Former Illini Kevin Anderson, who turned pro in 2007, hopes to play for his native South Africa in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Despite his spot on the world stage, he still trains in Champaign and keeps in touch with the Illinois team. (UI Sports Information Photo)

By Troy Murray

“Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?”

So says the inviting emblem of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, set to take place Aug. 8-24 in Beijing.

And so indeed have the Games attracted participants from all over the world with a University of Illinois connection.

With many U.S. Olympic trials in the most well-known sports – diving, equestrian, gymnastics, swimming, track and field, and wrestling – scheduled for mid- to late June, results were unknown at press time. So Illinois Alumni is offering other options by which to view the upcoming crown jewel of competition – Illini hoping to represent other nations or anticipating the Paralympics; students experiencing the thrill of helping an athlete prepare for a sport; and non-sports professionals who trained at Illinois to better present and service the Games in China.

Following is an orange-and-blue look at a summer filled with gold, silver and bronze.

ILLINOIS ATHLETES AROUND THE WORLD

You can cheer Illini athletes on not only when the United States is competing but other nations as well – such as watching out for UI sprinter Yawusa Kinda, who will run in the men’s 4x400-meter relay for Sudan. While Games watchers may likely be aware of Illinois athletes on the U.S. team, here is a peek at some other possible UI athletes on the rosters of other countries.

University of Illinois student Gakologelwang Masheto is one of several Illini who will compete at the Beijing Olympic Games in August for nations other than the United States. Masheto, known as “Shoes,” will run for his native Botswana. (UI Sports Information Photo)

Botswana’s Gakologelwang Masheto

Maybe he was wearing the wrong pair.

Gakologelwang Masheto, nicknamed “Shoes” by a soccer coach in his native Botswana, took the Illinois track and field world by storm after winning three Big Ten titles in his first year (junior year eligibility-wise) with the Illini. But will a stress fracture incurred this spring make a difference when he runs the 400-meter dash and 4x400 relay this summer?

Illinois coach Wayne Angel doesn’t think so. “Shoes,” who, in making his nation’s team, is the first Illini men’s track athlete to make it to the Olympics since Bobby True ’00 BUS in 2000, has been keeping up his cardiovascular strength during his down time. While the relay is “one of the best in the world,” according to Angel and Masheto, the 23-year-old track star is concentrating on running a personal best in his individual event, just in case.

Canada’s Perdita Felicien

Perdita Felicien ’04 AHS looked to be a sure winner when Gail Devers, the projected favorite in the 100-meter hurdles, pulled out due to injury at the 2004 Olympics. After all, Felicien had been crowned world indoor champion in the 60 hurdles just five months earlier. However, in a turn that took everyone – including her – by surprise, Felicien collided with the first hurdle in the finals and failed to finish.

Four years later, she is hoping to finish and finish big (trials will take place in July). “To win in China would be a dream come true,” said Felicien, 27, who doesn’t feel “any burden” from the previous disappointment. And don’t call her possible return to the Olympics a comeback – the hurdler is hoping her career is just getting started. “I still want to compete for another four to five years,” she said.

Canada’s Chris Robinson

The highlight of former Illinois catcher Chris Robinson’s ’05 baseball career came in early March this year when the 24-year-old helped the Canadian national team qualify for Olympic play this summer.

“To be playing for your country – in terms of my career, that’s at the top.”  – baseballer Chris Robinson

While winning a Big Ten title and getting drafted by the Detroit Tigers rated as definite thrills, “to be playing for your country and to be doing what we did over in Taiwan [qualifying for Beijing], in terms of my career, that’s at the top,” he said.

Barring an injury, Robinson’s most memorable baseball moments should still be ahead of him come August when Canada competes for a medal against seven other teams.

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson ’07 takes his place among the greatest tennis players in Illinois’ rich history in the sport. The three-time singles and two-time doubles All-American won the doubles title at the NCAA Championships in 2006 as a sophomore and helped the Illini reach a national runner-up finish in his junior year before turning professional.

But Anderson, 22, could quite possibly be playing the best tennis yet of his career as a representative of South Africa in the Olympics (selection depends on the Associa-tion of Tennis Professionals rankings and regional affiliation). The top-ranked player in South Africa, the 6-foot, 7-inch Anderson recently upset the No. 3 player in the world – Novak Djokovic – to reach the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open and climb to No. 100, the highest ranking of his professional career.

Sweden’s Susanna Kallur

The Swedish national men’s hockey team might have won Olympic gold in the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, but Susanna Kallur ’03 still trumped the team and won the Jerring Award, an honor bestowed by the Swedish fans to their country’s best athlete or team that year.

Kallur, 27, won the 60 hurdles bronze medal that year at the World Indoor Championships and the 100 hurdles gold at the European Athletics Championships. The next year, she took the top prize in the 60 hurdles at the 2007 European Championships. Having set a new world indoor record in the 60 hurdles in February and ranking second in the world in the 100 hurdles, Kallur is no long shot in Beijing. (Sweden’s trials will be held mid-summer.)

