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Connecticut College alumni excited for the 2008 Summer Olympics

Amanda Clark ´05 (pictured) will sail with teammate Sarah Mergenthaler in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

August 10, 2008

From August 8-24, the world´s best athletes - including Amanda Clark ´05 -- compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

As a member of the International Olympic Committee, another alumna, Anita DeFrantz ´74, has the rare privilege of awarding medals to this year´s winners.

"It is wonderful to look them in the eye and say, ´Congratulations,´" said DeFrantz, who won her own bronze medal in rowing in 1976.

This month several Connecticut College alumni have headed to China to work, watch and even compete at the Olympics.

Brian Walker ´88 is busy at this year´s games as director of communications for NBC Sports. The Olympics are expected to be seen by over 200 million viewers, and for the first time, there is also live online coverage.

"We´re calling it the single most ambitious media event in history," he said.

Also working in Beijing is Jennifer Lilly ´99, who, since the summer of 2005 has been working closely with the U.S. Sailing Team to learn as much about the sailing conditions in Qingdao, China, as possible.

Through her research with the Sailing Weather Service - which has provided forecasting and training services to the U.S. Sailing Team since the 1992 Olympics - Lilly has developed detailed computer models to track winds and ocean currents at the venue. "Our models provide predictions of wind and weather at multiple locations on each of the five racing circles, information that I use to develop a detailed forecast for each day," said Lilly, who also sailed at Connecticut College.

While Walker works behind the scenes, Amanda Clark ´05 will sail with teammate Sarah Mergenthaler in the 470 class. They recently completed their final big training session in Qingdao, China.

"The past two and a half weeks of training have been jam-packed but very successful," they wrote on their Web site. "Most of the training days delivered the exact conditions we wanted for speed testing, equipment evaluation as well as mock races and starts."

Clark will join the list of many Connecticut College Olympians, which includes Tim Young ´92, Cathy Zagunis ´74, and William Wuyke, the director of the fitness and wellness center.

Zagunis, who serves as the manager for the women´s saber squad, is in Beijing supporting her daughter, fencer Mariel Zagunis, who took home a gold medal on Aug. 9. Wuyke, Kim-Toy Reynolds Huh ´77 and Chia-Li Chang ´04 are also watching the games.

Chang, who works at the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center as part of a Princeton in Asia fellowship, said that the city has been under constant construction in preparation for the games. In less than a month, they widened her street from two to six lanes.

"Beijing right now is the hot spot to be," Chang said. "Old buildings are being torn down and rebuilt almost overnight. New subway lines, bus stations, everything is all in preparation for the thousands of tourists that Beijing will be hosting."

Oliver Petzold ´99, who studied at Beijing Normal University from June-December 2007, also saw rapid construction, as well as an abundance of Olympics posters and chopsticks that had "2008" written on them. He said that while local residents might get frustrated with some of the modernization happening, many of them also feel a sense of pride about having the Olympics in their city.

"It is probably cliché, but I really did feel like the people of Beijing were excited to show their country to the rest of the world," he said.

Connecticut College alumni have plenty of reasons to watch this year´s games and can even start gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Former Connecticut College coach Melody Davidson, who led the Canadian women´s hockey team to a gold medal at the 2006 Olympics, will reprise her role in Vancouver.

For more information contact: Amy Martin (860) 439-2526; a.martin@conncoll.edu