Though there won’t be any athletes from the University of Mississippi competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday, the Rebel connection to the world’s largest and longest-running sports competition most definitely has been strong and significant.
With determination, discipline and defiance of odds against them in some cases, 11 Ole Miss men and women have represented themselves, their alma mater and their nations at seven Olympics for more than a quarter of a century.
Most everyone remembers Britney Reese, who leapt her way to gold medals in the women’s long jump first in 2008 and again in 2012. On her last turn at the Olympics, Reese was accompanied by fellow Rebels Isiah Young, who ran the men’s 200 meter; Mahesh Bhupathi, who made his fifth appearance in the men’s tennis doubles; and Jennifer Gillom, who was an assistant coach for the USA’s gold medal-winning women’s basketball team
The UM-Olympics connection actually began with Gillom in 1988 when she became the first UM gold medalist in women’s basketball. Her sister, Peggie Gillom-Granderson, was a gold medalist assistant coach for the USA women’s basketball team in 2000. As a former player and a coach, she reflected upon her experiences.
“I had watched the Olympics and wanted to be a part of it, but never thought in 83 million years that I would actually participate in one,” Gillom-Granderson said. “I had been coaching at a WNBA summer camp when Nell Fortner (the head coach) approached me and asked if I’d like to be her assistant at the Olympics. My reply was, ‘OMG! Yes, I would love to do that.’”
Though an experienced professional, Gillom-Granderson found preparing the team for the international competition a daunting task.
“I can’t explain just how scary it was for me to be coaching the best players in the world,” she said. “To this day, I have pinch myself sometimes to realize it really happened. The whole experience was a ‘but God’ moment in my life.”
Fellow Rebels Allan Ince and Gary Kinder also competed in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and decathlon in 1988. Four years later, Tony Dees brought back a silver medal in men’s 100-meter hurdles while Alan Haynes competed in the men’s triple jump.
In 2000, Savanté Stringfellow ran the men’s long jump. Van Chancellor was head coach for the USA gold medal-winning women’s basketball team in 2004.
Are there future Rebels on their way to the 2016 Olympics? Ole Miss may have a strong possibility in Sam Kendricks, a sophomore who captured the NCAA title in men’s pole vaulting last summer. He went on to compete in the U.S. Championships with a ranking of second among Americans and seventh in the world.
Only time will reveal if the Ole Miss-Olympics connection remains, but if history is any indication, at least one Rebel is bound to appear in some way at future games. And who knows? Given recent global weather patterns, winter sports like snow skiing, figure-skating and ice hockey may someday manage to be included in UM athletics.
“With God, all things are possible,” Gillom-Granderson said.
For more information about Ole Miss Olympians, go to http://www.olemisssports.com/ot/12-olympic-central.html.