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A total of 103 UA athletes have participated in the Olympic Games since 1952.

By Richard Paige, Arizona Athletics
August 6, 2008

When the 2008 Summer Olympic Games begin Friday in Beijing, China, The University of Arizona will be well represented.

More than 30 athletes, coaches and staff with ties to the UA will participate in the Games of the XXIXth Olympiad.

Fifteen of the UA athletes scheduled to participate have previous Olympic experience and seven of those have earned medals.

A total of 103 UA athletes have participated in the Olympic Games. Those athletes have made 135 Olympic appearances.

The Wildcats with the most Olympic experience are:

• George Young (4 Olympics): Track & Field
• Amanda Beard (4 Olympics): Swimming
• Ryk Netthling (4 Olympics): Swimming
• Sandra Farmer-Patrick (3 Olympics): Track & Field
• Claire Febvay (3 Olympics): Diving
• Dominic Johnson (3 Olympics): Track & Field
• Caren Kemner (3 Olympics): Volleyball
• Leah O'Brien-Amico (3 Olympics): Softball
• Angelique Rodriguez (3 Olympics): Diving
• Roland Shoeman (3 Olympics): Swimming
• Chima Ugwu (3 Olympics): Track & Field
• Juan Veloz: (3 Olympics): Swimming

Arizona has had at least one athlete participate in every Summer Olympiad since 1960.

The UA’s first known Olympians were George Young (USA men’s track & field) and J. William Wagner (Mexico men’s basketball) in the 1960 Rome Olympics. One athlete, women’s diver Irma Lozano, represented Mexico in the 1952 Olympics prior to attending the UA.

All time, Wildcat athletes have won a total of 62 Olympic medals: 32 gold, 17 silver and 13 bronze.

No UA athlete has as many Olympic medals as Amanda Beard’s seven (3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze).

Here is a look at the medal count for the UA at previous Summer Olympics:

• 2004 (Athens): 14 medals
• 2000 (Sydney): 7 medals
• 1996 (Atlanta): 12 medals
• 1992 (Barcelona): 7 medals
• 1988 (Seoul): 3 medals
• 1984 (Los Angeles): 11 medals
• 1980 (Moscow): 2 medals
• 1976 (Montreal): 2 medals
• 1972 (Munich): 1 medal
• 1968 (Mexico City): 2 medals
• 1960 (Rome): 1 medal

Arizona’s first Olympic medalist was swimmer Patty Kempner, who earned a gold medal as part of the U.S. women’s 400-meter medley relay team in 1960.

Of the 128 Olympic appearances made by UA athletes since 1984, 52 have come from UA swimmers. Additionally, those swimmers have represented 15 different countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, United States and Venezuela).

Arizona athletes have participated in 11 different sports in its Summer Olympic history: cycling, diving, kayaking, mountain biking, softball, swimming, synchronized swimming, track & field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

With eight national championships to its credit, Arizona has been a fixture atop the collegiate softball landscape for a generation. True to form, Wildcats have been prominent on the international stage as well. Softball has been a part of the Olympic program since 1996 and at least one Arizona player has been a part of each of the three gold-medal winning teams. UA head coach Mike Candrea, who guided the U.S. to a gold medal in 2004, returns with three former Wildcats as a part of his roster.

No stranger to NCAA championships either, the UA baseball program has its first Olympic participant in 2008, as former standout shortstop Jason Donald will represent the U.S. Donald, who started all 177 games of his career at Arizona was a third-round pick in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft and recently participated in the MLB All-Star Futures Game at Yankee Stadium.

UA diving coach Dr. Michele Mitchell won silver medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, and two of her pupils will be competing in Beijing. Claire Febvay and Angelique Rodriguez will represent France and Puerto Rico, respectively. Neither Febvay nor Rodriguez are strangers to Olympic competition, as each will be making their third Olympic appearance.

Kim Glass is the third Wildcat to play for the U.S. Olympic volleyball team. A three-time All-American as an outside hitter, Glass is making her first Olympic appearance with the U.S. national team. Former Wildcats Caren Kemner (1988, 1992, 1996) and Missy McLinden (1988) also made appearances with the U.S. Kemner was part of the 1992 squad that claimed a bronze medal in Barcelona.