2008 - Summer - Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Beijing, China - August 8 - August 24

Harrison ends Hokies' participation in Olympics
When hurdler Queen Harrison failed to advance out of the 400m hurdles semifinals Monday morning on the east coast, it marked the end of Virginia Tech's participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics - the most successful in department history.

In a year when the athletic department posted its highest finish in the Director's Cup, four athletes with Blacksburg ties participated on the world's biggest stage and a fifth would have not for injury

Harrison was the only current Hokie to compete and advanced to the semifinals of her event at the "Bird's Nest" while former women's basketball player Ieva Kublina helped lead Latvia to a 1-4 mark. She played in five games, starting three while scoring 47 points and grabbing 25 rebounds. Nare Diawara would have played for Mali, but could not compete due to injury.

Former Hokie swimmer Kaan Tayla competed in his second Olympics for Turkey, but failed to make it out of the prelims for the 50m freestyle, an event eventually won by Brazil's Cesar Cielo Filho.

Volunteer track coach Cleopatra Borel-Brown competed for Trinidad & Tobago in the shot put, but did not advance.

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Harrison advances to semifinals
Rising junior Queen Harrison advanced to the 400-meter hurdles semifinals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The Richmond, Va., native clocked a 55.96 in the preliminaries, finishing fourth in her heat and 13th overall.

Harrison is one of three Americans to qualify for the semifinals in the event, joining Tiffany Ross-Williams and Sheena Tosta. The Hermitage High School alum is the first Hokie woman to compete for the United States at the Olympics.

Harrison will run on Monday at 8:52 a.m. in the second semifinal heat of the 400-meter hurdles.

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Korea eliminates Latvia, 72-68
Korea withstood a furious fourth quarter comeback by Latvia to hold on to a 72-68 victory Sunday afternoon. With the win, Korea (2-3) is the fourth and final Group A qualifer for the elimination round. Latvia (1-4) saw its 2008 Olympic on-court experience come to end.

Virginia Tech's Ieva Kublina saved her best performance for last. Kublina scored 18 points, including a 4-for-4 performance from behind the arc, to go along with five rebounds and one steal.

Latvia trailed 60-44 after three quarters before outscoring Korea 24-12 in the final quarter but the rally came up just short.

Korea 72, Latvia 68

http://www.nbcolympics.com/basketball/resultsandschedules/rsc=BKW400A14/index.html

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Aussies too much for Latvia
The undefeated Australian women's basketball team broke open a tight contest by outscoring Lativa 35-18 in the third quarter en route to a 96-73 victory. Virginia Tech's Ieva Kublina played only 17 minutes and recorded four points, one rebound and one block in the loss.

Latvia (1-3) will play its final Group A Preliminary round contest on Sunday at 2:30 am eastern against Korea. Korea (1-2) is scheduled to play Belarus (1-2) later today. A win by Belarus would clinch third place in the group with the winner of the Latvia-Korea contest taking the fourth and final spot in next's week elimination round. The loser would see their Olympic competition come to an end.

The combination of a Korea win today over Belarus, a Latvia win Sunday over Korea and a win on Sunday by Belarus over winless Brazil would give all three teams a 2-3 record. The tiebreaker guidelines are listed below:

Tiebreaker system

For ranking purposes, if two teams are tied after round-robin play, head-to-head play determines the order of finish. If more than two teams are tied, the team with the best record in play among the tied teams gets the higher placing. If teams remain tied, average points scored among games involving the tied teams is used to decide the order. If teams are still deadlocked, the tiebreaker is average points scored in other games.

No mention of what happens if the teams are still tied is listed so I guess they flip a medal.

Australia 96, Latvia 73

http://www.nbcolympics.com/basketball/resultsandschedules/rsc=BKW400A10/index.html

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Tayla hits the pool at the 2008 Olympics
Former Hokie Kaan Tayla competed in the 50-meter freestyle for the Turkish Olympic Swimming and Diving team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, early this morning.

