This Friday the Opening Ceremonies will kick off the 2004 Olympic Games, welcoming athletes from 201 countries into the Athenian stadium, including three of Dartmouth's very own.
Kristen Luckenbill '01 of Paoli, Penn., will represent the U.S. women's soccer team as one of its two goalkeepers. At Dartmouth, she started in 70 consecutive games, setting two school records, with 29 career shutouts and a 0.73 goals against average. She gained national recognition as a three-time All-American, and within the Ivy-League she was a four-time All-Ivy team selection and the 1997 Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
For three years after graduation, Luckenbill played in the Women's United Soccer Association for the Carolina Courage. Even after Dartmouth, she made Ivy League history when attaining her first cap -- a distinction given to a player competing in an international match -- when she entered in the 66th minute of play as a substitute. She was named WUSA goalkeeper of the year in 2002, first competing with the national team on April 24 when they played against Brazil in Birmingham, Ala.
Joining the ranks of Mia Hamm and several other players who are returning to the Olympic games for the third time, the relatively inexperienced Luckenbill is competing internationally for the first time. Furthermore, she only holds four caps in comparison to the team average of 104. She and her teammates, nevertheless, are already succeeding in Athens, defeating Greece 3-0 in the Olympics' opening match on Wednesday. Luckenbill will next face Australia on Aug. 14 and later Brazil on Aug. 17. as the U.S. team looks for a gold medal.
Adam Nelson '97, on the other hand, is returning to the Olympics for the second time to compete in shot put. He won the Sydney 2000 silver medal with the personal best throw of 22.12 meters (72 feet, 7 inches). Coming from a family of athletes, including sister and soccer player Sarah-Kate '02, Nelson primarily played as a linebacker and later as a defensive tackle for Dartmouth's last undefeated football team in 1996.
His experience in shot put stems from humble beginnings, ranking fourth or fifth in his eighth-grade class. He continued practicing the sport throughout high school and college, eventually bringing him to the 2000 Olympic trials, where he finished number one in the world. The current world record holder in shot put is Randy Barnes, who has been on lifetime suspension for drug use since 1998.
Nelson underwent intense training in preparation for the 2004 Games, working with renowned Arizona-based strength coach Charles Poliquin. Poliquin focused on increasing Nelson's body weight, since he was relatively light for a shot-putter. The coach even went so far as to identify a bacterium that was affecting Nelson's assimilation of protein.
In three months, Nelson gained 25 pounds of muscle, decreased his body fat by five percent, and increased his incline bench press from 385 pounds to 525 pounds with a 3-inch-thick bar, making him the fastest athlete that Poliquin has ever trained. Nelson's rigorous preparation is already inciting buzz of a gold medal, but the Olympic Committee will be the judge of that on Aug. 18.
Benjie Lewis '05, the only current Dartmouth student in the Athens Olympic Games, will compete with the U.S. Canoe/Kayak team.
Lewis started kayaking at age 13 at a whitewater kayaking summer camp. He continued training in his hometown of Miami, after responding to a "kayakers wanted" newspaper advertisement in the Miami Herald submitted by Olympian Angel Perez. With the help of Perez and other coaches, Lewis began an athletic career in sprint kayaking, which measures athletes on speed, strength and endurance at distances of 500 and 1,000 meters.
Throughout high school he lived and trained at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. In 2003, Lewis won five gold medals at the National Championships, in addition to one bronze and two silver medals at the trials. He experienced even more success at the Pan American Games, winning a silver medal in the K-2 1,000-meter race and ranking fifth in the K-2 500-meter event.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Norway took home the gold in both the 500-meter and 1,000-meter races, while Hungary won the gold medal in the 100-meter quads. The U.S. team unfortunately finished in sixth place, but on Aug. 23 Lewis and his teammates will have the chance to redeem their loss.
