OLDEST MEMBERS OF 2004 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM
Libby Callaghan, U.S. Shooting 52 years, 6 months
Janet Dykman, U.S. Archery 50 years, 7 months
Debbie McDonald, U.S. Equestrian 49 years, 11 months (turns 50 on August 27)
Martina Navratilova, U.S. Tennis 47 years, 10 months

Navratilova continued her assault on tennis history in 2003, winning the mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon to become the oldest player in the history of the sport to win a Grand Slam tournament title. Her mixed doubles victory at Wimbledon was Navratilova’s 20th title at the All-England Club, tying the all-time record set by her friend Billie Jean King. At the 2003 US Open, Navratilova, and her 19-year-old partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, reached the women’s doubles final before falling to Virginia Ruano-Pascal and Paola Suarez.

In 2004, Navratilova returned to the singles court for the first time in 10 years in an attempt to sharpen her doubles game for Athens. After losing in the first round of the French Championships to Gisela Dulko, Navratilova became the oldest women since 1922 to win a singles match at Wimbledon when she defeated Catalina Castano of Colombia in the first round of Wimbledon, only to lose, again, to Dulko in the second round.

After losing in the women's semifinals of the 1975 US Open to Chris Evert, an 18-year-old Navratilova of Czechoslovakia appeared at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office in New York and asked for political asylum. The future nine-time Wimbledon champion would not see her family or homeland until an emotional trip to Prague in 1986 as a member of the U.S. Federation Cup team. She became a U.S. citizen on July 21, 1981.

Navratilova declined an invitation to play on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team in Seoul, the first year that tennis was welcomed back to the Olympics as a full medal sport and the first year that professionals were allowed to compete in the Olympics. In declining her invitation, Navratilova said she felt that the Olympics should be strictly an amateur event. She did not qualify for the Olympic team in 1992 due to her non-participation on the U.S. Federation Cup team. She was not an active player during the 1996 Olympics, having retired from play after the 1994 season, only to return to tennis in 2000.

CHANDA’S CHANCE – Eight years after the bitter disappointment of withdrawing from the 1996 Olympic Games with a wrist injury, Chanda Rubin will finally get a “second chance” this year in Athens. After breaking into the top 10 world rankings in 1996 and earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, Rubin was forced to withdraw from the tennis competition following the Opening Ceremonies in 1996. She did not qualify for the 2000 team, but received the fourth and final spot in singles for the 2004 team.


OTHER U.S. OLYMPIC TENNIS FACTS

· The United States has won all Olympic gold medal opportunities in women's tennis during the last three Olympic Games. Since 1988, the United States has won all gold medal opportunities in women's tennis with the exception of one. (.875 winning pct. in winning gold medals since 1988). The lone gold medal won by a non-American since 1988 was at the 1988 Olympic women’s singles competition, when Steffi Graf of West Germany won gold over Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina.

· The 2004 Games marks the 12th time that tennis has been a full medal sport at the Olympics (Olympic tennis years were 1896-1924 and 1988 – 2004).

· The United States has won more Olympic medals in men's and women's tennis than any other nation since tennis was re-instated as an Olympic sport in 1988. The United States medal total (14) is more than double all other medal-winning nations except one (Spain with 8 medals).

· The United States has won more than four times as many Olympic gold medals in men's and women's tennis than any other nation since tennis was reinstated as an Olympic sport in 1988. (USA - 9 gold medals, Germany/West Germany - 2)


U.S. OLYMPIC MEDALISTS IN TENNIS

1900 Spalding de Garmendia (silver medal - men’s doubles)*
Marion Jones (bronze medal - women’s singles)
Marion Jones (bronze medal - women’s doubles)*

1904 Beals Wright (gold medal - men’s singles)
Beals Wright and Edgar Leonard (gold medal - men’s doubles)
Robert LeRoy (silver medal - men’s singles)
Robert LeRoy and Alphonso Bell (silver medal - men’s doubles)
Alphonso Bell (bronze medal - men’s singles)
Edgar Leonard (bronze medal - men’s singles)
Joseph Wear and Allen West (bronze medal - men’s doubles)
Clarence Gamble and Arthur Wear (bronze medal - men’s doubles)