Tayla touched in with a time of 22.66, placing eighth in the 11th heat of the contest and 37th overall.

The Ankara, Turkey native qualified for the Olympics after swimming a personal best time of 22.37 at sectional meet held at Georgia Tech.

Tayla, who is the Turkish national champion in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, also competed for Turkey in the 2004 Olympics before beginning his collegiate career at Virginia Tech.

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Kublina shines as Latvia nips Brazil, 79-78
Virginia Tech's Ieva Kublina nailed a key three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining and Anete Jekabsone-Zogota hit a layup with 2.7 left to give Latvia a thrilling 79-78 victory Wednesday afternoon.

The victory was the first at the Beijing Games for the Latvians who are still in the hunt for a spot in the elimination round. The top four teams in each group will advance and Latvia, Belarus and Korea are locked in a third-place tie with 1-2 marks while Australia and Russia lead with 3-0 records. Brazil fell to 0-3 with the loss.

Kublina had her best outing thus far with 14 points and seven rebounds against Brazil. Latvia will next play Australia Friday at 11:15 p.m. eastern. The Aussies, expected to battle the United States for the gold, have outscored the opposition by an average of 21 points per game. The game will be available via webcast only.

Latvia concludes Group A pool play on Sunday at 2:30 a.m. eastern with a key game versus Korea which may determine the final spot in the elimination round.

Latvia 79, Brazil 78

http://www.nbcolympics.com/basketball/resultsandschedules/rsc=BKW400A08/index.html

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Harrison talks about Olympic experience
Hokiesports.com recently caught up with Olympic 400-meter hurdler and rising junior at Tech, Queen Harrison to talk about her experience so far in China for the 2008 Olympic games.

Where are you located right now and when do you go to the Olympic Village?

"Right now, I'm located in Dalian, China. It was about an hour flight from Beijing to Dalian and I got here at 3:30 p.m. on August 3 (local time). USATF has made arrangements with the Dalian government in order to allow the USA Track and Field team to come here to train in preparation for the Olympic Games. The air is supposedly cleaner and the facilities are more accessible here than they are in the Village. I am leaving to go back to the Village tomorrow morning, August 12."

How was the flight over?

"Long is the best way to describe it. I've never been on a flight that was that long in my life! It was really difficult falling asleep and waking up knowing that you still have about nine more hours to go up in the air. The crew was very friendly especially to us athletes aboard. I traveled with a group of about 23 USA athletes and officials ranging from track and field and boxing, to volleyball and fencing. Overall, the trip wasn't too bad I just had to force myself to not sleep the entire way because they told us that it would make it even harder for us to adjust to the time difference if we didn't keep ourselves awake. The funniest thing about it was that we left San Jose, California at 12:15 p.m. (where team processing was located) and got to Beijing at about 2:45 p.m. local time. It was weird traveling that long to arrive two-and-a-half hours later."

Did you have any jet lag? How are you handling the 12-hour time difference?

"I did have a little jet lag actually. It was a little hard to adjust to being wide awake when it is 3 a.m. back on my time but I did a pretty good job of dealing with it. When I got to China I really wanted to go straight to sleep (at about 4 p.m.) but all the officials and USA staff told us to force our bodies to stay awake until our normal bed time back at home and we'll adjust quicker to the time difference."

What is the biggest difference over there from in Blacksburg, Virginia?

"I haven't really experienced many differences yet. We've been at the training camp, which is VERY secure. It's actually a resort in Dalian that USATF rented out SOLELY for our use, so there is no one else besides hotel personnel working here. I think that when I go back to the village and go out sightseeing around Beijing I will really feel the cultural differences."

A lot has been made of the poor air quality over there, is it really that bad?

