178 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

After failing to secure the 1996 Centennial Olympics, Athens submitted another proposal

for 2004. This time, Greece convinced the International Olympic Committee that Athens

was ready with the necessary infrastructure and budget. But by the time the Athens Games

opened, the world had changed dramatically due to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the war

in Iraq. Greece spent $1.2 billion on security, and about 100,000 police officers patrolled

the city and the competition sites, according to the New York Times. Yet the Games, which

hosted 10,625 athletes representing 201 countries, opened with great optimism. Among the

inspirational stories was the soccer team from Iraq, which qualified for the Olympics — and

advanced to the quarterfinals — despite war at home. Another highlight was the men’s

marathon, which followed the same route as the 1896 race. The lead runner, Vanderlei de

Lima from Brazil, was tackled by a mentally ill man only four miles from the finish. Authorities

quickly arrested the attacker, and de Lima recovered and eventually finished third. The IOC

later awarded him the Pierre de Coubertin medal in recognition of his sportsmanship. USC’s

40 athletes in Athens won 19 medals, eight of them gold, and five coaches with USC ties

served on the staffs of U.S. teams (swimming, diving and water polo). On her return to the

U.S., USC swimmer Kaitlin Sandeno called the Olympics the greatest experience of her life,

writing in the Daily Trojan, “Even now I am struggling to find the words to describe it all.”

In the end, Athens was left both with victories and financial challenges. Its citizens had a

new airport and subway system, but they also were saddled with empty sports facilities and

public debt that remain as a lasting legacy of the Games.

ATHENS

AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON ELIAS AYUSO LINDSAY BENKO BROOK BILLINGS WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO JUSTIN DUMAIS ALLYSON FELIX GABE GARDNER BLYTHE HARTLEY KATINKA HOSSZU JOSH ILIKA RHI JEFFREY LARSEN JENSEN JULIEN KAPEK KALYN KELLER KLETE KELLER TAMAS KEREKJARTO SOFIA KONOUKH LENNY KRAYZELBURG LISA LESLIE JASHIA LUNA NATASHA MAYERS OUS MELLOULI GERGERLY MESZAROS EVA ORBAN ANIKO PELLE FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ KAITLIN SANDENO DONALD SUXHO TINA THOMPSON JULIANNA TUDJA ERIK VENDT AMANDA WEIR MANJULA WIJESEKARA ANGELA WILLIAMS TIM WOLLTHAN GABE WOODWARD USC AT THE 2004 OLYMPICS • 8 GOLD 7 SILVER 4 BRONZE AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON ELIAS AYUSO LINDSAY BENKO BROOK BILLINGS WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO JUSTIN DUMAIS ALLYSON FELIX GABE GARDNER BLYTHE HARTLEY KATINKA HOSSZU JOSH ILIKA

Larsen Jensen ’07 was among the pride of America at the Athens Olympics, winning silver in the

1,500-meter freestyle. In Beijing four years later, he won bronze in

the 400-meter freestyle.

2004

AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON ELIAS AYUSO LINDSAY BENKO BROOK BILLINGS WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO JUSTIN DUMAIS ALLYSON FELIX GABE GARDNER BLYTHE HARTLEY KATINKA HOSSZU JOSH ILIKA RHI JEFFREY LARSEN JENSEN JULIEN KAPEK KALYN KELLER KLETE KELLER TAMAS KEREKJARTO SOFIA KONOUKH LENNY KRAYZELBURG LISA LESLIE JASHIA LUNA NATASHA MAYERS OUS MELLOULI GERGERLY MESZAROS EVA ORBAN ANIKO PELLE FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ KAITLIN SANDENO DONALD SUXHO TINA THOMPSON JULIANNA TUDJA ERIK VENDT AMANDA WEIR MANJULA WIJESEKARA ANGELA WILLIAMS TIM WOLLTHAN GABE WOODWARD USC AT THE 2004 OLYMPICS • 8 GOLD 7 SILVER 4 BRONZE AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON ELIAS AYUSO LINDSAY BENKO BROOK BILLINGS WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO JUSTIN DUMAIS ALLYSON FELIX GABE GARDNER BLYTHE HARTLEY KATINKA HOSSZU JOSH ILIKA 2004

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 181

FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ

Growing up in San Diego, Félix Sánchez harbored dreams of becoming a star baseball player. That dream was derailed when he broke his wrist in a fall while wrestling in the offseason. Sidelined from baseball by the injury, Sánchez was persuaded by his school’s track coach to give sprinting a try. Before long he was hooked.

