After Coming Close in Its Bid for the 2000 Olympics, China Could Finally Celebrate When the International Olympic Committee Pick
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MARVIN ANDERSON ORN ARNARSON BIBIANA CANDELAS PATTY CARDENAS RODRIGO CASTRO RICHARD CHARLESWORTH KAMI CRAIG NATASHA DANVERS-SMITH NICOLE DAVIS TORRI EDWARDS ALLYSON FELIX GABE GARDNER BLYTHE HARTLEY BRITTANY HAYES ZOE HOSKINS KATINKA HOSSZU HALEY ISHIMATSU LARSEN JENSEN ASIA KACZOR KLETE KELLER TAMAS KEREKJARTO SOFIA KONOUKH J.W. KRUMPHOLZ BRIGITA LANGERHOLC CLÉMENT LEFERT LISA LESLIE LYNETTE LIM OUS MELLOULI EVA ORBAN ANIKO PELLE ANKUR POSERIA ZOLTAN POVAZSAY ARIEL RITTENHOUSE AMY RODRIGUEZ CAROL RODRIGUEZ FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ USC AT THE 2008 OLYMPICS • 10 GOLD 10 SILVER 2 BRONZE REBECCA SONI INGA STASIULIONYTE TINA THOMPSON ILSE VAN DER MEIJDEN MORIAH VAN NORMAN GABRIELA VAREKOVA ERIK VENDT MARK WARKENTIN LAUREN WENGER KATARZYNA WILK ANGELA WILLIAMS JESSE WILLIAMS BEIJING After coming close in its bid for the 2000 Olympics, China could finally celebrate when the International Olympic Committee picked Beijing to host the 2008 Summer Games. But some questioned the choice, pointing to China’s history of human rights abuses and repressive policies in Tibet. Demonstrations by Tibetan independence activists later blemished the Olympic torch relay, turning it into an image-damaging obstacle course in some European cities. In Paris, where thousands of protesters crowded the torch’s route, police officers had to whisk the torch onto a bus to protect it. The Games themselves, the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in high definition, mostly stayed clear of such controversy. They opened with a spectacular ceremony featuring some 14,000 artists and dancers. Worldwide, about 4.7 billion viewers watched athletes set 43 world records. Athletes from 86 countries — more than ever — won at least one medal. Chinese athletes took the most gold medals (51), while the U.S. captured the most total medals (110). Among the big stories: American swimmer Michael USC’s Amy Rodriguez ’12 Phelps collected eight gold medals, breaking Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven golds celebrates with the flag in one Olympics; and Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won the 100-meter and the 200-meter sprints and after a U.S. overtime victory over Brazil for gold. took gold in the 4x100-meter relay, setting world records in all three events. USC’s presence in these Games was unprecedented: A record 49 athletes with Trojan ties competed. They won 22 medals, including 10 golds. Five Trojan student-athletes (Amy Rodriguez, Klete Keller, Rebecca Soni, Kami Craig and J.W. Krumpholz) were such successes at these Olympics that they were honored with the inaugural U.S. Olympic Achievement Award in 2011. 188 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN2 CALIFORNIA 008 MARVIN ANDERSON ORN ARNARSON BIBIANA CANDELAS PATTY CARDENAS RODRIGO CASTRO RICHARD CHARLESWORTH KAMI CRAIG NATASHA DANVERS-SMITH NICOLE DAVIS TORRI EDWARDS ALLYSON FELIX GABE GARDNER BLYTHE HARTLEY BRITTANY HAYES ZOE HOSKINS KATINKA HOSSZU HALEY ISHIMATSU LARSEN JENSEN ASIA KACZOR KLETE KELLER TAMAS KEREKJARTO SOFIA KONOUKH J.W. KRUMPHOLZ BRIGITA LANGERHOLC CLÉMENT LEFERT LISA LESLIE LYNETTE LIM OUS MELLOULI EVA ORBAN ANIKO PELLE ANKUR POSERIA ZOLTAN POVAZSAY ARIEL RITTENHOUSE AMY RODRIGUEZ CAROL RODRIGUEZ FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ USC AT THE 2008 OLYMPICS • 10 GOLD 10 SILVER 2 BRONZE REBECCA SONI INGA STASIULIONYTE TINA THOMPSON ILSE VAN DER MEIJDEN MORIAH VAN NORMAN GABRIELA VAREKOVA ERIK VENDT MARK WARKENTIN LAUREN WENGER KATARZYNA WILK ANGELA WILLIAMS JESSE WILLIAMS 2008 AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 189 LISA LESLIE When Lisa Leslie passed the 6-foot-tall mark in Having grown up rooting for USC women’s In 2008, Leslie made her fourth and final the seventh grade, everyone asked her the same basketball stars Cheryl Miller and Cynthia Olympic appearance for Team USA, guiding question. Cooper-Dyke, Leslie, who received more than the team to yet another gold medal in Beijing. 100 college recruiting letters, decided to stay Leslie is one of only seven players to compete Do you play basketball? home and attend USC. In her first game as a in three Olympics for USA Basketball, and one Trojan, she scored 30 points and grabbed 20 of only two players with four gold medals. She In fact, Leslie was asked the question so often that rebounds. Similar outstanding performances led finished her Olympic career with a then-record she contemplated quitting the sport just so she to her being named NCAA Freshman of the 488 points scored. could answer no. Fortunately, she was talked out of Year. That summer, she helped Team USA win that by a junior high school teammate. gold at the World University Games and began to develop a love