"Actually when I arrived in Beijing on the 2nd of August there were clear blue skies and the weather was PERFECT. Some of the athletes told me that it had rained a couple days before and that may be what cleared the air but it was really beautiful when I got there. I think we were all paranoid and thought that we would have to get off the plane with masks over our nose and mouth but in reality it's not that bad over here. I am not sure what it's like [in Beijing] now, but on the second and third the weather was great, especially for running."

What have you been eating? How is it?

"We have an American chef in Dalian so we've been eating American inspired dishes. The chef, who's name is Adam, was not able to bring his own food over here, but he's been making great and healthy dishes for us with what he has available. At breakfast there is a standard buffet with eggs, sausage, pancakes, french toast and cereals. There is always rice included in each buffet and there is usually a stir fry during breakfast that is common over here. There's a lot of sushi and it's put out with each meal of the day. Lunch and dinner are usually very similar with things such as chicken, beef, pork and fish. They make sure to cook a wide variety of foods so that everyone will be satisfied. The other good thing is that Chef Adam is really good about catering to anyone's needs. I don't eat pork so he's substituted the pork sausage for breakfast with chicken sausage instead and you can basically request any food that you'd like to eat, even PIZZA and FRENCH FRIES!"

What do you do in your free time over there?

"We have a mini movie theater downstairs, so I watch a lot of movies, meet and converse with the other runners on the team, play table tennis (A LOT!) and Taboo. We're kind of isolated in here and we're not allowed to leave without police escort, so everyone finds ways to entertain themselves inside the hotel and on the golf course."

What is the coolest thing you've seen so far?

"This market that we went to for one of our excursions over here. It was like a typical mall with shops like Burberry, Chloe, and Nike. Then there was an underground shopping center, right underneath all the stores above that had everything from food vendors to nail shops and lots of clothing shops. It was really cool, I wanted to purchase a pair of jeans that were some brand that's pretty popular in China. So to try them on, the shop owner just put up a curtain and told you to try it on right behind there. Luckily, USATF provided us with a tour guide that spoke fluent Mandarin and almost fluent English, so when the shop owner tried to charge me an OUTRAGEOUS price for a jean brand I have never even heard of (380 yuan which is about $55), she was able to help me talk them down. I only paid 140 yuan for them in the end."

Who is the coolest athlete you've seen so far?

"I'm not sure who the coolest athlete I've seen so far is. It's weird because I'm eating three meals a day with some of the greatest athletes not only in the country, but in the WORLD, so it's hard to name who is the coolest. Some of the big names that I've become acquainted with are Sanya Richards(400m), Bershawn Jackson (400H), Lauryn Williams (100m), DeeDee Trotter (400m), Bernard Lagat (1500m and 5000m), Lopez Lamong (1500m) and many others that I can't sit and name them all. It's really cool being amongst these big names in track and field. Hopefully when I go back to the village I'll be able to meet more athletes from other sports."

How is your training going?

"Training is going very well. As I said before it took a while for me to adjust to the time difference but now I am right on track. I am sooo glad that I decided to come out here as early as I did because, unlike the majority of my competitors, I've never traveled this far to compete and work on a totally different time schedule, but coming out about two weeks in advance has really been paying off. I am right on schedule with my training and everything is where it needs to be. My hamstring injury that I suffered at NCAAs is no longer an issue thanks to the wonderful track and field sports med staff at VT and the great trainers they have on hand here in China. So now I'm READY to GO!!"

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Latvia falls to Belarus
Ieva Kublina and her Latvian teammates had another tough outing at the 2008 Olympics falling 79-57 to Belarus in Group A action Monday. For the second consecutive game, Latvia struggled in the fourth quarter being outscored 19-8. In their opening game 62-57 loss to Russia, Latvia managed only eight points in the final quarter.

Kublina was limited to five points but had six rebounds and two steals in 17 minutes. Latvia, now 0-2 in Group A, will next face Brazil on Wednesday, Aug. 13 at 2:30 a.m. eastern. Brazil dropped its opening contest, 68-62, to Korea and will play Australia later today. The Latvia-Brazil matchup will available via webcast only.

