OLYMPIC FEVER

ODU Student Captures Two Gold Medals

By Alex MacDonald

Old Dominion doesn’t count track and field among its intercollegiate sports, but one of the university’s part-time students ran away with two gold medals at the Summer Games in Beijing.

Portsmouth native LaShawn Merritt, who started taking classes at ODU in 2005 after transferring from East Carolina University, won his first gold medal in the 400-meter dash, with a personal best of 43.75 and beating fellow American rival Jeremy Wariner at the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic Stadium track.

Days later, Merritt, Wariner and two other members of the U.S. team combined to win gold in the 4 x 400-meter relay.

After signing an endorsement deal with Nike that terminated his amateur status, Merritt transferred to ODU in February 2005. In order to avoid conflicts with his training schedule, he has taken most of his classes during the fall semesters, when he could more fully devote attention to his studies. Before leaving for the Olympics, the sport management major said that he was having fun dividing his time between sprinting and school, and wasn’t in a hurry to graduate.

Merritt credits his former track coach from Portsmouth’s Woodrow Wilson High School, Dwayne Miller, for his influence in both athletics and academics. He said Miller has constantly emphasized the importance of getting an education.

“He’s been with me since high school,” Merritt said. “Even when I went away to college, I was always calling him and asking him for advice. He hasn’t just been a big influence on my training, he’s been a big influence on my life, period.”

Merritt wasn’t surprised to make the Olympic team, and he took that confidence with him to the greatest sporting event in the world. “This is my job; this is what I do,” he said before heading to Beijing. “Every time I go out on that track, I expect to perform.”

Tunnicliffe Sails To Gold

By Steve Daniel

For drama, it probably couldn’t have been scripted much better. With her sailboat in ninth position midway through the final race, Anna Tunnicliffe ’05 broke away from most of the fleet, which had gone right toward the seawall, catching a line of breeze on the left side of the Qingdao International Marina course. Slowly but surely, she started gaining on her Laser Radial competition.

Tunnicliffe, who would pass all but one of the boats on that final day of racing Aug. 19, despite having circled back at the start of the event because of a possible false start, won the gold medal with a total of 37 points in the regatta.

“I was a little nervous throughout the whole race, but knew that I would have my chance to get back to the front of the fleet if I took it when I got it. I was fortunate to get it,” said Tunnicliffe, who was competing in the Olympics for the first time. She had led the one-woman dinghy class since the races began, finishing in the top six in all but one race. With her amazing comeback on the final day, she became the first American to win gold in the sailing events this year.

Recalling the last leg of the final race, Tunnicliffe said, “I knew I had the gold in my grasp, counting the overall points I had going into this race. I can tell you the finish line couldn’t arrive soon enough.” Adding to her feeling of elation was the reception that awaited her. “The coolest thing was being welcomed at the top of the ramp by four former ODU sailors who were on the U.S. team with me,” she said. “Go Monarchs!”

Tunnicliffe credited ODU coach Mitch Brindley, and her husband Brad Funk ’03, also a former Monarch sailor, with helping her stay focused throughout the competition. But it was the opening ceremony that got her adrenaline pumping from the start. “That was when it hit me that we were really there, really representing our country, and it was game on,” she said. “It was such a powerful moment when they lit the torch.”

Tunnicliffe, who lives in Plantation, Fla., is now ranked No. 1 in the world in singlehanded sailing.

Donovan’s Gold Rush Continues

By Steve Daniel

She’s won Olympic gold twice as a player (1984 and 1988), once as an assistant coach (2004) and now as a head coach. For someone as patriotic ­– and competitive – as former Lady Monarch great Anne Donovan ’83, it doesn’t get much better. But she’s hard-pressed to say which is more satisfying: winning at the Olympics as a player or a coach.

“As a player, as long as you worked hard and practiced hard, you felt like you could control things,” she said. “As a coach, I think I’ve realized there are some things you can’t control, so it makes it a little more difficult, I think.”

