Trojans reach for the Olympic Spirit
Athletes venture beyond USC in search of gold
Twenty-four past, present
and future USC athletes will represent 12 countries at the 1996 Summer
Olympic Games in Atlanta starting this weekend.USC has sent more athletes
to the Olympics than any other university. From 1904 to 1992, 281 Olympians
have attended USC, garnering a total of 188 medals.A USC athlete has won at
least one gold medal in every Summer Olympics since 1912.According to the USC
athletics department, the leading candidates to keep USC's gold medal
streak alive in 1996 are four-time gold medalist swimmer Janet Evans
(800-meter freestyle), baseball centerfielder Jacque Jones, basketball
center Lisa Leslie, sprinter Inger Miller (400-meter relay) and
hammer-thrower Balazs Kiss of Hungary.Of USC's 1996 Olympians, 10
will compete in track and field, nine in swimming, two in volleyball and
one each in baseball, basketball and diving.In addition to the United
States, USC athletes will represent Australia, Belgium, Ecuador, Germany,
Hong Kong, Hungary, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria and
Singapore.The following is a complete
list of USC's summer Olympians as of July 16:*Kehinde Alade'fa (Nigeria)
Track, 400m IH.*Brad Bridgewater (USA)
Swimming, 200m backstroke.*Jean-Paul Bruwier
(Belgium) Track, 400m IH.*Sau Ying Chan (Hong Kong)
Track, 100m HH.*Mark Crear (USA) Track,
110m HH.*Udeme Ekpenyong (Nigeria)
Track, 400m.*William Erase (Nigeria)
Track, 110m HH.*Janet Evans (USA)
Swimming, 400m and 800m freestyle.*Paul Greene (Australia)
Track, 400m.*Bryan Ivie (USA)
Volleyball.*Jacque Jones (USA)
Baseball.*Balazs Kiss (Hungary)
Track, hammer throw.*Desmond Koh (Singapore)
Swimming.*Mark Kwok (Hong Kong)
Swimming.*Lisa Leslie (USA)
Basketball.*Inger Miller (USA) Track,
200m and 400m relay.*Kristine Quance (USA)
Swimming, 100m breaststroke and 200m IM.*Maria Elena Romero
(Mexico) Diving, 3-meter platform.*Jason Shelton (Jamaica)
Track, 100m.*John Steel (New Zealand)
Swimming, 100m freestyle.*Bela Szabados (Hungary)
Swimming, 400m freestyle.*Cito Vasconcellos
(Ecuador) Swimming.*Paula Weishoff (USA)
Volleyball.*Bjorn Zikarsky (Germany)
Swimming, 100m freestyle and 400m freestyle relay.--from staff reports