Former Rice athlete makes leap to U.S. Olympic Team

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– July 10, 2008Posted in: Current News

Former Rice athlete makes leap to US Olympic Team

FROM RICE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

Houston native Funmi Jimoh ’06 earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team by placing third at the track-and-field trials held at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus July 3.


Previous Rice women’s track-and-field Olympians:
  • Rosey Edeh ’90 (Canada): 1988,
    1992, 1996
  • Maureen Stewart ’90 (Costa Rica): 1988
  • Heather McDermid ’89 (Canada): Rowing — Silver Medal 1996, Bronze Medal 2000
  • Melissa Straker ’97 (Barbados): 1996
  • Andrea Blackett ’97 (Barbados): 1996,
    2000, 2004
  • Cherita Howard ’98 (Barbados): 1996
  • Margaret Fox ’00 (Canada): 2000
  • Allison Beckford ’04 (Jamaica): 2004
 
FUNMI JIMOH

A graduate of Dulles High School, Jimoh became the first Rice women’s track-and-field athlete to make a U.S. squad when she jumped 6.72m/22-0.75 in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 fans. Former Rice shot-put champion Regina Cavanaugh was an alternate on both the 1984 and 1988 teams.

“She was the third youngest competitor, and she has improved immensely since last year,” said Jim Bevan, Rice women’s track-and-field coach. “She competed very well in a pressure-packed situation in front of a lot of people.”

Bevan also serves has Jimoh’s personal coach.

Jimoh becomes the ninth Rice women’s track-and-field athlete to represent her country in Olympic competition. The 2008 Olympics will be the sixth consecutive games to have at least one Rice women’s track-and-field athlete in the field. Eight of the other nine competed in track events, while a ninth, Heather McDermid, won a pair of medals for Canada while competing in rowing.

Other than the 1980 games, which were boycotted by the United States, Rice has had at least one athlete compete in each Olympics since the Montreal games in 1976 in which Dave Roberts won the Owls’ last Olympic track-and-field medal, taking the silver in the pole vault.
 
Jimoh will return to Houston for a brief period and then will head to Europe before going to Beijing.

For more information and to see results of the trials, visit http://riceowls.cstv.com/sports/w-track/spec-rel/070408aaa.html.

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