{"id":573883617,"date":"2012-07-26T23:02:13","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T04:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573883617"},"modified":"2012-07-29T03:37:49","modified_gmt":"2012-07-29T08:37:49","slug":"auburn-in-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/07\/26\/auburn-in-the-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Auburn in the Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update:<\/strong> This appeared on The War Eagle Reader<\/a>, with extra pictures and a different title. <\/p>\n

\"Aubie\"<\/center><\/p>\n

Aubie bragged about the university’s medals after the 2008 Olympics. Why not? People who bleed orange and blue won more bling than many of the countries nations that showed up in Beijing, tying Spain and Canada at 14th among nations with 18 trips to the podium.<\/p>\n

And though Aubie\u2019s petition to have the fight song played during the awards ceremonies was turned down by the IOC, he\u2019ll likely be counting medals again this year. Auburn sent 27 athletes and four coaches<\/a> to the United Kingdom. That\u2019s a larger contingent than 126 countries.<\/p>\n

Historically the Tigers have brought home plenty of hardware, 46 medals going into the London Games. A family among nations, Auburn is the 44th most prolific winner of all time on the international stage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But who started it?<\/p>\n

Famed Tiger Euil “Snitz” Snider was the first Auburn Olympian. Legendary track coach Wilbur Hutsell took him to Amsterdam in 1928. Snider\u2019s Alabama Sports Hall of Fame bio<\/a> says he qualified by setting a national record of 48 seconds flat in the 400 meter race. He was beaten out in the second round of heat races<\/a>, but if Snider had pulled that run of his life again \u2026 he would have medaled …<\/p>\n

Snider would go on to become a high school coaching icon in Bessemer, Ala. for three decades, where a football stadium is today named in his honor. He died in 1975 and was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 and the AHSAA Hall of Fame in 1991.<\/p>\n

Four years later Auburn returned to the Olympics on the legs of Pearcy Beard, a Kentucky native who became a world-class hurdler during his tenure at Auburn.<\/p>\n

Beard carried high hopes into the 1932 games in Los Angeles, where he ran preliminary times of 14.7 and 14.6 in the 110 meter hurdles. He raced to the silver<\/a>, finishing one-tenth of a second behind George Saling, another American, who happened to set the world record that day.<\/p>\n

We like to think he was telling Saling, an Iowa boy, got by him only because Beard was telling him about the loveliest village.<\/p>\n

Beard ultimately set records<\/a> in hurdles races for almost a decade<\/a> before becoming a coach for 27 years at the University of Florida, where the track and field facility still bears his name.<\/p>\n

Auburn’s first medalist died in 1990, at the age of 82, living long enough to be inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame and the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame. He was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1995 and added to the Auburn Tiger Trail in 1996.<\/p>\n

And now the medal count begins once again again. Print out this list, put War Eagle on your MP3 player, and get ready for Olympic vict\u2019ry.
\n

\n
AUBURN’S 2012 OLYMPIANS<\/strong><\/center>
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nGeorge Bovell<\/strong>
\nTrinidad & Tobago
\nSwimming
\n50m Free \/ 100m Free
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nAdam Brown<\/strong>
\nGreat Britain
\nSwimming
\n50m Free \/ 400m Free Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nMarc Burns<\/strong>
\nTrinidad & Tobago
\nTrack & Field
\n400m Relay
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nMark Carroll<\/strong>
\nIreland
\nTrack & Field
\nAssistant Coach
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nMarcelo Chierighini<\/strong>
\nBrazil
\nSwimming
\n400m Free Relay
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nCesar Cielo<\/strong>
\nBrazil
\nSwimming
\n50m Free\/ 100m Free\/ 400FreeRelay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nKirsty Coventry<\/strong>
\nZimbabwe
\nSwimming
\n100m Back\/200m Back\/200m IM
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nJames Disney-May<\/strong>
\nGreat Britain
\nSwimming
\n400m Free Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nGlenn Eller<\/strong>
\nUnited States
\nShooting
\nDouble Trap
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nSheniqua Ferguson<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\n100m \/ 200m \/ 400m Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nMegan Fonteno<\/strong>
\nAmerican Samoa
\nSwimming
\n100m Free
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nBrett Hawke<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nSwimming
\nHead Coach
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nStephanie Horner<\/strong>
\nCanada
\nSwimming
\n400m IM
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nMicah Lawrence<\/strong>
\nUnited States
\nSwimming
\n200m Breast
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nGideon Louw<\/strong>
\nSouth Africa
\nSwimming
\n50m Free\/100m Free\/400FreeRelay
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nJosanne Lucas<\/strong>
\nTrinidad & Tobago
\nTrack & Field
\n100m Hurdles
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nDavid Marsh<\/strong>
\nUnited States
\nSwimming
\nAssistant Coach
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nTyler McGill<\/strong>
\nUnited States
\nSwimming
\n100m Fly \/ 400m Free Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nAvard Moncur<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\n400m Relay
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nV\u2019alonee Robinson<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\n400m Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nHenry Rolle<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\nAssistant Coach
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nStephen Saenz<\/strong>
\nMexico
\nTrack & Field
\nShot Put
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nLeevan Sands<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\nTriple Jump
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nShamar Sands<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\n110m Hurdles
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nKai Selvon<\/strong>
\nTrinidad & Tobago
\nTrack & Field
\n100m \/ 200m \/ 400m Relay
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nEric Shanteau<\/strong>
\nUnited States
\nSwimming
\n100m Breast \/ 400m Medley Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nMaurice Smith<\/strong>
\nJamaica
\nTrack & Field
\nDecathlon
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nKerron Stewart<\/strong>
\nJamaica
\nTrack & Field
\n100m \/ 400m Relay
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nMatt Targett<\/strong>
\nAustralia
\nSwimming
\n400m Free Relay
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\nDonald Thomas<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nTrack & Field
\nHigh Jump
\n<\/TD><\/TR><\/p>\n


\nArianna Vanderpool-Wallace<\/strong>
\nBahamas
\nSwimming
\n50m Free \/ 100m Free
\n<\/TD><\/p>\n


\n2012 Paralympic Games<\/strong>
\nDave Denniston <\/strong>
\nUnited States
\nSwimming
\nAssistant coach
\n<\/TD>
\n<\/TR>
\n<\/TABLE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: This appeared on The War Eagle Reader, with extra pictures and a different title. Aubie bragged about the university’s medals after the 2008 Olympics. Why not? People who bleed orange and blue won more bling than many of the countries nations that showed up in Beijing, tying Spain and Canada at 14th among nations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,32,25,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573883617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auburn","category-history","category-links","category-thursday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573883617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573883617"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573883617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573883626,"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573883617\/revisions\/573883626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573883617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573883617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573883617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}