Rio Olympics An Unforgettable Experience
August 30, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
If you watched the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month, especially swimming and track and field, you undoubtedly saw current and former Georgia athletes in action.
In all, there were 37 Georgia athletes and coaches in Rio. Some won gold medals, some silver or bronze. Some put up personal best marks or made history for their country, while others didn't perform quite as well as they'd have liked. But they all experienced something special and unforgettable.
After talking with several Bulldog Olympians, all first-timers, as well as a pair of Georgia coaches that were on staffs in Rio, here are some of their memorable moments from the Games:
Opening Ceremonies
Georgia swimming coach Jack Bauerle is no Olympic rookie, having coached for the United States in three Games, including as the head coach of the women's team in Beijing in 2008. The opening ceremonies are special every time, he said.
Bauerle: "It's exceptional and it cannot be overstated, the feeling of that and what it does for you. Immediately as you walk in it makes you thankful for everyone that helped put you there. I called (former Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley, the man who hired him in 1979) right from outside the stadium, right before, to thank him again, and I've done that each time. It hits you hard and it makes you extremely thankful for those that had a part in you being in that place."
Before the start of the ceremony Bauerle got a bit of a surprise in his room at the Olympic Village, when U.S. men's basketball players Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, all of the Golden State Warriors, walked in.
Bauerle: "They were coming over to change for the opening ceremonies and they mistakenly walked into our room. It was a small living room area to begin with and it got a lot smaller with those three big guys in it."
On the other end of the spectrum from Bauerle was Georgia's 20-year-old triple jumper Keturah Orji, already a three-time NCAA champion and the American record holder in the event. This was Orji's first Olympics and first opening ceremonies.
Orji: "I feel like it was like a dream, kind of. When you walk into the stadium, all the countries are surrounding you, there are dancers all around, it's big and lit up and there are fireworks — there was just a lot of excitement."
Being around the likes of the U.S. men's basketball team of NBA stars and tennis legend Serena Williams was a new experience.
Orji: "It was kind of hard to be like, 'I'm one of them, too,' but I was in my head thinking, 'This is pretty cool.'"
Like Orji, heptathlete Kendell Williams, a two-time NCAA champion, was blown away by what she saw and felt.
Williams: "It was a great feeling and I felt so honored to be there and to be a part of it. ... It's almost like if you're here at a Georgia game and the football team runs out on to the field before the kickoff. It was that kind of energy and enthusiasm and it was that loud, too. It was cool, all the attention is focused on you at that moment."
Because of how United States is translated into Portuguese, Estados Unidos, Team USA made its way into the Olympic Stadium right in front of the Estonian team, which featured Georgia decathletes Maicel Uibo and Karl Saluri.
Saluri: "The fun fact for me was that we were both behind the NBA basketball guys. I'm a huge NBA fan, so just to be able to see them right in front of us ... was great. ... I guess that was the first time when I felt like, whoa, this is actually a pretty big deal. Before, when I was at home, right before I left for Rio, it was like whatever, like every other meet. But to see all those people, you are with the world's best athletes."
The Games Begin
It didn't take long for Georgia's swimmers to make their presence felt in Rio. On the first night of competition, Chase Kalisz earned a silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley.
In addition, as swimmers in the preliminaries of the women's 4x100 freestyle relay, former Dogs Allison Schmitt and Amanda Weir earned silver medals after the U.S. placed second in the final. The Canadian squad, featuring Georgia's Chantal Van Landeghem, earned the bronze in the relay.
That was the start of a stellar week of racing by Bulldogs, which ended with four gold medals, two silver and two bronze. Bauerle was an assistant coach on the men's staff and couldn't have been more proud of what his current and former swimmers achieved, whether they earned a medal or not.
Bauerle: "We had so many Georgia athletes, and a few that weren't supposed to be there, weren't expected to make the U.S. team, that made it so spectacular and also personally satisfying. ... Everybody was just knocking it out and making a final — it was incredible, really."
While the swimmers were busy competing during that first week, the track and field athletes had to wait for their turn, in the second week. That left them with a lot of time to train, but also time to experience being at the Games.
Saluri said he attended three of the U.S. men's basketball team's games, while Orji and Williams, who were roommates at the Olympic Village, also got out to see a lot of different events.
Williams: "The two weeks we were there we were kind of connected at the hip, of course, and just kind of experiencing everything together, and that was really cool."
Williams and Georgia track and field head coach Petros Kyprianou, an assistant on the Estonian team, watched some women's weightlifting together. She went to watch Canada and former Gymdog Brittany Rogers in gymnastics and joined up with former Georgia high jumper Leontia Kallenou of Cyprus to watch some water polo.
Williams: "(The water polo) was actually very interesting because neither of us had seen it, so it was cool to watch them and watch a different sport."
Uibo, the two-time NCAA champion in the decathlon, opted for a more low-key Olympics.
Uibo: "It was just training and chilling and trying to rest. ... I actually didn't see any other events at all. Just tried to rest up."
Orji Betters Her Record
After a long wait, Orji put on a strong showing in the triple jump — after barely making the final. In the preliminaries, she scratched on two of her jumps and her one clean jump earned her the 12th and final spot in the finals. She made good on that, bettering her own American record with a jump of 48 feet, 3 1/4 inches.
That mark was good enough to be in the top three for much of the finals but in the end she placed fourth, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal.
Orji: "I didn't mind that I got fourth. A lot of people were like, 'Oh, were you upset?' Not really. That was my goal, to go there and (set a new personal best), and that's what I did, and I'm really happy with the way I performed."
Williams was like an anxious parent watching her roommate and good friend compete.
Williams: "That was awesome. I was definitely on the edge of my seat on prelim day. I knew that she was going to take a moment to relax and come back on finals day and put something really big together — and that's what she did. It was crazy though because she jumped the big jump and was in first for a while and then she moved to second and then third and I was biting my nails."
A Very Busy Petros
Kyprianou had some time to take in other events but he was mostly very busy working not only with the Estonian track and field athletes, including Uibo and Saluri, but also he was coaching Williams, Orji, Kallenou and former Georgia high jumper Levern Spencer of St. Lucia.
Kyprianou: "You have a lot of coaches from around the world that I know and we're friends, and one day they see me with the Estonian shirt and the next day with the U.S. shirt and the third day I'm over with the Cyprus people and St. Lucia and all that. It was fun — I was the center of joking for a little bit, but it was fun."
Diving For Gold
While Uibo might not have gotten out much, he did have a very special moment once the track and field began. Uibo is engaged to former Georgia 400-meter star Shaunae Miller and he was in Olympic Stadium, watching intently, as Miller, from the Bahamas, now famously dove across the finish line to win gold, narrowly edging American star Allyson Felix.
Uibo: "That was probably the best moment during Rio, seeing my fiancé win the gold medal."
Hard to top that, or any of the other countless experiences these Bulldogs had in Rio while competing on their sports' biggest stage.
Georgia will host a "Welcome Home" gathering for the Olympians on Wednesday in Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. The event is from 5-7 p.m. and is open to the public.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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