Sept. 12, 2000
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University will be well represented when the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, begins on September 15. Lynda Blutereich, Curt Clausen, Greg Newton, Carla Overbeck, Vanessa Webb and Evan Whitfield will be representing their respective countries in the games.
Bluterich will participate in her first Olympic games as she represents the United States in the women's javelin. She is the American record holder and recently won the 2000 United States Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif. Bluterich is entering her third year as the assistant track and field coach at Duke.
Clausen, a 1990 graduate of Duke, will participate in his second Olympic games as he represents the United States in the men's 50K race walk. He is the currently the American Record holder and has been preparing full-time at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field training facility in San Diego, Calif., for the past two years.
Newton, a 1997 graduate of Duke, will be representing Canada in men's basketball. Newton played for the Flamengo Petrobras in Brazil during the 1999-00 season. He has also played professional basketball in Israel and Belgium. While at Duke, Newton averaged 7.6 points a game and ranks seventh in career blocked shots with 101. He was a member of three NCAA tournament teams, which included the 1994 runner-up squad.
Overbeck will captain the U.S. women's soccer team as they look to repeat their gold medal performance from the 1996 Olympics. She is currently in her eighth season as assistant women's soccer coach at Duke as she has guided the Blue Devils to appearances in the NCAA tournament in six of her seven seasons at Duke.
Webb will be representing Canada in the women's tennis doubles competition. She is currently playing on the WTA Tour and is ranked 112th in singles and 96th in doubles. Webb, a 1999 graduate of Duke, was a four-time All-America selection and is the Duke women's tennis leader in all-time wins with 161. She was also named ACC Female Athlete of the Year in 1998 and National Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999.
Whitfield will be making his first appearance in the Olympic games as a member of the U.S. men's soccer team. Whitfield is in his first full season with the Chicago Fire of the MLS. Whitfield, a 1998 Duke graduate, was drafted in the first round (11th overall pick) by the Fire in the 1999 MLS college draft, but was unable to join the team until August after spending the second half of the 1998-1999 European season with KAA Gent of Belgium. While playing for Duke from 1995-98, Whitfield scored one goal and had 15 assists totaling 17 points in 75 games played. He was also a two-time All-ACC selection in 1996 and 1997.
The 2000 Olympics will run from September 15 through October 1, 2000. The Games will last for 16 days, during which over 10,000 athletes representing 198 countries will compete in 28 different sports in venues in Sydney and throughout the rest of Australia.
Former Duke Soccer Player, Evan Whitfield, Represents USA at Olympics in Australia
Written by Christopher La Rocca
The United States men's Olympic Soccer Team begins it's quest for Gold on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm against European power Czech Republic. One of the players looking to contribute to the United States success in Australia is former Duke graduate and current Major League Soccer defender Evan Whitfield.
Whitfield joins an elite group of two other players who wore Blue Devil colors and represented the United States at the Olympic level. Only Tom Kain and John Kerr had such an honor, both in qualifying matches in 1987. The Chicago Fire(MLS)defender is the first to be part of a final Olympic roster and is listed as a substitute in Head Coach Clive Charles plans. His last match before leaving the States was on September 5th in San Diego where he saw 45 minutes of quality action and the USA defeated the A-League club San Diego Flash 2-0.
Professionally Whitfield has blossomed into one of MLS's young rising stars playing in the back, but not before going overseas and playing with KAA GENT of Belgium, a trend that is occurring more and more among the elite youth players of the United States. For the National team he has eight appearances and played in four of the six matches for the USA at the Pan American Games in 1999. In his first match at the Under-23 level he started at right back in a 1-0 loss to Germany.
As a Duke player, Whitfield was known for his steady and calming nature in the defense. He finished with one goal and fifteen assists over 75 matches played for the Blue Devils. Coach John Rennie said, "I am really pleased with the way Evan has progressed with the Chicago Fire and it is a good opportunity for him to be a part of the team in Australia. It is great that Duke University will be represented by Evan at the Olympic Games".
The United States was placed in a difficult Group C with European under-21 Championship runner-ups Czech Republic. Cameroon, always an exciting African team to watch and very successful at the youth levels, and Kuwait a strong representative from the Middle East. Looking at who might advance out of the group, the US has a good chance if it can pull of an upset in its first match and hopefully win or draw the last two matches.
Wednesday in Brisbane will set the tone for what could be the USA's best Olympic effort in some time. Not making it to the second round is going to be looked at as a disappointment. The US squad finished second in CONCACAF qualifying for the event and currently holds an 8-4-1 record in the year 2000.
The squad is mostly made up of European based and MLS players and one college player, Conor Casey from the University of Portland.
All matches and a possible look at Evan Whitfield will be played live on MSNBC. After Wednesday night the US team travels to Canberra for a September 16th match against Cameroon and will finish group play on September 19 in Melbourne against Kuwait.
