JAIR LYNCH, Stanford, Class of 1994. Silver Medalist, Atlanta Olympics, 1996 Sports Showing Mettle in Atlanta STANFORD ATHLETES SHINE AT OLYMPIC by Mark Zeigler VEN FOR THE OLYMPICS, THE “I became a surgeon out there,” three relay legs, three gold me1dals (she potential for drama hardly Lynch said. “I think I’m ready to work now has five). Kent Steffes (paired with could have been greater. A in any MASH unit now.” Karch Kiraly) prevailed in the inau- crowd of 32,500 in the Georgia It was that kind of Olympics for gural Olympic beach volleyball tourna- E Dome and an international tele- Stanford: nerve-wracking, exhilarat- ment while Chryste Gaines ran the lead vision audience of millions watched ing, historic. The numbers alone were leg on the victorious U.S. women’s intently as the individual apparatus fi- impressive: A single university deliv- 4x100-meter relay team. nals of the gymnastics competition – ered 49 athletes, coaches and man- The Cardinal also played its part and the last chance for an American agers to teams from 11 countries in 11 in one of the real legacies of the men’s medal – unfolded before them. sports. At times there were so many Atlanta games: the emergence of But for Jair Lynch – Stanford “S” caps and T-shirts in evidence, the women’s sports from the shadows of grad, assistant project manager at Sil- athletic competition. Softball and icon Graphics and Bay Area commu- women’s soccer were new additions to nity activist – it was not just a scene the Olympic program, and for the first of high drama. It was a moment that time women’s basketball players defined the full range of his athleti- seemed to command respect commen- cism – his brains and brawn, his surate with their talent. Stanford’s courage and spirit. longtime commitment to women’s During warmups on the parallel athletics was apparent in each case. bars, a discipline requiring a blend of Tara VanDerveer, who took a power and dexterity that converges leave of absence from her post as the where the hands meet the bars, a callus Stanford women’s head coach to on his left palm had cracked open. guide the U.S. women’s national team, Lynch looked at the quarter-inch-wide helped steer her players, including hole in his left hand and realized it Katy Stedding and Jennifer Azzi, would only worsen rubbing on the members of Stanford’s 1990 NCAA wooden bars. He had 15, maybe 20 Jeff Rouse: Two for two. championship team, to the gold. minutes, to do something about it. 1993 grad Julie Foudy was co- Lynch grabbed a razor blade and Olympic Village resembled White captain of the U.S. women’s soccer began slicing away, meticulously cut- Plaza on a spring afternoon. team, and after beating China 2-1 in ting the edges of the callus so it would- The results were equally notewor- the final found herself on the phone n’t rip further, then smothering it in thy: 22 medals, 18 of them gold. Not with the Clintons. Her post-Olympic benzoin compound. And then he counting multiple team medals, Stan- visit to the White House was her third waited to be nodded onto the podium. ford brought home 12 gold medals; this year. “I hope you have some idea only six countries – the United States, of how exciting it was for every Amer- Unfazed by the throbbing wound on his Germany, Russia, China, France and ican, but particularly for women and palm, Lynch nailed his parallel bars Italy – won more. There was Jeff Rouse girls,” the first lady told the team. routine, scoring a 9.825 and winning winning the gold in the 100-meter The women’s gymnastics compe- the silver medal. He became the first backstroke that had eluded him by .06 tition at the Georgia Dome was African American gymnast ever to seconds in 1992, then getting another equally high-profile. The U.S. women win an individual Olympic medal and for his backstroke leg on the 400-meter won the prestigious team gold for the the only American male to snag a medley relay team that broke the world first time in history. Two of the seven Robert Holmgren gymnastics medal in Atlanta. record. There was Jenny Thompson: team members, Amy Chow and Do- 34 STANFORD TODAY September/October 1996 Cardinal Takes Sears Cup Stanford has won the most prestigious collegiate athletics award, the minique Dawes, Sears Directors’ Cup, for the second straight year. The award, honoring the best collegiate athlet- had planned to ics program, is sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and start their fresh- Sears, Roebuck and Co. Stanford has won the cup for two of the three years it has been awarded man years on the and came in second the other year. The cup goes to the institution that demonstrates a successful Farm this fall. But