Jessica Galli, right, hopes to race right into a medal situation at the 2008 Paralympic Games in September. The 2007 U.S. Paralympian of the Year and University of Illinois alumna credits her parents as a driving force in her life. “I’m not allowed to just sit around and be lazy,” she said. “Thank goodness for them.” (Josh Birnbaum Photo)

PARALYMPIANS

A few weeks after the Olympics come to a close in August, the Paralympic Games will take place Sept. 6-17 in Beijing. The competition, begun in 1948 to offer Olympic-style games for athletes with a disability, mounts elite sport events for athletes from six disability groups. With some already on the team and others still hopeful, the following Illini are aiming to play for the United States. (Track and field results were unknown at press time, as the trials took place in mid-June.)

Paralympian of the Year Jessica Galli

Jessica Galli ’06 AHS has accomplished it all as a Paralympian in track – a world record holder in the 200-meter, 400-m and 800-m; gold medalist at the U.S. national meet in 2007; silver medalist in the 800 at the Sydney summer games; and 2007 Paralympian of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

There’s just one thing missing: an Olympic gold medal, a goal that the 24-year-old hopes to accomplish after qualifying for the U.S. at the trials in mid-June.
           
“I’ve been to the Paralympics twice [Sydney and Athens], but I’ve never had much success,” Galli said. “Making the team won’t be a surprise, but training hard and succeeding in Beijing is my goal. My coach says you can’t base your success on that medal, but I do.”

Steve Serio

One athlete who knows he’s made the U.S. team is Steve Serio, who officially won a spot on the men’s wheelchair basketball team at the tryout in Colorado Springs, Colo., in April.

Serio, 20, has traveled the world while making a name for himself and the team. Trips to Amsterdam and Brazil in the summer of 2006 and 2007, respectively, yielded a gold and silver medal in competitions.

On the way to Beijing, Serio and the national team will make pit stops in Alabama, Georgia and Manchester, England, for meets and team training camps.

“On one hand, I’m really excited and grateful for the opportunity,” the UI student said. “I’ve worked hard, and now it’s paying off. But I also realize how much hard work there is to come. It’s overwhelming at first. We have to put a bunch of work in as a team. But, hopefully, it will pay off.”

Adam Bleakney

At the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Adam Bleakney ’00 LAS, MS ’02 COM, was just 0.03 seconds away from capturing the gold medal in the 800-m. If he hopes to finish one place higher in Beijing, Bleakney said he must stick to his strategy.

And that’s an unusual one. While the 800-m race is usually dominated by strong starters and accelerators, Bleakney, 32, waits till the 150-meter mark when his opponents begin to tire. He then slingshots past them and holds a high speed in hopes of holding off his competition.

“If we hold a high pace for 600 meters, I think I’ll have a better shot at winning,” Bleakney said. “I’ll do my best to push the race in that direction.”

In the upcoming Games, Bleakney could face Josh George ’07 COM, another Illinois athlete that Bleakney now coaches as Illinois’ wheelchair track coach. George was recently featured in a May 15 story in The New York Times.

Patty Cisneros

First-year Illinois women’s wheelchair basketball coach Patty Cisneros, EDM ’03, recently coached the team to its third national championship in as many years in March. But come mid-September, she’ll put down her clipboard and put on a uniform for the U.S. women’s basketball team, one of five former and two current Illini women on a 12-member roster that includes UI students Carlee Hoffman and Sarah Castle and alumnae Jennifer Warkins Ruddell ’00 AHS, EDM ’01, PHD ’04 AHS; Emily Hoskins ’07 LAS; Stephanie Wheeler ’04 AHS; and Christina Ripp ’05 AHS.

“Having seven players on this team just goes to show you how rich and strong [the UI] program is,” Cisneros said. “We’re one of the top wheelchair basketball programs in the country. People come here just to be on a national team, and we’re their best shot.”

It will be the 30-year-old Cisneros’ third go-around with the national team at the Paralympics – in the 2004 Paralympic Games, the U.S. took home the gold medal – and her last. She plans on retiring, hopefully after a finals win on Sept. 16.

Amanda McGrory

Amanda McGrory had a tough decision to make for the upcoming Paralympics – women’s wheelchair basketball or track.

“They’re two totally different sports,” said McGrory, 22, who will be a UI senior this fall. “I feel like I’m a little stronger in track right now, and it’s my favorite.”

McGrory, who started racing straight out of rehab after an allergy shot led to an inflamed spinal cord at the age of 5, helped the Illini wheelchair basketball team to its third straight national title this spring. On the track, she’s the world record holder in the 5,000-meters, was ranked the No. 1 marathoner in the world this past year and won world championships in the 5k and 10k races.

Although she’s on scholarship at Illinois for wheelchair basketball, McGrory is set to compete in the 800-m; 1,500-m; 5,000-m; and marathon after trials in June and “would love to just medal in something.”