UCLA BRUINS - Athletics News



 
UCLA Participants Earn 22 Olympic Medals

Current, former and future UCLA athletes and coaches earned 22 medals in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The 49 competitors earned 12 gold medals, two silver and eight bronze.

Gail Devers and Ato Boldon were double winners. Devers won gold medals in the 100 meters and the 4 x 100 meter relay while Boldon captured bronze medals in the 100 and 200 meters.

Overall, UCLA athletes earned seven medals in softball (four gold and three bronze) and track and field (two gold, two silver and three bronze), two golds in men's beach volleyball, two bronze in baseball, one gold in women's gymnastics, one gold in men's basketball, one gold in women's swimming and one gold in women's soccer.

In the first-ever softball tournament, Dot Richardson hit the game-winning homer and Lisa Fernandez saved the victory with a brilliant relief job on the mound. In the first-ever beach volleyball tournament, Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes earned gold medals and Kiraly became the first man in history to win three gold medals in the sport of volleyball.

In track, Gail Devers defended her 100 meter title, giving UCLA four straight Olympic 100 meter championships (Evelyn Ashford in 1984, Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988 and Devers in 1992 and 1996). Jackie Joyner-Kersee earned a bronze medal in the long jump, her sixth Olympic medal (three gold, one silver and two bronze). In soccer, UCLA head coach Joy Fawcett assisted on the game-winning goal in the gold medal game and Reggie Miller scored 20 points in the Dream Team's gold medal contest. In gymnastics, incoming freshman Kerri Strug earned her team the gold medal with her courageous final vault.

UCLA had 49 athletes, six coaches and four consultants representing the United States and several foreign countries in the 1996 Olympics. Bruin athletes have won at least one gold medal in every Olympics since 1932 (with the exception of the boycotted games of 1980). UCLA coaches and athletes have now won 183 medals - 95 gold, 46 silver and 42 bronze.

UCLA's 1996 Olympic Medal Winners

Joanne Alchin (Brown)   Softball         Infield              Bronze (Australia)
Ato Boldon**            Track & Field    100 meters           Bronze (Trinidad)
                                         200 meters           Bronze (Trinidad)
Sheila Cornell          Softball         First Base           Gold
Gail Devers             Track & Field    100 meters           Gold
                                         4 x 100 relay        Gold
Kerry Dienelt           Softball         Catcher              Bronze (Australia)
Joy Fawcett***          Soccer           Defender             Gold
Lisa Fernandez          Softball         Pitcher/Third Base   Gold
Troy Glaus**            Baseball         Third Base           Bronze
John Godina             Track & Field    Shot put             Silver
Tanya Harding           Softball         Pitcher              Bronze (Australia)
Jackie Joyner-Kersee    Track & Field    Long jump            Bronze
Karch Kiraly            Beach Volleyball                      Gold
Mike Marsh              Track & Field    4 x 100 relay        Silver
Reggie Miller           Basketball                            Gold
Jim Parque**            Baseball         Pitcher              Bronze
Dot Richardson          Softball         Shortstop            Gold
Annette Salmeen**       Swimming         800 freestyle relay  Gold
Kent Steffes            Beach Volleyball                      Gold
Kerri Strug*            Gymnastics                            Gold
Christa Williams*       Softball         Pitcher              Gold
*Incoming freshman
**Competed at UCLA in 1995-96
***Current UCLA head coach