1924 Vincent Richards (gold medal - men’s singles)
Vincent Richards and Frank Hunter (gold medal - men’s doubles)
Helen Wills (gold medal - women’s singles)
Helen Wills and Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman (gold medal - women’s doubles)
Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman and R. Norris Williams (gold medal - mixed doubles)
Marion Jessup and Vincent Richards (silver medal - mixed doubles)

1988 Ken Flach and Robert Seguso (gold medal - men’s doubles)
Pam Shriver and Zina Garrison (gold medal - women’s doubles)
Tim Mayotte (silver medal - men’s singles)
Brad Gilbert (bronze medal - men’s singles)
Zina Garrison (bronze medal - women’s singles)

1992 Jennifer Capriati (gold medal - women’s singles)
Mary Joe Fernandez and Gigi Fernandez (gold medal - women’s doubles)
Mary Joe Fernandez (bronze medal - women’s singles)

1996 Andre Agassi (gold medal – men’s singles)
Lindsay Davenport (gold medal – women’s singles)
Mary Joe Fernandez and Gigi Fernandez (gold medal – women’s doubles)

2000 Venus Williams (gold medal – women’s singles)
Venus Williams and Serena Williams (gold medal – women’s doubles)
Monica Seles (bronze medal – women’s singles)

ALL-TIME U.S. OLYMPIC TENNIS MEDAL HOLDERS

Men
1. Vincent Richards 3 medals (2 gold, 1 silver)
2. Beals Wright 2 medals (2 gold)
Edgar Leonard 2 medals (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Robert LeRoy 2 medals (2 silver)
Alphonso Bell 2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze)
6. Andre Agassi 1 medal (1 gold)
Frank Hunter 1 medal (1 gold)
R. Norris Williams 1 medal (1 gold)
Ken Flach 1 medal (1 gold)
Robert Seguso 1 medal (1 gold)
Tim Mayotte 1 medal (1 silver)
Spalding de Garmendia 1 medal (1 silver)
Joseph Wear 1 medal (1 bronze)
Allen West 1 medal (1 bronze)
Clarence Gamble 1 medal (1 bronze)
Arthur Wear 1 medal (1 bronze)
Brad Gilbert 1 medal (1 bronze)

Women
1. Mary Joe Fernandez 3 medals (2 gold, 1 bronze)
2. Helen Wills 2 medals (2 gold)
Venus Williams 2 medals (2 gold)
Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman 2 medals (2 gold)
Gigi Fernandez 2 medals (2 gold)
Zina Garrison 2 medals (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Marion Jones 2 medals (2 bronze)
7. Lindsay Davenport 1 medal (1 gold)
Jennifer Capriati 1 medal (1 gold)
Pam Shriver 1 medal (1 gold)
Serena Williams 1 medal (1 gold)
Marion Jessup 1 medal (1 silver)
Monica Seles 1 medal (1 bronze)

U.S. OLYMPIC TENNIS ROSTERS SINCE 1984

After a 64-year hiatus, tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988 and, at the same time, became the first Olympic sport to welcome professionals.

# 1984 1988 1992 1996
Jimmy Arias Tim Mayotte Pete Sampras * Pete Sampras
Eric Amend Brad Gilbert Michael Chang Andre Agassi
Kelly Jones Ken Flach Jim Courier Mal Washington
Derrick Rostagno Robert Seguso M.J. Fernandez Richey Reneberg
Kathy Horvath Pam Shriver Gigi Fernandez Gigi Fernandez
Gretchen Rush Zina Garrison Zina Garrison Monica Seles
Andrea Leand Chris Evert Jennifer Capriati Lindsay Davenport
Andrea Jaeger * Chanda Rubin
Mary Joe Fernandez

# - Exhibition Event

2000 2004
Venus Williams Venus Williams
Serena Williams * Serena Williams
Lindsay Davenport * Jennifer Capriati
Monica Seles Chanda Rubin
* Andre Agassi Martina Navratilova
Todd Martin Lisa Raymond
Michael Chang Andy Roddick
Jeff Tarango Mardy Fish
Vince Spadea Vince Spadea
Alex O’Brien Taylor Dent
Jared Palmer Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan

* Withdrew due to injury.

Volleyball is a favorite sport played by over 800 million participants world-wide, according to the International Volleyball Federation.  In the United States alone, there were more than 172,000 volleyball-related injuries that were treated in hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms in 2001, according to the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission.

In 1997 Ground was broken in June for a $1.5 million, 3 building facility in Junction City which will be known as the Geary County Campus of Cloud County Community College.