After attending University City High School and San Diego Mesa College, Sánchez enrolled at USC. While competing for the Trojans, Sánchez was Pac-10 champion in the 400-meter hurdles and earned All-America honors on the 4x400-meter relay team in 1999.

Although he was a U.S. citizen, Sánchez decided to compete for the Dominican Republic in honor of his Dominican-born grandmother, Lilian Morcelo. He first competed for the Dominican Republic at the 1999 Pan American Games, where he finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles. Four years later, Sánchez returned to the competition, this time breaking the Pan American Games record in the 400-meter hurdles and winning the Dominican Republic’s first Pan American gold medal. Track and Field News named him Athlete of the Year.

This victory was one of many for Sánchez. Between 2001 and 2003, Sánchez won 43 races in a row in the 400-meter hurdles, including two World Championship titles.

Although he had failed to make the finals at the 2000 Olympics, he went to the 2004 Games heavily favored in his event. In the 400-meter

hurdles final, Sánchez surged over the last two hurdles to win in 47.63 seconds. With this triumph, he achieved a milestone for the Dominican Republic: its first-ever Olympic gold medal.

Four years later, at the Beijing Games, he was again poised for success. But on the morning of his first-round race, Sánchez received word that his grandmother had passed away. Devastated by the news, he competed but failed to advance.

Sánchez made a promise that he would win another medal in her honor.

In 2012, Sánchez went to his third Olympics at the age of 34. Few expected great results from him, but he had a powerful source of inspiration. With a photo of his grandmother pinned under his race bib, Sánchez won his second Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles, becoming the oldest Olympic champion ever in the event. He completed the final with a time of 47.63 seconds, the same time he had posted in Athens in 2004.

Sánchez later told the media at a press conference that he could feel his grandmother’s presence as rain started falling during his medal ceremony. “It made me feel like she was crying tears of joy with me.”

182 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

When you make an Olympic team while still in high school, as Kaitlin Sandeno ’06 did in 2000, it’s probably safe to say you’ve reached the big time. In Sandeno’s case, however, it was only the beginning.

Sandeno competed in three of the most grueling swimming events on the program at the Sydney Games in 2000, winning a bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle and finishing fourth in the 400-meter individual medley and sixth in the 200-meter butterfly.

Her Olympic experience set the stage for Sandeno’s incredible collegiate career at USC, which culminated in 2004. That’s when she won two NCAA championships and narrowly missed a third. Sandeno set an American, NCAA, U.S. Open and USC record in winning the 400-meter individual medley, and set an NCAA, U.S. Open and USC record when she won the 200-meter individual medley. She also set a USC record on her way to second place in the 200-meter butterfly, and was the 2004 meet’s highest individual scorer.

After such a successful season — and a USC career in which she took 12 All-American honors and set 17 school records — Sandeno turned pro and emerged as one of the stars of the 2004 Games.

The Orange County, Calif., native had competed in six events at the Olympic Trials — winning the 400-meter freestyle — and went on to score a hat trick of medals in Athens. She earned a gold

medal as a member of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team, which obliterated East Germany’s 17-year-old world record in the event by more than 2 seconds. Sandeno won a silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley, posting a time that was a personal best and an American record. She also added a bronze in the 400-meter freestyle and finished fourth in the 200-meter butterfly.