for the international game. When Leslie got serious about playing basketball, the Inglewood, Calif., resident Although she was left off the 1992 Olympic came to realize that just being tall was Team, Leslie once again used her disappointment not enough of an advantage. She began as motivation. She earned All-America honors working daily on improving her game, and her last three years with the Trojans, was USA by the time she reached high school she Basketball’s Player of the Year in 1993 as a junior was good enough to make Morningside and won the Naismith Award as a senior. After High School’s varsity team as a freshman. graduation, she played for Team USA in the 1994 Goodwill Games, where she shot 70 percent from During her sophomore year, the team advanced the field and averaged 19 points per game. to the state semifinals, where Leslie took and missed the potential game-winning shot. She Recognized as the best young player in the world, brooded over the defeat the entire summer and, Leslie made her Olympic debut at the 1996 motivated by the disappointment, worked harder Atlanta Games, where she scored 35 points in a than ever to improve her game. semifinal win over Japan and 29 points in the gold medal game victory over Brazil. By her junior year, Leslie had reached her full height of 6-foot-5 and was the dominant player After starring in the WNBA for four years, in the nation. She led Morningside to the state Leslie led Team USA to the 2000 Olympics, title in 1989 and led the U.S. in scoring and averaging 15.8 points per game during the team’s rebounding at the World Junior Championships march to repeat gold. In Athens, Leslie again that summer. As a senior, she scored 101 points led the U.S. team in scoring en route to a third in the first half of one game — four points shy of straight Olympic gold medal. During her third the national scoring record — and led her team trip to the Games, she became the USA’s all- to another state title. time leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker. AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 191 An All-American basketball player at USC, Los Angeles native Tina Thompson ’97 made history as the first player drafted into the WNBA after its inception in 1997. Her college track record includes selection as conference Freshman of the Year in 1994 and second- team All-American in 1997. She was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame in 2012. A forward for the Houston Comets for most of her career, Thompson helped the team win four consecutive titles starting in 1997. Her success at USC and for the Comets put her on the radar for the Olympics, where she won gold in 2004 in Athens and in 2008 in Beijing. She also earned a bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships in Brazil. A nine-time All-Star Team member and still the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer, she retired from professional basketball in 2013. 192 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TINA THOMPSON In Tina’s Words: As I reflect on my journey to become an Olympic sincere and the goal was very clear. It was a little We went on to win the gold. Afterward, I was athlete, I am reminded of many highs and many intimidating and exciting at the same time. But extremely relieved and excited at the same time. lows. It was not an easy journey, to say the least. I felt like I had something to prove, and I was I had buried all these emotions that I assumed I The joy I felt when I received an invitation to the totally wearing a chip on my shoulder. had dealt with, but boy, was I wrong. I literally Olympic Trials after my freshman year at USC had to find my way to the bench and sit down. was beyond words. I soon would learn that the Being that I have always been fascinated with I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I invitation was a mere formality, and was extended the Olympics, my intentions were to attend thought I was going to pass out. The tears just to 60 or more other young ladies, a large number every sporting event possible in my free time wouldn’t stop coming. It’s still very surreal. of them repeat invitees. in Athens. Being an Olympic rookie, I was unaware that there was very little free time for Beijing was a separate experience. The faces Even with that newly found information, I was us. With practice and preparation for pool play, of our team had changed quite a bit. We were not deterred, nor discouraged — I was motivated. along with supporting our male counterparts, it a relatively young team. There were only two That motivation landed me a spot on the World was nearly impossible to attend any events and returning starters, me and fellow USC alumna University Games team in 1995. From there, it still get an adequate amount of rest. Lisa Leslie. Yet we still were very focused on took me almost 10 years to make an Olympic winning another gold, and we did.