Ten Current & Former Miner Athletes in the Olympics!
This is cool! I didn't know we had so many ppl from my university that are actually competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing! Below is a newsletter sent to all UTEP students:
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August 22nd, 2008
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UTEP Olympians Perform, Medal
Ten current and former Miner athletes are performing – and excelling – on the world’s biggest sports stage this month: The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
“We are very excited that these young people represent UTEP and their respective countries at the highest level of athletics,” UTEP track and field head coach Bob Kitchens said.
Among the Miner Olympians is Blessing Okagbare, who won a bronze in the women’s long jump with a personal best leap of 6.91 meters. The Nigerian athlete originally had not qualified for the event final, but was allowed to compete when another jumper was disqualified after a failed doping test.
Miner athlete Blessing Okagbare competes for UTEPOkagbare’s medal marks only the second time a current athlete has won a medal while competing at UTEP. The other was high-jumper Greg Joy in 1976.
Okagbare recently completed a spectacular first year at UTEP by earning three All-American honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The sophomore who’s majoring in general studies was second in the triple jump, third in the long jump and ran the final leg on the Miners' sixth-place 4x100 meter relay. Okagbare was a five-time All-American this season, with two additional indoor accolades.
Two former Miners athletes, Osayomi Oludamola and Halimat Ismaila, will also take home bronze medals for Nigeria. The pair ran the second half of the women’s 4 x 100 meter to post a season best time of 43.04 seconds.
Oludamola attended UTEP in 2006 and 2007. Ismaila started at UTEP in 2006 and will continue her studies in Health Promotion this fall.
Another UTEP athlete, Churandy Martina, won a silver medal in the men’s 200-meter final this week, but later lost it on a technicality. Martina, who represented the Netherlands-Antilles, ran a 19.82. That would have beaten his national record of 20.11, which he set in the second heat to get to the final. A Jury of Appeal, however, ruled that he had a “lane infringement” violation. A senior majoring in multidisciplinary studies at UTEP, Martina is the university's 100-meter record holder. This is the second Olympics for the sprinter from Willemstad, Curacao.
Other UTEP athletes competing in Beijing include:
• Ronalds Arajs of Latvia, men’s 200m
• Caimin Douglas of Netherlands, men’s 4x100m relay
• Erma-Gene Evans of Saint Lucia, women’s javelin
• Mickael Hanany of France, men’s high jump
• Alexandros Papadimitriou of Greece, men’s hammer
• Nonila Wharemate of New Zealand, women’s basketball
• Fatimoh Muhammed, who runs and throws the javelin for Liberia, and Henderson Dottin, who competes in the high jump for Barbados, were part of their national teams, but did not compete in the games.
“The UTEP family is very proud of and excited for them,” said Kitchens.
