BATON ROUGE — Twelve athletes with ties to LSU representing six countries will be on hand to compete in the Sydney Olympics from Sept. 15-Oct. 1.
Eight members of LSU’s highly successful track and field program will be on hand, along with three members of the swimming and diving team, as well as former Tiger baseball standout Kurt Ainsworth.
Current Tiger track and field athletes Claston Bernard and Walter Davis will be on hand in Sydney. Bernard, the NCAA runner-up in the decathlon and a junior at LSU, will compete in his signature event for his native Jamaica, while Davis, currently enrolled at LSU and set to begin his LSU career in January, will compete for the United States in the triple jump.
A trio of members of the 2000 NCAA champion Lady Tiger track and field team will compete in their first Olympics. 19-time All-American Peta-Gaye Dowdie, the NCAA champion in the 200-meter dash and high point scorer at the NCAA Outdoor Championships will compete for her native Jamaica in the 100-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay.
Keisha Spencer, the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion in the triple jump, will compete for Jamaica in her signature event, while Valma Bass, who finished fifth in the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Championships, will represent St. Kitts/Nevis in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes.
For Dowdie it will be her first Olympics, but her second trip down under. Dowdie competed in Sydney in 1996 at the World Junior Championships. Last summer Dowdie anchored the Jamaican 4×100-meter relay team to a Bronze medal in Seville, Spain at the World Championships.
The 1997 NCAA 100-meter hurdles champion Astia Walker, a member of four NCAA champion teams while at LSU, and Celena Clarke, a three-time All-American while at LSU will also represent Jamaica. Walker will run in the 200-meter dash and on the Jamaican 4×100-meter relay team, while Clarke will run on the Jamaican 4×400-meter relay team.
Glenroy Gilbert helped Canada to a Gold medal in the 4×100-meter relay in Atlanta in 1996 and will try to do the same in Sydney. Gilbert was LSU’s lone Gold medalist in the 1996 Olympics.
The track and field portion of the Olympic Games will be contested from Sept. 22-Oct. 1.
Current Lady Tiger swimmer Mandy Leach will represent Zimbabwe in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle. Leach is preparing for her junior season at LSU.
Former LSU standouts Sion Brinn and Julie Rickets will also be on hand in Sydney. For Brinn, it is his second Olympics. The former Tiger standout competed in Atlanta four years ago and will once again represent Jamaica in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle.
Ricketts, a member of the Lady Tiger swim team from 1993-97, will compete in the triathlon for Great Britain.
Kurt Ainsworth, set to pitch for the American baseball squad, is coming off a successful season for the Shreveport Captains of the Texas League (AA). Ainsworth was a member of the Tigers’ staff in 1998-99, helping LSU to the College World Series in 1998 and to a Super Regional berth in 1999 before being selected by the San Francisco Giants in the first round of the amateur draft.
Ainsworth was the Tigers’ ace in 1999 and earned MVP honors at the Baton Rouge Regional after throwing a five-hit shutout to beat East Carolina in the championship game.
The baseball portion of the Olympic Games runs from Sept. 17-27.
LSU has had at least one Gold medalist in each of the last four Olympics games.
2000 LSU Olympians:
Kurt Ainsworth, Baseball, United States
Valma Bass, Track & Field, 100m, 200m, St. Kitts/Nevis
Claston Bernard, Track & Field, Decathlon, Jamaica
Sion Brinn, Swimming, 100 & 200-yard freestyle, Jamaica
Celena Clarke, Track & Field, 4x400m Relay, Jamaica
Walter Davis, Track & Field, Triple Jump, United States
Peta-Gaye Dowdie, Track & Field, 100m & 4x100m, Relay Jamaica
Glenroy Gilbert, Track & Field, 4x100m Relay, Canada
Mandy Leach, Swimming, 200 and 500-yard freestyle, Zimbabwe
Jule Ricketts, Triathlon, Great Britain
Keisha Spencer, Track & Field, Triple Jump, Jamaica
Astia Walker, Track & Field, 200m & 4x100m Relay, Jamaica