s footsteps, he would be over in Paris competing in the Pole Vault.

Dmitri Markov was a world champion pole vaulter for both Belarus and Australia, with his best finish at the Olympic coming at the Sydney 2000 Games when he secured fifth.

Getting a personal best of 6.05m, Markov senior’s speed was passed on to Oleg who often puts on the after burners out on the football field.