ODU alumni will be competing and coaching in three sports at the Summer Olympics in Athens, continuing a tradition of Monarch representation dating to the 1980 games.

Charlie Ogletree ’89 of Kemah, Texas, and John Lovell of New Orleans are hoping their third consecutive Olympic bid will prove to be the charm in the two-man Tornado Class sailing competition. Ogletree will be crewman in the 20-foot catamaran races. The pair placed eighth out of 20 teams at the Olympics in Atlanta/Savannah in 1996 and seventh at the 2000 Games in Sydney. As a student, Ogletree won national titles in 420 and FJ Classes and was an All-American his senior year.

Macha van der Vaart, an NCAA All-Tournament selection in 1990, will compete for the Netherlands in field hockey, while two-time field hockey All-American Marina DiGiacomo ’01 had not found out by press time whether she had made the Olympic team for her native Argentina.

The sport of basketball will be well represented in the coaching ranks by two well-known ODU alumni who played and coached at their alma mater. Former All-American and Naismith Hall of Famer Anne Donovan ’83, who as a player helped the U.S. team win Olympic gold in 1984 and 1988, will be an assistant coach for Team USA. She is head coach of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm.

For the men’s team, Oliver Purnell ’75 will serve as an assistant under Larry Brown. An Honorable Mention All-American his senior year, Purnell is head coach at Clemson.

Donovan served as an assistant coach for the Lady Monarchs for six seasons, from 1989-95, while Purnell was head coach of the Monarchs for three seasons, from 1991-94.

Marianthi Koukouvinou, a 2004 ODU graduate who played in a reserve role for the women’s basketball team, had not heard by press time whether she had been invited to join the Greek squad. The Swedish native, whose father is a native of Greece, holds dual citizenship with both countries.