Current, Former Sun Devils Set for the World Stage in Beijing this Week

Aug. 5, 2008

Sun Devil Olympic Page

TEMPE, Ariz. - The Beijing Olympic Games are set to open this week with 16 total people having ties to the Arizona State University athletic department set to compete or work with competitors that will compete on the biggest stage in sport. The Games unofficially get underway August 6 with three women's football (soccer) matches being held at three different venues in China with the official Opening Ceremonies taking place August 8.

The Sun Devils will be represented by 11 competitors, including five in athletics (track & field), three in swimming, one in diving, one in basketball (men's) and one in archery. ASU also will be represented by three coaches and two athletic trainers. All told, 10 different nations will be represented by the Sun Devil contingent, including: USA, Australia, Croatia, Finland, Ghana, Great Britain, Israel, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Zimbabwe.

Competing in Beijing will be four athletes that were on Sun Devil teams during the 2007-08 season, including two in swimming and two in track & field. Ante Cvitkovic (Croatia) and Mohammed Madwa (Kuwait) will compete in swimming while Jacquelyn Johnson (USA) and Joel Phillip (Grenada) will be on the track. Two current Sun Devil aquatic coaches also will be in Beijing, including head swimming coach Mike Chasson and diving coach Mark Bradshaw. Chasson will be coaching for Kuwait and working with Madwa while Bradshaw will coach Joona Puhakka (Finland) in the 3m springboard event.

Others competing will be Seth Amoo (Ghana), Lewis Banda (Zimbabwe) and Trevell Quinley (USA) in track and field; Gal Nevo (Israel) in swimming; Shawn Redhage (Australia) in basketball; and Alison Williamson (Great Britain) in archery. Williamson will be competing in her fifth Olympiad and is ASU's lone returning medalist (2004, bronze) while Banda is the only other multiple-time Olympian as he is set for his second competition.

Former Sun Devil softball head coach Linda Wells is returning the Games for the second Olympiad in a row as she will serve as an assistant coach for the Netherlands team. Wells was the head coach of the Greek team in Athens in 2004. A pair of former Sun Devil athletic trainers will also be on hand and working with USA athletes, including Casey Smith and Ian McLeod. Smith will serve as the head athletic trainer for the USA men's basketball team while McLeod will work with the swimming team.