Several Current and Former Dartmouth Athletes in Olympic Qualifying Competitions
7/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
HANOVER, N.H. ? Ten former and three current Big Green athletes, all competed with five making their respective teams to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The alumni included Dominic Seiterle '98, John Nichols '01, Matt Muffelman '03, Sean Furey '04, Mustafa Abdul-Rahim '04, Adam Nelson '97, Tyler Koskenoja '07 and Jarrod Shoemaker '04 while Dartmouth's current athletes were Daniel Keat '10, Craig Henderson '09 and Ben True '08.
Soccer players Henderson (Wellington, New Zealand) and Keat (Wellington, New Zealand) helped their native New Zealand seal a bid. The duo competed on New Zealand's Under-23 National Team for Olympic qualifying at the Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Lautoka, Fiji from March 1-9. The pair helped New Zealand go 5-0 to seal its first-ever Olympic bid.
Seiterle (Montreal, Que.) won gold in the World Rowing Championship with the Canadian Squad in 2007 and has qualified for the 2008 Canadian Heavyweight 8 team. He returned to rowing last year after a seven-year layoff following the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, where he raced in the Canadian double, finishing 13th. In the summer of 1997, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but he recovered to return to Dartmouth and captain the heavyweight crew team in his senior year. Among his many exploits, Seiterle rowed across Lake Ontario for cancer research. The trip was 130 kilometers from Rochester, New York, to Kingston, Ontario.
Nichols (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Muffelman (Mobjack, Va.) both competed for spots on the U.S. lightweight rowing team but neither made the Olympic boats. However the pair earned seats on the team that will compete in the World Championships this summer, Muffelman in the eight and Nichols in the pair.
Shoemaker (Sudbury, Mass.) earned the first spot on the U.S. men's track team with an 11th-place finish at the ITU BG Beijing World Cup in the triathlon. The 2005 U23 World Champion has extensive experience in international competition, having won the 2006 Haul to the Great Wall Series and was the 2004 USAT U23 National Champion. Shoemaker was recently featured on a limited-edition Wheaties box. It was the first time he was featured and just the second time a triathlete had appeared on the box.
The 2008 Games will mark Nelson's (Atlanta, Ga.) third time competing for the U.S. in the shotput. In the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, he earned a silver medal after coming in first place in the 2000 Olympic Trial. Going into the Games, Nelson was the favorite to win, having won every major event in the summer of 2000. His throw of 21.21 m (69 ft 7 in) was just three inches (8 cm) short of winning the gold. Nelson's personal best is 22.51 (73 ft 10 in), which he threw in 2002. At that time, this was the fourth longest throw in U.S. history and the ninth farthest ever in the world. He defended his silver medal in the shotput at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Furey (Methuen, Mass.), True (North Yarmouth, Maine) and Abdur-Rahim (Brookline, Mass.) all attempted to qualify for the U.S. men's track team but their bids fell short. Koskenoja narrowly missed qualifying with Team Canada in the decathlon. He won his last two events on the final day and earned a career-best 7,462 points.
There's one athlete left to compete, Harry Norton (North Reading, Mass.) will be trying to punch his ticket to Beijing on Saturday, July 12 when he competes in the 1500-meters at the British Trials.
Players Mentioned
