UCLA athletes, coaches deliver strong performances at Rio Olympics
By Michael Hull
Aug. 21, 2016 10:43 p.m.
The marathon serves as a culminating event for the Olympics – fitting, given the ancient roots and the endless pace of athletic venues that define two-and-a-half weeks every four years.
As 1998 UCLA graduate Meb Keflezighi crossed the finish line in the event today, he slipped and fell on the wet pavement. He laid face down on the ground for a few seconds, no doubt exhausted from over two hours of running.
But the picture of him at the line as the oldest American to run in the Olympic marathon wasn’t of that. He vaulted onto his palms and pumped out three pushups before standing up and regrouping with his competitors.
The 41-year old and John Speraw were the last of UCLA’s athletes and coaches to wrap up competition at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
While Keflezighi was still running, Speraw’s men’s volleyball team beat Russia in a relentless come-from-behind 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 15-13 match to claim the bronze medal.
USA was down 21-16 in the first set and fought off three set points before dropping it. Then in the second, they went up 7-4 early on, and slipped to let Russia take six of the next nine points.
No team led by more than two until Russia was up 20-17. The Americans failed to have a set point rally like they did in the first, and Speraw found himself facing tough odds and in an 0-2 hole.
Though the third set remained tight early on, Team USA won it convincingly at the end, and took the fourth from start to finish. They had all the momentum going into the final tiebreaker, but almost couldn’t put it away.
The Americans had five set point opportunities against Italy in the first set of Friday’s semifinal, but couldn’t finish, ultimately leading to the loss. It took them four to beat Russia in the fifth – one more and the fifth set wouldn’t have ended at 15.
Nevertheless, Speraw got to see his athletes on the podium for the first time as a head coach. He had been an assistant coach for the program the last two Games, but failed to come away with a medal in 2012 after winning the gold in Beijing.
The women’s team on the other hand continued their streak of medals, as UCLA alumni Karsta Lowe and coach Karch Kiraly won the bronze. She recorded four kills and an ace in the final game on Saturday – a 3-1 win over the Netherlands.
But perhaps the story of the summer for UCLA was that of the women’s water polo team.
Days before the opening ceremony, former coach Adam Krikorian’s brother Blake died in Northern California. The coach left the team in Brazil to return home and be with his family before coming back to lead his team.
Between Krikorian, graduates KK Clark, Sami Hill and Courtney Mathewson, current student-athlete Rachel Fattal and incoming freshman Maddie Musselman, four different tiers of the Bruin water polo machine all came together to win America’s second consecutive gold medal in the sport. They won their six games by a combined 41 points.
Coaches do not get medals of their own in the Olympics, but all 13 members of Krikorian’s team draped theirs around his neck after the ceremony, something they also did in 2012.
Musselman, the second youngest member on the team and sister of Alex Musselman, one of the senior goalies for UCLA this past year, was one of three incoming freshmen for the Bruins that took home medals.
In the Rio Olympic Arena, incoming freshman Madison Kocian won a gold medal alongside Simone Biles and the rest of Team USA in the team all-around competition, and took home an individual silver medal on the uneven bars with a 15.833.
She’ll join a gymnastics team this winter that took fifth at NCAAs last year under long-time head coach Valorie Kondos Field, while Canadian women’s soccer’s Jessie Fleming – who won a bronze medal, the second Games in a row that Canada took third – will join a phenomenally talented UCLA soccer team that registered five goals in the season opener last Friday.
The Bruins’ top commit Mallory Pugh also played soccer in Rio for the US women’s national team, though she won’t unite with Fleming under coach Amanda Cromwell until 2017 because of the U20 World Cup.
And as for the rest of the Bruins, they’ll have to wait until the next marathon to leave their trace on the Olympic trail.
