Burnaby, BC - Simon Fraser University Athletics will be well represented when the 2012 Olympic Games get underway in London as seven former Clan athletes and coaches will represent Canada.
In addition to the seven representing Canada, Olympic gold medalist and former Clan wrestler Daniel Igali will coach the Nigerian wrestling squad.
The Canadian men's wrestling team will be coached by Dave McKay, who coaches at SFU and with the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club. He wrestled at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.
Arjan Bhullar, a pupil of McKay as well as SFU wrestling coaches
Mike Jones and
Justin Abdou, will compete in his first Olympic Games. Bhuller won an NAIA and CIS National Championship at SFU and is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist.
He wrestles in the 120 kg weight class.
SFU alumna Carol Hunyh will be defending her gold medal in London. When she won in the 48 kg division at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Hunyh became the first ever Canadian woman to win a gold medal in wrestling at the Olympics.
Jessica Smith of North Vancouver, BC recently completed her Clan career and punched her ticket to London on Saturday,
June 30 when she finished third in the 800m competition at the Canadian Olympic trials in Calgary. She set the 'A' standard for the Games when she turned in a performance of 1:59.86 to win the 800m at the Harry Jerome Outdoor at Swangard Stadium earlier in the month.
Former Clan women's basketball head coach Allison McNeill will lead the Canadian women's basketball team back to the Games for the first time since the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
McNeill led the Clan to three straight final four appearances in the NAIA National Championship tournament in 1998, 1999, and 2000 and was recently inducted into the SFU Athletics Hall of Fame.
McNeill will lead a former member of the Clan, Teresa Gabriele, who still holds the Clan record for most points in a single game with 45 against Trinity Western during the 2001-02 season.
Gabriele played in the NAIA and CIS under McNeill and played one season under current Clan head coach
Bruce Langford. She was a member of the last Canadian women's basketball team to reach the Olympics in 2000.
Former SFU rowing head coach Allison Dobb will be heading to London as an assistant coach with the Canadian men's rowing team. Dobb was a university level rower herself before adding head coach of the SFU rowing club to her resume.
The 2012 Olympic Games begin in London on
July 27.
