BATON ROUGE — The wait is finally over for the world’s greatest track and field athletes as competitors will gather at the National Stadium in Beijing, China, on Thursday night for the long awaited start of the athletics competition at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Among those who will begin their pursuit of Olympic glory are 12 LSU athletes past and present flying the flags of seven different nations from across the globe.
The reigning NCAA 100-meter champion Richard Thompson will be the first Tiger to compete as he lines up in the first round of qualifying in the men’s 100-meter dash on Thursday at 9:45 p.m. CDT wearing the red and black of his native Trinidad and Tobago.
Thompson will be fighting to get on the medal stand against one of the deepest fields in Olympic history as he boasts the fifth-fastest 100-meter time of all sprinters in Beijing after clocking a personal best of 9.93 seconds in the final at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on May 18. He is also scheduled to run on Trinidad’s 4×100-meter relay beginning Aug. 21.
Former Lady Tiger standouts Neisha Bernard-Thomas of Grenada and Marian Burnett of Guyana are also set to compete on Thursday night as they line up in the preliminaries of the women’s 800 meters at 11 p.m. The 800-meter final is scheduled to run Monday at 8:40 a.m.
While qualifying in the men’s 100-meter dash is set to begin Thursday night, the first round of the women’s 100 meters follows on Friday at 9:50 p.m.
The Lady Tigers will be well-represented in the event as American Muna Lee is a gold-medal contender with the third-fastest time in the world this season. Lee recorded a new personal best of 10.85 en route to winning the 100-meter title at the U.S. Olympic Trials back in June.
Lee, who is making her second career appearance at the Olympic Games after earning a seventh-place finish in the 200 meters in Athens, Greece, four years ago, will also be running for the United States in the 200 meters on Monday at 9:40 p.m. and the 4×100-meter relay on Aug. 21 at 7 a.m. The United States has the fastest sprint relay in the world with a top time of 42.25.
Joining Lee in the qualifying rounds of the women’s 100 meters is Kelly Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago and Sherry Fletcher of Grenada.
Baptiste and Fletcher have won the last two NCAA titles in the 100-meter dash while running for the Lady Tigers and will each be making their first Olympic appearance this weekend. In addition to running the 100 meters, Baptiste will run a leg on her country’s 4×100-meter relay.
Perhaps no other LSU athlete has a better chance to win a gold medal at these Olympic Games than American superstar Lolo Jones, who enters the meet with the world’s fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles after clocking a personal best of 12.45 in the semifinals at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Jones went on to win the U.S. Olympic Trials championship in the 100 hurdles with a wind-aided time of 12.29 in the finals, which is the fastest that any American woman has finished the race in history under all conditions. She is the reigning U.S. Indoor and World Indoor champion in the 60 hurdles and has dominated the 100 hurdles with three victories in overseas meets in recent weeks.
Like many LSU athletes in Beijing, Jones will be making her Olympic debut for the United States as she lines up for the first round of qualifying in the 100 hurdles on Sunday at 6 a.m.
Jones is not the only LSU hurdler who will be competing in the Olympics for the first time as former Tiger national champion Isa Phillips and reigning NCAA champion Nickiesha Wilson will run against the best 400-meter hurdlers in the world while wearing the black, green and gold of their native Jamaica. They will step onto the track for the first time this weekend.
The first round of the men’s 400 hurdles is scheduled for Friday at 8:55 a.m., while the first round of qualifying in the women’s 400 hurdles follows on Sunday at 7:10 a.m.
Wilson has quickly established herself as one of the premier 400-meter hurdlers in the sport after earning a fourth-place finish in the event at the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan, last summer. She is the LSU school-record holder with a personal best of 53.97 and will step on the track in the prelims with the fifth-fastest time in the field this season at 54.45.
Two former Tigers are slated to compete for the first time Sunday at 8 p.m. as Alleyne Francique of Grenada and Siraj Williams of Liberia line up in the first round of the men’s 400-meter dash.
Francique, who is making his second Olympic appearance after finishing fourth in the 400 meters at the Athens Olympics four years ago, received the honor of carrying the Grenada flag into the National Stadium during the Parade of Nations at the opening ceremonies last Friday night.
Rounding out the LSU contingent that will be competing in Beijing is former Lady Tiger national champion Laverne Eve, who is making her fourth Olympic appearance for The Bahamas and will throw the javelin for the first time on Monday at 8 p.m. Eve has more Olympic Games experience than any other LSU athlete in history after making her debut in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988.
Be sure to follow all the action and track the progress of each athlete at the 2008 Olympic Games by logging on to www.LSUsports.net for daily updates.
LSU’s Participants in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Athlete, Event, Country
Kelly Baptiste, 100 meters/4×100 relay, Trinidad & Tobago
Neisha Bernard-Thomas, 800 meters, Grenada
Marian Burnett, 800 meters, Guyana
Laverne Eve, Javelin, Bahamas
Sherry Fletcher, 100 meters, Grenada
Alleyne Francique, 400 meters, Grenada
Lolo Jones, 100 hurdles, United States
Muna Lee, 100 meters/200 meters/4×100 relay, United States
Isa Phillips, 400 hurdles, Jamaica
Richard Thompson, 100 meters/4×100 relay, Trinidad & Tobago
Siraj Williams, 400 meters, Liberia
Nickiesha Wilson, 400 hurdles, Jamaica