|
Misty
May, former 49er, passes to teammate Kerri
Walsh. May and Walsh hope to earn gold in
women's beach volleyball. Photo Dave Martin,
AP.
Former
49ers go for gold in Athens
By
Michael Bower
Daily Forty-Niner
Over
50 Cal State University Long Beach athletes
and coaches have made their mark in past
Olympics, and this year seven ex-CSULB athletes
and nine coaches are participating in the
2004 Athens Olympics.
The
Beach has five volleyball players, one softball
player and one water polo player in Athens.
Among the volleyball players is former CSULB
standout Misty May. May, 27, is participating
for the second time in the Olympics in the
Beach Volleyball competition for Team USA.
May and her partner Keri Walsh have already
won both of their matches in pool play and
will play its third match today at 12 p.m.
During
May's reign at Long Beach State she led
the 49ers to an undefeated season and an
NCAA title, but now May has become of the
best Beach Volleyball players in the world.
Jamie
Farnworth, is making history for CSULB as
the first softball player from the school
to participate in the Olympics. Farnworth,
playing shortstop for Greece, was the 49ers'
big slugger in the 2004 season as she had
a .340 batting average with five home runs
as a senior. The 49ers won 51 games, a CSULB
record, before ending their season in Regional
play.
Jamie
is joined by her two cousins on the Greece
Olympic team, Stacey and Sarah Farnworth.
The Olympics for the Farnworth's are not
all about playing softball it is also about
visiting with the Greek side of their family
in Athens, the Katsikaros.
"Being
Greek is a very strong thing in our family,"
Stacey Farnworth told Reuters Press. "We
are all Greek and that is the whole point
of it."
The Greece softball team has a record of
2-2, which trails only Team USA (4-0) and
Australia (3-1). Canada and China are also
2-2.
CSULB
head men's and women's water polo coach,
Ricardo Azevedo, is a coach for Team USA
in Athens. Azevedo has been the head coach
of the 49ers for five years and has had
both water polo teams ranked in the top
15 for the last four years. He has coached
31 Olympians in his reign at CSULB.
Azevedo played in the 1976 Olympics for
Brazil and was a coach on the 1996 USA Olympic
team.
Other
former 49er athletes participating in the
2004 Athens Olympics are Tara Cross-Battle
(volleyball), Tom Hoff (volleyball), Tayyiba
Haneef (volleyball), Chris Segesman (water
polo) and Danielle Scott (volleyball).
Other
49er coaches participating in the 2004 Athens
Olympics are Guy Baker (water polo), Liz
Guerrini (5,000-meters El Salvador), Kyle
Kopp (water polo), Skip Kenney (swimming),
Ralph Lindeman (track and field), Everet
Uchiama (swimming), Jon Urbanchek (swimming)
and David Salo (swimming).
The
49ers have had 24 swimmers, two women's
basketball players, one softball player,
one men's basketball player, one baseball
player, six track and field athletes, three
men's volleyball players, four women's volleyball
players and 12 men's water polo players
participate in the Olympics.
Athletes
from CSULB have collected three gold medals,
eight silver medals and three bronze medals
since the existence of the school.
|
