July 25, 2012
With 45 Golden Bears having earned a spot in the Olympic Games, California has more representatives for the 19 days of competition in London than any other public university in the country. The total includes 38 athletes, five coaches, one chief medical officer and one event manager.
Over its history, Cal athletes have captured 159 total medals - 91 gold, 40 silver and 28 bronze - including a school-record 17 medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. A total of 46 Bears were at the Games in China, and the 2012 number is second only to USC's 46 among schools nationwide.
This year's contingent features athletes and coaches in 10 different sports - men's basketball, men's and women's rowing, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's track & field, men's and women's water polo and women's soccer.
The largest group of Bears will be in the pool, where 19 athletes will swim for their countries. In addition, Cal women's swimming coach Teri McKeever is the U.S. women's head coach and men's assistant coach Greg Meehan is serving as an assistant for Estonia. Just over half of Cal's 45 Olympians will be wearing the red, white and blue of Team USA.
"The Olympic Games is a prestigious international venue for Cal to continue to showcase the world-class excellence of our Golden Bears and the campus," Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour said. "To return to the Olympics for the second time in a row with at least 45 representatives is a testament to the culture of high performance at Cal and is the result of so much hard work, dedication and sacrifice by our student-athletes, coaches and support staff. The fact that we compete and excel at the highest level helps enable Cal to consistently attract the most talented student-athletes in the world."
Eleven members of the Cal group have already stood upon the Olympic medal stand previously, led by swimming's Natalie Coughlin, who is a two-time champion in the 100-meter backstroke and has collected 11 total medals over the past two Olympiads. Cal's other multiple-medal winner returning from '08 is Heather Petri, who is in her fourth Olympics. She helped the USA to silver in both 2000 and '08 and a bronze medal in 2004.
Coughlin and Petri are just two of eight medalists from 2008 back at the Games, with the others being Elsie Windes (water polo), Erin Cafaro (rowing), Zach Frandsen (rowing), Nathan Adrian (swimming), Milorad Cavic (swimming) and Sara Isakovic (swimming).
After missing out on the '08 Olympics, swimmer Dana Vollmer is back after earning gold in 2004, while sprint freestyle specialist Anthony Ervin qualified for Team USA after picking up a gold and a silver in 2000. One other medal winner present will be Laurel Korholz, who captured silver in 2004 and now serves as an assistant coach for the USA rowing team.
Complete information on Golden Bears at the Olympics, including lists of all-time Olympians and medalists as well as profiles of this year's participants, can be found at CalBears.com. Throughout the Games, look for recaps of Cal athletes in action, in addition to exclusive video features and photos. Cal's Director of Olympic Sports Operations, Jenny Simon-O'Neill, will post a regular blog (Jenny's Journey), and she will be tweeting about her experience @BearsInLondon.
Golden Bears at the 2012 Olympics
Medical Staff
Cindy Chang, MD - USA Chief Medical Officer
Men's Basketball
Max Zhang - China
Men's Rowing
Mike Teti - USA rowing eight head coach
Will Dean - Canada four
Scott Frandsen - Canada pair
Elliot Hovey - USA quad sculls
Olivier Siegelaar - Netherlands
Zach Vlahos - USA eight
Women's Rowing
Dave O'Neill - USA lightweight double sculls coach
Laurel Korholz - USA assistant coach
Erin Cafaro - USA eight
Kara Kohler - USA quad sculls
Julie Nichols - USA lightweight double sculls
Women's Soccer
Betsy Hassett - New Zealand
Alex Morgan - USA
Men's Swimming
Greg Meehan - Estonia - assistant coach
Nathan Adrian - USA - 100-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle relay
Henrique Barbosa - Brazil
Milorad Cavic - Serbia
Damir Dugonjic - Slovenia
Anthony Ervin - USA men's swimming - 50-meter freestyle
Mathias Gydesen - Denmark - 100-meter backstroke
Martin Liivamagi - Estonia
Dominik Meichtry - Switzerland
Graeme Moore - South Africa - 400-meter freestyle relay
Marcin Tarczynski - Poland
Women's Swimming
Teri McKeever - USA head coach
Stephanie Au - Hong Kong - 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke
Lauren Boyle - New Zealand - 200-meter freestyle, 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle relay
Rachel Bootsma - USA - 100-meter backstroke
Natalie Coughlin - USA - 400-meter freestyle relay
Jessica Hardy - USA - 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle relay
Sara Isakovic - Slovenia - 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly
Caitlin Leverenz - USA - 200-meter individual medley and 400-meter individual medley
Dana Vollmer - USA - 100-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle relay
Hannah Wilson - Hong Kong - 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly
Men's Track & Field
Kari Karlsson - Iceland - marathon
Martin Maric - Croatia - discus
Amin Nikfar - Iran - shot put
Alan Kolling - USA - event manager
Women's Track & Field
Alysia Montano - USA - 800 meters
Men's Water Polo
John Mann - USA
Aleksa Saponjic - Serbia
Women's Water Polo
Heather Petri - USA
Elsie Windes - USA