Sandeno failed to make the 2008 Olympic team due to injury and an illness and announced her retirement shortly after the Olympic Trials. She is now a motivational speaker and runs a youth swim club. She also travels throughout the country as a national spokeswoman for the Jessie Rees Foundation: Never Ever Give Up, a nonprofit organization that supports children with cancer. It was named after Jessica Joy Rees, a young Orange County swimmer who died of brain cancer in 2012.

KAITLIN SANDENO

184 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

PARADE OF NATIONSGREECE HELD TWO

SPOTS IN THE PARADE OF NATIONS DURING THE

OPENING CEREMONY. AS ALWAYS, ITS

REPRESENTATIVES WALKED IN FRONT.

BUT THEY ALSO TOOK THE POSITION AT

THE END, WHICH IS TRADITIONALLY RESERVED FOR THE HOST COUNTRY.

ANCIENT AWARD

THE OFFICIAL EMBLEM FOR THE 2004 OLYMPIC GAMES WAS A WREATH MADE FROM AN

OLIVE TREE BRANCH, CALLED THE KOTINOS,

WHICH WAS THE AWARD FOR VICTORIOUS ATHLETES

IN ANCIENT GREECE.

TINA THOMPSON ’97Tina Thompson won the first of her two gold medals with the U.S. women’s basketball team in Athens. She was a teammate of four-time gold medalist Lisa Leslie in high school, at USC and in the Olympics.

GABE WOODWARD ’01All-American Gabe Woodward earned a bronze by swimming for the U.S. team in the qualifying heats of the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

LARSEN JENSEN ’07NCAA champion Larsen Jensen won the first of his two Olympic swimming medals in 2004, when he finished second in the 1,500-meter freestyle. Jensen later graduated from the Navy Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training program.

BLYTHE HARTLEY ’09Blythe Hartley won a bronze medal for Canada in synchronized platform diving in Athens. She also dove in Beijing in 2008.

TROJAN VICTORIESAND HIGHLIGHTS OF

THE 2004 ATHENS GAMESusc olympians: 40 gold: 8 silver: 7 bronze: 4

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 185

NEW COUNTRIES AND SPORTSTHE ISLAND NATION OF KIRIBATI AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATION

TIMOR-LESTE ENTERED TEAMS FOR THE FIRST TIME. WOMEN’S WRESTLING DEBUTED.

POPULARITY CONTESTIN 2004, MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER BEFORE HAD ACCESS

TO TELEVISION COVERAGE OF THE GAMES: 3.9 BILLION PEOPLE, OR 300 MILLION MORE THAN FOR SYDNEY.

STADIUM REPURPOSEDPLANS TO USE THE ANCIENT STADIUM AT OLYMPIA FOR THE DISCUS

WERE SCRAPPED BECAUSE THE STADIUM WAS TOO SMALL. INSTEAD, IT HOSTED THE SHOT PUT. ARCHERY COMPETITIONS WERE STAGED

IN THE PANATHENAIC STADIUM, AS THEY WERE IN THE ANCIENT GAMES.

RHI JEFFREYTwo weeks before the 2004 Olympic Trials, USC swimmer Rhi Jeffrey was hospitalized with an abscessed tonsil. She recovered in time to earn a spot on the gold-medal-winning U.S. 4x200-meter freestyle relay team.

AMANDA WEIRIn 2004, Trojan athlete Amanda Weir earned silver medals on the U.S. 4x100-meter freestyle relay and 4x100-meter medley relay teams.

ERIK VENDT ’05Five-time NCAA champion Erik Vendt won his second Olympic silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley in Athens. He also captured gold in 2008 on the U.S. 4x200-meter freestyle relay team.

“The Olympics was truly a dream come true. The 200 meters will

always be most special to me because of all

of the ups and downs I have had in the event

to get to this point. Having won silver in the Olympics twice before kept me motivated and

made finally winning indescribable.”

ALLYSON FELIX ’08

TRAITS OF A TROJANAMBITIOUS

ALLYSON FELIX

TRAITS OF A TROJANAMBITIOUS