OU at the Olympics: What You Should Know About the 2016 Summer Olympics
By Chip Rouse
Eight former Oklahoma Sooners are among the thousands of athletes from around the world who will take part in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games opening in 23 days in Rio de Janeiro. Their participation in what is officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad continues a long tradition of OU at the Olympics that dates back more than 80 years.
With the 2016 Summer Games just three weeks away, here are a few relevant facts and information for Sooner fans to store away and proudly reveal to their friends and family members at opportune times during the wall-to-wall television viewing opportunities we will all experience during the dog days of August, while anxiously waiting for the start of the college football season.
The eight former Oklahoma athletes who earned their way to Rio de Janeiro will be competing in two Olympic events: men’s gymnastics and track and field.
A total of 73 athletes from the University of Oklahoma have competed all-time in the modern history of the Olympic Games, with at least one former Sooner participating in each of the last 20 Summer Olympics.
Glen Dawson and Thomas Churchill were the first track and field athletes on record from OU to have competed in the Summer Games. Dawson finished fifth in the decathlon in the 1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles, and Churchill was the sixth-place finisher in the steeplechase. Dawson also competed four years later in Berlin, finishing eighth in the decathlon.
Athletes with ties to the University of Oklahoma have won 22 medals all-time in the Olympics. Thirteen of those medals were gold. Bart Conner (men’s gymnastics), Dave and Mark Schultz (wrestling) and Wayman Tisdale (men’s basketball) combined for five gold medals in the 1984 Summer Games held in Los Angeles.
The U.S. men’s gymnastics team includes three former Sooners, plus longtime OU men’s head coach Mark Williams will head up the Team USA men’s gymnastics squad at the Rio Games. Five other ex-Sooners will compete in track and field.
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Brittany Borman, who was at OU from 2010-12, is making her second trip to the Summer Olympic Games, competing in the javelin.
Ronnie Ash (OU 2010) qualified at the U.S. Olympic Trials to represent the U.S. in the 110-meter hurdles. Ash holds OU school records in both the 60- and 110-meter hurdles and was Big 12 champion in both events while at Oklahoma.
Will Claye (OU 2009) won the triple jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials and will compete in that event in Rio de Janeiro. He was NCAA and Big 12-champion in that event his freshman season at Oklahoma.
Eric Cray (OU 2012) will compete for the Phillipines at the Rio Summer Games in the 400-meter hurdles, and Laverne Jones-Ferrette (OU 2003-04) will represent the Virgin Islands in the women’s 200 meters.
Jake Dalton (OU 2010-12) will be making his second straight appearance in the Olympics in men’s gymnastics. He is the reigning U.S. floor and vault champion. Joining him on the 2016 U.S. men’s gymnastics team are former OU gymnasts Chris Brooks (2006-09) and Alex Naddour (2010-11).
Brooks is the current U.S. champion on the parallel bars. Naddour is a five-time U.S. pommel horse champion.
Qualifying in men’s gymnastics will get underway on Aug. 5 and will run through Aug. 10 with the all-around finals. Track and field will take place during the second week of the Summer Games, with the events in which the former Sooner athletes will compete scheduled for Aug. 15-18.