Aug. 1, 2008
Eight current and former Georgia Tech athletes will compete in four different sports at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The Olympic Games begin on August 8 and continue until August 24.
Chaunte Howard, a three-time NCAA Champion in the high jump while competing at Tech, enters the Olympic Games with the top U.S. mark in the high jump in 2008 and ranks seventh in the world. She was also a member of the 2004 US Olympic Team that competed in Athens, Greece.
Fatmata Fofanah, a two-time All-American for the Yellow Jackets women’s track & field team, will compete in the 100-meter hurdles for her native Guinea. Fofanah took home gold earlier this season at the CAA African Athletics Championships in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Angelo Taylor, a two-time NCAA Champion at Georgia Tech, will represent the United States for the third time in the 400-meter hurdles. Taylor won a pair of gold medals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
Chris Bosh, a member of the Tech men’s basketball team during the 2002-03 season and a current member of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, will also play for the USA. In his lone season on the Flats, Bosh led the Jackets with 18 points and 9.3 rebounds and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year.
Georgia Tech senior swimmer Onur Uras set a new Turkish National Team record in the 100-fly (53.97) on his way to qualifying for his second Olympic Games. Uras needed to clock in a 54.66 in order to make the Turkey National Team and topped that by nearly three-quarters of a second. At the 2004 Athens Games, Uras finished 49th in the 100-fly with a time of 56.37.
Incoming freshman swimmer Gal Nevo will represent Israel in both the 200- and 400-Individual Medley. He qualified for the Israeli National Team by finishing in the top 12 of the recent European Championships. It was there that he broke the Israeli record in the 200 IM by finishing in 2:02.43.
The Yellow Jackets will also be represented on the Canadian softball team by former standout Caitlin Lever and current second baseman Jennifer Yee. The two have been training with the Candian National Team for the last year.
Lever, a three-time All-ACC selection, was named to the NFCA All-Southeast Region first team in her final season at Tech. She finished 2007 with a career-high 20 doubles, 11 home runs, and 60 RBI. Lever’s season totals in hits, runs scored (63), RBI, total bases (155), slugging percentage (.745) and on base percentage (.526) rank in the top 10 in ACC single-season history.
Yee had an astonishing inaugural season on the Flats. She finished the 2007 campaign first in the Tech single-season record book in at-bats, while finishing second in runs scored. She started all 70 games last season and accounted for 25 multiple-hit games and 13 multiple-RBI games. Yee also set a new Tech school record with an 18-game hitting streak. She did not compete during the 2008 season but will return to Tech in the fall.
2008 Beijing Sport Participant Country Years At Tech
Chris Bosh Men’s Basketball Athlete USA 2003
Fatmata Fofanah Women’s Track 100 M Hurdles Guinea 2005-08
Chaunte Howard Women’s Track High Jump USA 2003-05
Caitlin Lever Sotball Athlete Canada 2005-07
Gal Nevo Men’s Swimming 200 I/400 IM Israel fr. In 08
Angelo Taylor Men’s Track 400 M Hurdles USA 1997-98
Onur Uras Men’s Swimming 100 Fly Turkey 2004-07
Jen Yee Softball Athlete Canada 2007-pr.
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