Belarus 79, Latvia 57

http://www.nbcolympics.com/basketball/resultsandschedules/rsc=BKW400A05/index.html

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Kublina, Latvia drop opening game
As you may have noticed earlier this week on the notebook, we are tracking several former Virginia Tech athletes as they participate in the 2008 Olympic Games. Once such athlete is former women's basketball player Ieva Kublina (2000-04). Ieva is the third on the Hokie career scoring list with 1,647 points and the all-time career blocks leader with 256.

However, Saturday was not a good opening day for Ieva Kublina and her Latvian teammates.

Russia outscored Latvia 21-9 in the fourth quarter for a come-from-behind 62-57 victory in the opening game for each team. Kublina (Riga, Latvia) scored six points with six rebounds in the defeat.

Latvia defeated Russia, 74-69, last week at the FIBA Diamondball Tournament in Haining, China. The Latvians, participating in Group A, will play their next preliminary round contest on Monday, August 11, at 4:45 a.m. eastern against Belarus. Australia defeated Belarus, 83-64, on Saturday.

The game will be available via webcast only at www.nbcolympics.com which has some really innovative technology. The video download is free and allows fans to watch all webcasts of all sports with the option of viewing up to four events at once. Fans can also view events later by selecting their sport of choice and going to the results/schedule page. Once there, you have the option of clicking on the "official" button which will provide the stats if the event has ended. There is also the rewind option which will reload the game for instant replay on your laptop. I don't know about you, but that 4:45 a.m. tip is a little early for yours truly. We'll hope for better results on Monday.

Russia 62, Latvia 57

http://www.nbcolympics.com/basketball/resultsandschedules/rsc=BKW400A03/

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Queen Harrison ^VT (USA) - 400m-Hurdles
Heats: 55.96 (13^th overall, advances to semifinals)
Semifinals: 55.88 (did not advance)

Kaan Tayla ¹ (Turkey) - 50m Freestyle
Heats: 22.66 (37^th overall, did not advance)
Nare Diawara ¹ (Mali) - Women's Basketball
Member of the Mali Team, but will not be able to compete due to injury.
Ieva Kublina ¹ (Latvia) - Women's Basketball
Games Played
Russia: 62 - Latvia: 57
Belarus: 79 - Latvia: 57
Latvia: 79 - Brazil: 78
Australia: 96 - Latvia: 73
South Korea: 72 - Latvia: 68
Latvia Eliminated
Stats
Cleopatra Borel-Brown ² (Trinidad & Tobago) - Shot Put
Qualification: 17.96 (17^th overall, did not advance)

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2004 - Summer - Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Athens, Greece - August 13 - August 29

Cleopatra Borel-Brown ² (Trinidad & Tobago) - Shot Put
Qualifing Round (Group B) - 18.90
Finals - 18.35 (10^th Place)
Kaan Tayla ³ (Turkey) - Swimming
50m Freestyle - Heat - 23.26s (39^th overall, did not advance)
100m Freestyle - Heat - 51.52s (42^nd overall, did not advance)

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1988 - Summer - Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Seoul, South Korea - September 17 - October 2

Bimbo Coles ^VT (USA) - Men's Basketball
Bronze Medal
Games Played
USA: 97 - Spain: 53
USA: 76 - Canada: 70
USA: 102 - Brazil: 87
USA: 108 - China: 57
USA: 102 - Egypt: 35
USA: 94 - Puerto Rico: 57
USSR: 82 - USA: 76
USA: 78 - Australia: 49

Stats

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1980 - Summer - Games of the XXII Olympiad
Moscow - July 19 - August 3

Todd Scully ² (USA) - Men's 20K Racewalk
Member of the US Team that boycotted the Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

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1976 - Summer - Games of the XXI Olympiad
Montreal - July 17 - August 1

Todd Scully ² (USA) - Men's 20K Racewalk
Finals - 1:36:37 (29^th Place)

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