Eleven ODU Alumni Compete in 2008 Summer Olympics
Eleven Old Dominion University alumni will compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Of the eleven athletes, nine will compete for Team USA.
Four sailors, four women's field hockey players and the head coach of the women's basketball team are all Monarch alumni competing for Team USA.
Anne Donovan ('83-Ridgewood, N.J.), a former ODU All-American and Naismith Player of the Year, is the U.S. women's basketball head coach. The preliminary rounds of women's basketball begin Aug. 9, with the medal games and ceremony scheduled for Aug. 23.
The U.S. field hockey squad boasts four former Lady Monarchs: Tiffany Snow ('03-Escondido, Calif.), Caroline Nichols ('06-Virginia Beach), Dana Sensenig ('06-Denver, Pa.) and Angie Loy ('05-Loysville, Pa.). Snow was a CAA Player of the Year and the 2002 Honda Award winner as the national field hockey player of the year. Nichols and Loy were also CAA Players of the Year at ODU. The preliminary rounds of field hockey begin Aug. 10, with the medal matches set for Aug. 22.
The 2005 and 2007 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, Sally Barkow ('02-Nashotah, Wis.), will sail with Debbie Capozzi ('03-Bayport, N.Y.) in the Yngling keelboat class races scheduled to begin on Aug. 9, with the medal race set for Aug. 16.
Anna Tunnicliffe ('05-Plantation, Fla.), a three-time All-American and national champion, will sail in the women's laser radial event for the U.S. She is ranked No. 1 in the world as she makes her first appearance at the Olympic Games. Tunnicliffe's event begins Aug. 12, with the medal race set for Aug. 19.
2004 Olympic silver medalist Charles Ogletree ('89-Houston, Tex.) will return to the Olympics for a fourth consecutive time, with his sights set on gold. He and long-time teammate John Lovell will sail the Tornado class for Team USA. Racing begins Aug. 15 and the medal race is set for Aug. 21.
Former Monarch sailing coach Gary Bodie once again plays a big role for the U.S. sailing team as the high performance director.
In addition to the nine alumni on Team USA, two ODU graduates will compete on behalf of other nations. Hamchétou Maiga-Ba ('02-Bamako, Mali), former Lady Monarch women's basketball star, will represent the nation of Mali at the Summer Games. She is ODU's 14th all-time scorer with 1,483 points and was the 2001 CAA Player of the Year. Tzipi Obziler ('96) who will be playing for Israel, is currently ranked 116th in the world by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). In the fall of 1995, she was ranked the No. 1 collegiate women's tennis player in the nation. The 35-year old has played in all three Grand Slam events this season, most recently at Wimbledon. The Olympic Tennis events will be played from Aug. 10 through Aug. 17.