Donovan is now the only American woman to have ascended the top-most platform on the medal stand as both a player and head coach since women’s basketball became an Olympic sport in 1976. Under the former Old Dominion All-American and Basketball Hall of Famer, Team USA dominated the tournament at the Beijing Olympics, winning their games by an amazing 37.6-point average, and dispatching Australia in the gold-medal finale, 92-65.

Despite their impressive offensive firepower, the U.S. women were plagued by turnovers and poor shooting (with the exception of Diana Taurasi’s 5 of 8 from behind the arc) in the semifinals against Russia, relying on defense to pull out a 67-52 win. “We came back from the Russian game with a tremendous offensive showing and played smothering defense [against Australia]. That combination allowed us a big win, where every one of our 12 players contributed to that gold,” Donovan said.

Winner is a word that’s long been associated with Donovan. She helped lead ODU to a national championship in 1980, and she holds a WNBA title as a head coach, following her Seattle Storm’s campaign in 2004. She was named head coach of the USA Basketball Senior National Team in 2006. At 6-8, she stands head and shoulders – both literally and figuratively – above her peers.

Donovan, who first played for her country when she was 15, still remembers her early fascination with the Olympics. “I watched the Olympics on TV; I was diehard red, white and blue. So that’s the joy – that I get to be a part of this despite not playing any more.”

Going into the Summer Games, Donovan’s main concern was team chemistry, owing to a roster laden with WNBA superstars that included Lisa Leslie, Tina Thompson, Katie Smith, Candace Parker and Taurasi. As it turned out, a pleasant surprise lay ahead. “This was the finest team I have ever coached,” she said. “Their talent set them apart from others, but more than anything, their selflessness was amazing. They were truly in China for one reason: the team goal of gold.”

Donovan, who grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Charlotte, N.C., actually was surrounded by two teams in China. “All six of my brothers and sisters, and one sister-in-law, came to Beijing,” she said. “We toured the Great Wall, shopped and saw the sights. They affectionately became known around our delegation as ‘Team Donovan.’ ”

Eleven Alumni Compete In Summer Games
In addition to Anne Donovan ’83 and Anna Tunnicliffe ’05, nine other Old Dominion alumni competed in the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In sailing, 2005 and 2007 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Sally Barkow ’02 teamed with Debbie Capozzi ’03 in the Yngling keelboat class races. They finished ninth in the Yngling medal race, giving them 61 net points and a seventh-place Olympic finish.

Charlie Ogletree ’89 and teammate John Lovell, the 2004 Olympic silver medalists in the Tornado class, were unable to match their success of four years ago, finishing 14th in Beijing.

The U.S. field hockey squad, which placed eighth at the 2008 Summer Games, boasted four former Lady Monarchs: Honda Award winner Tiffany Snow ’03, Caroline Nichols ’06, Dana Sensenig ’06 and Angie Loy ’05.

Two former Lady Monarchs competed on behalf of other nations. Hamchetou Maiga-Ba ’02 played basketball for her home country of Mali, and Tzipora Obziler ’96 competed in tennis for the Israeli team.

ODU Alum Tests Swimsuits Worn By Gold Medalists
Steve Wilkinson (M.E. ’79), an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, was profiled by the NASA news service in August for his role in the development of the Speedo LZR Racer, worn by U.S. Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin, among others, at the Summer Games in Beijing.
Wilkinson “tested dozens of swimsuit fabrics in NASA Langley’s 7- by 11-inch Low Speed Wind Tunnel,” according to the article.

To read the story, go to www.nasa.gov/topics/ technology/features/2008-0813-swimsuit.html.

Profs’ Daughter Wins Gold
Although she’s not an Old Dominion alumna, the university can claim strong ties to one member of the U.S. women’s soccer team at the Summer Olympics. Angela Hucles, a University of Virginia graduate whose four goals in the tournament helped lead the team to the gold medal, is the daughter of ODU faculty members Janis Sanchez-Hucles (psychology) and Michael Hucles (history).