Event: Send-off for UBC-affiliated participants of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games
Date: Thursday, June 26
Timing: 4:45 p.m. — Media check-in, 5 p.m. — Program
Place: Thea Koerner House Graduate Centre Ballroom, 6371 Crescent Road.
On Thursday, UBC will celebrate the members of its community participating in the Beijing Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Media are invited to interview and/or photograph members of the 40 Beijing-bound UBC athletes, coaches, physicians and staff who will attend the send-off, along with medalists and participants from previous games.
Since 1928, UBC’s 240 Olympians and Paralympians — the majority of whom have been from B.C. — have brought home 109 medals. Below are some of the people available for interviews Thursday. Photos and details of these and others available upon request.
- Anthony Wright, who will be a third-generation Olympian, is one of several UBC T-Birds expected to be on Canada’s Olympic men’s field hockey team.
- Two-time Olympian Thelma Wright, Anthony’s mother, competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics, where terrorists murdered Israeli athletes.
- First-time Olympian Annamay Pierse, Canadian record holder in the 50, 100 and 200-metre breaststroke.
- Four-time Paralympic medalist Donovan Tildesley, a blind swimmer currently ranked No.2 in the world in 400-metre freestyle.
- Five-time Paralympic medalist Jennifer Krempien, a member of Canada’s top-ranked women’s wheelchair basketball team.
- George Hungerford, who won Olympic rowing gold in Tokyo 1964 despite suffering from mononucleosis. He and Roger Jackson, not regular rowing partners, were last-minute additions to their gold-medal pairs race.
- Tricia Smith, Vancouver lawyer and four-time Olympian, participated in the first-ever Olympic regatta for women at the 1976 Montreal Games. The UBC honorary degree recipient won silver in Los Angeles in 1984.
Backgrounder
As many as 41 members of the UBC community will participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games as athletes (26), coaches (5) sports doctors and staff (10). Of these students, alumni, faculty and staff, as many as 31 will go to the Olympics and as many as 10 are Paralympic-bound.
Confirmed
- Jaimie Borisoff, Vancouver, B.C. (Wheelchair basketball)
- Scott Fraser, Vancouver, B.C. (Physiotherapist)
- Tim Frick, Port Coquitlam, B.C. (Wheelchair basketball coach)
- Nikola Girke, West Vancouver, B.C. (Windsurfing)
- Kyle Hamilton, Richmond, B.C. (Rowing)
- Brent Hayden, Maple Ridge, B.C. (Swimming)
- Brian Johns, Richmond, B.C. (Swimming)
- Tom Johnson, Montreal, QC (Swimming coach)
- Eugene Liang, Vancouver, B.C. (Massage therapist)
- Mike Leigh, Vancouver, B.C. (Sailing)
- Ron Mattison, Quesnel, B.C. (Physiotherapist)
- Bob McCormack (Canada’s Chief Medical Officer)
- Don McKenzie, Richmond, B.C. (Physician)
- Joseph Nagy, Hungary (Swimming coach)
- Patricia Nicholson, Richmond B.C. (Wheelchair basketball)
- Annamay Pierse, Edmonton, AB (Swimming)
- Nadine Plotnikoff, Vancouver, B.C. (Physiotherapist)
- Marc Rizzardo (Soccer physiotherapist)
- Ben Rutledge, Cranbrook, B.C. (Rowing)
- Babak Shadgan, Tehran, Iran (Wrestling doctor)
- Jack Taunton, Montreal, QC (2010 Chief Medical Officer)
- Donovan Tildesley, Vancouver, B.C. (Swimming)
- Hugh Tildesley, Rosemere, QC (Swimming coach)
- Jake Wetzel, Saskatoon, SK(Rowing)
Hopefuls (teams still pending)
- David Carter, Vancouver, B.C. (Field hockey)
- Bruce Enns, Winnipeg, MB (Wheelchair basketball coach)
- David Jameson, North Vancouver, B.C. (Field hockey)
- Connor Grimes, Duncan, B.C. (Field Hockey)
- Jennifer Krempien, St. Albert, AB (Wheelchair basketball)
- Mike Mahood, North Vancouver, B.C. (Field Hockey)
- Mike Mason, Nanoose Bay, B.C. (Track and field)
- Brooks McNiven, Terrace, B.C. (Baseball)
- Blair David Miller, London, U.K. (Track and field)
- Mark Pearson, Vancouver, B.C. (Field hockey)
- Marian Schole, Berlin, Germany (Field hockey)
- Jeff Standfield, Vancouver, B.C. (Rowing)
- Misty Thomas, Santa Monica, CA (Wheelchair basketball)
- Scott Tupper, Vancouver, B.C. (Field hockey)
- Rob Weitemeyer, Coquitlam, B.C. (Rowing)
- Anthony Wright, Vancouver, B.C. (Field hockey)
- Phillip Wright, Vancouver, B.C. (Field hockey)
- Shiaz Virjee (Field hockey)
UBC Olympic and Paralympic History: Quick Facts
- UBC athletes have participated in the Olympic Games since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.
- At least 215 athletes, coaches and support staff from UBC have participated in the Olympic Games.
- At least 25 athletes, coaches and support staff from UBC have participated in the Paralympic Games, including Man in Motion Rick Hansen.
- UBC Olympians have captured 54 medals, including 15 gold, 22 silver and 17 bronze.
- UBC Paralympians have captured 55 medals, including 24 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze.
- With three gold medals and one bronze, rower Kathleen Heddle is UBC’s most decorated Olympian.
- UBC’s most decorated Paralympian is Walter Wu, whose 16 medals in swimming include 8 gold.
- The most recent UBC medalist is Jeff Pain, a former UBC track and field athlete who captured silver in skeleton at the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy.
- UBC Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre will be a venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics (ice hockey) and Paralympics (sledge hockey).
For more info, visit www.gothunderbirds.ca/ubc_the_olympics.asp.
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