Aug. 26, 2008
Irvine,
Calif. – The 2008 Olympic Games were a
success for UC Irvine athletes and coaches, helping the
U.S. to both gold and silver
medals.
UC Irvine head men’s volleyball
coach John Speraw was a member of the United States men’s indoor
volleyball team that captured a gold medal. In an emotional
tournament, the Americans went undefeated and earned the
team’s first gold medal since 1988. UCI women’s
volleyball assistant Jay Hosack was also member of the U.S.
men’s staff, but did not travel with the team to
Beijing.
In the pool, the
All-American quartet of Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers, Tim Hutten and
Rick Merlo helped the U.S. men's
water polo team to a silver medal, its best finish since 1988 when
they also captured the silver. Bailey and Powers each added six
goals during the tournament, while Hutten and Merlo,
playing in their first Olympics, scored three and two goals,
respectively.
Brittany Hayes, a current graduate
student at UCI, also won a silver medal with the
U.S. women’s water polo
team.
Former UCI sailor Jay Glaser coached
the Netherlands to a sixth-place finish
in the Tornado event. It was Glaser’s fourth Olympic Games,
competing as an athlete in 1984 and as a coach the last three
Games.
In
badminton, Eva Lee lost her singles match to Canada's
Anna Rice in three sets, but made history as the first American to
win a game in Olympic competition. Lee paired with May Mangkalakiri
in doubles, but lost to Singapore's
Yanmei Jiang and Yujia Li, 0-2.
Cyclist
Amber Neben finished 33rd in the women's road race.
Former
All-American sailor Nick Scandone will begin his Olympic quest at
the Paralympics September 6-17 in Beijing.
Scandone will be competing in the two-person keelboat event,
skippering the SKUD 18 with crew Maureen
McKinnon-Tucker.
Read
Tim Hutten's final blog at the UC Irvine
Olympic webpage.
