Aug. 14, 2008
EL PASO, TEXAS - Recent graduate Mickael Hanany heads a group of 11 current and former UTEP track and field standouts who will begin competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympics tonight.
"We are very excited that these young people will represent UTEP and their respective countries at the highest stage of athletics," UTEP track and field head coach Bob Kitchens said. "The UTEP family is very proud and excited for them."
Hanany will represent France in the high jump after capturing the NCAA title in the event in June. The 6'7" native of Cergy, France, is scheduled to take the field at the National Stadium in the qualification rounds on Sunday at 6:20 a.m. (MDT).
Blessing Okagbare, a junior at UTEP, will be participating in the long jump and joins two former Miners, Oludamola Osayomi and Halimat Ismaila, as part of Nigeria's 4x100 meter relay team. Okagbare will begin with the long jump on Monday at 7:40 p.m. (MDT), and then take to the track on Thursday, Aug. 21, for the women's 4x100 meter relay.
Ismaila and Osayomi were part of the 2004 Nigerian 4x100 meter relay team that finished seventh at the Summer Games in Athens.
Osayomi is also competing in the 100- and 200-meter sprints. She finished first in the 100 meters (11.10) at the Grand Prix in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year. At the 2008 African Championships in Ethiopia, Osayomi placed first in the 100 meters (11.22) and was also a part of the winning 4x100 meter relay (43.79).
Ismaila will join Osayomi in the women's 100-meter race on Friday, with first round heats beginning at 8:50 p.m. (MDT). The 200-meter race is scheduled for Monday with the first six of ten heats beginning at 8:40 p.m. (MDT), and the final four starts at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
Churandy Martina, representing Netherlands-Antilles, will be the first athlete with UTEP ties to see action in Beijing when he takes the field this evening. Martina will run the 100-meter sprint in heat 10 at 8:57 p.m. (MDT).
The sprinter took first in this event at the Grand Prix in Madrid (10.03), and the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro (10.15), both earlier this year. Last year he ranked fifth in the 100- and 200-meter races at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. The Olympic veteran reached the quarterfinal round of the 100 in Athens with a time of 10.24.
Martina will compete with current UTEP sprinter Ronalds Arajs in the 200 meters on Sunday, with the first of eight heats beginning at 8:05
p.m. (MDT). Arajs, a junior, will be representing Latvia.
Caiman Douglas is part of the Netherlands' 4x100 meter relay team set to begin competition on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 6:20 a.m. (MDT).
Erma-Gene Evans will compete for Saint Lucia in the javelin beginning Monday at 7 p.m. Evans threw a season-best 56.45 (185-2) and finished second at the NCAA Championships (54.78) while at UTEP in 2007.
Olympic veteran Alexandros Papadimitriou will represent Greece when he takes the field in the hammer throw at 8:40 p.m. this evening.
Henderson Dottin (Barbados) and Fatimoh Muhammed (Liberia) are also members of their respective nations' Olympic teams.
