Written by Ell | 10 August 2008

In case you've not turned on your television set, or done much surfing of the web, for the last couple days, the Summer Olympics have begun. The Games of the 29th Olympiad are being held in Beijing, China and there are several people with ties to the University of Alabama who are competing. Here they are and when you can check them out: It is important to note that China is 12 hours ahead of New York and 13 hours ahead of Tuscaloosa. So if you see that an event is taking place on Monday, that refers to Monday in China. That means that the event will likely be taking place Sunday evening in the US. Swimming

• Current UA assistant swimming coach Stefan Gherghel will be swimming the 100 meter & 200 meter butterfly for his home country of Romania. The 200 meter starts Monday, with semifinals on Tuesday & finals on Wednesday. The 100 meter starts on Thursday, with the semis on Friday & the finals on Saturday.
• Vlad Polykov - a 2-time NCAA Champion in his time with Alabama, Polykov has a chance to medal in the men's 200 meter breastsroke, representing his home country of Kazakhstan. The preliminaries for this event will be held Tuesday, with the semi-finals Wednesday & the finals Thursday.
• Hunor Ma'te' - he's also swimming in the breastsroke representing his home country of Hungary.
• Agustina de Giovanni - she'll be swimming the women's 200 meter breastroke for her home country of Argentina.
• Anne Poleska - she's also swimming the 200 meter breaststroke representing her home country of Germany.
• Arlene Semeco - she'll be swimming both the women's 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle for her home country of Venezuela. The 100 meter starts Wed., with semis on Thursday & finals on Friday. The 50 meter starts on Friday, with semis Saturday & finals on Sunday.
• Apostolis Tsagkarakis - she'll also be swimming the 50 meter freestyle for her home country of Greece.

Softball

• Current Alabama assistant coach Karen Johns is an assistant coach on the United States softball team.
• One of her players on that team is former Alabama All-American Kelly Kretschman. Women's softball begins Tuesday, with the Gold Medal Game on Thursday, August 21.

Track & Field

• Current Alabama track & field coach Harvey Glance is the assistant coach for sprints and hurdles for the U.S. team. Track & Field begins August 15.
• Tahesia Harrigan - she will competing in the women's 100 meter dash representing her home country of the British Virgin Islands. If you missed the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night, then you missed Tahesia having the honor of being her country's flag bearer during the march of the athletes - quite an honor. Her event begins Saturday the 16th and ends on Sunday the 17th.
• Miguel Pate - he'll be competing in the men's long jump for the United States. His event begins Saturday the 16th and ends Monday the 18th.
• Trish Barthalomew - she'll compete in the women's 400 meter dash representing her home country of Grenada. Her event begins Saturday the 16th, with semis on the 17th & finals on Monday the 18th.

Boxing

• This one technically isn't associated with the University of Alabama, but Tuscaloosa native Deontay Wilder is fighting in the Heavy Weight division. He's a graduate of Central High School, and with their campus being located across 15th street from the University, that's close enough for me. The Heavyweights begin on Wednesday.

We'll do our best to keep you updated on how each of these folks does.

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