record across a broad-based athletics program. ■ Stanford offers 33 varsity sports, including 18 for with individual women; no other Pacific-10 Conference school offers more. This year, 13 Cardinal teams finished medals on top of their season in the top five nationally, 23 in the top 10, and two teams each won NCAA champi- their golds (Chow onships – women’s swimming and men’s tennis. Cardinal teams came in second in women’s tennis, on the uneven third in men’s gymnastics, and tied for third in both women’s volleyball and basketball. Other high- bars, Dawes in AMY CHOW ranking teams included men’s golf (fourth), women’s golf and men’s cross-country (fifth), fencing floor exercise), (seventh), and baseball (ninth). ■ “Our goal in Stanford athletics is to establish and maintain the pre- that is likely to change. A lucrative exhi- eminent athletic program in the country,” said Athletic Director Ted Leland. “Most of all, the intrin- bition tour awaits them and the closest sic value to the participant is the primary criterion by which the worth of the program should be other students may come to seeing judged.” The winner of the Sears Directors’ Cup receives a $35,000 Waterford crystal trophy, five them this year is on the Wheaties box in $5,000 post-graduate scholarships and $1,000 post-graduate scholarships for each championship the food service line. won. The trophy will be displayed on campus in the Arrillaga Family Sports Center’s Hall of Fame. The largest contingent of Stanford athletes was at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center. Thirteen swimmers and the U.S. men’s and women’s head coaches – Skip Kenney and Richard Sports News Quick – were in Atlanta. Six swim- mers won golds and Rouse, Thomp- Athletes Honored The Athletic Board’s annual awards honored 30 ath- son, Lisa Jacob and incoming frosh letes for their achievements on the field, academically, and in leader- Catherine Fox won at least two ship and public service. Co-winners of the top honor, the Al Masters apiece. Most came in relays; three legs Award for attaining the highest standards of athletic performance, lead- of the women’s 400-meter freestyle re- ership and academic achievement, were Cary Wendell, women’s vol- lay were by Stanford swimmers. leyball, and Tiger Woods, golf. ■ Wendell, two-time National Player of The former Cardinal athlete most the Year, was 1995 Pac-10 Player of the Year, and one of only three play- in evidence in Atlanta won no medals, ers in conference history to be a four-time all-Pac-10 selection. She also but delivered a world-class perfor- was Pac-10 All-Academic twice. Woods, two-time U.S. Amateur Cham- mance. During the opening cere- pion, won the NCAA championship this year, was Pac-10 Player of the monies, Janet Evans emerged from a Year and First Team All-American. The Donald Kennedy Award for com- TONG cluster of parading Olympians to munity service, academics and athletics was given to David Walker carry the torch on its final leg, up a (football) and Amy Chiminello (tennis). Pac-10 Athletes of the Year were long ramp and into the trembling Jessica Tong (swimming), Kate Starbird (basketball) and A.J. Hinch hands of Muhammad Ali. Three days (baseball). ■ Other athletes honored were Jeff Salzenstein (tennis), Jes- later, she sat in a press conference at sica Fischer (soccer), Elise Morgan (field hockey), David Harbour (bas- the aquatics complex and blinked ketball), Tod Surmon (wrestling), Maureen McLaren (swimming/volley- away tears, having failed to qualify ball), Dena Dey (soccer/track & field), Julie Bowen (golf), Jeff Buckey for the 400-meter freestyle. In the 800 (football), Clark Bailey (fencing), Cameron Stephenson (lacrosse), Brevin free, she finished a distant sixth. Knight (basketball), Ian Bachrach (gymnastics), Mhairi McKay (golf), Then, while Evans was being inter- Claudia Franco (swimming), Anthony Bookman (football), Kyle Peterson viewed for German TV, a thunderous (baseball), Lisa Sharpley (volleyball), Ania Bleszynski (tennis), Ryan HINCH explosion flashed in the background. Wolters (tennis), Chad Hutchinson (baseball), Mary Cobb (cross- The clip would be replayed hundreds country/track & field) and Amy Murakami (gymnastics). of times in the next week and Evans became something of an unofficial Cyclists Wheel to Another Title The cycling team, a co-ed Club Sport, spokeswoman for Olympic athletes in has won the national championship for the second year in a row in the Atlanta, displaying a mix of remorse sport’s major segment – road racing. Counting results from the other two and resiliency in the wake of tragedy. categories – track and mountain biking – Stanford has been No.