170 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

SYDNEY2000AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO NATALYA (NATASHA) CHIKINA SHEILA CORNELL-DOUTY LEONARDO COSTA MARK CREAR NATASHA DANVERS-SMITH TORRI EDWARDS JOANNA FARGUS KATRIN GLEIE BLYTHE HARTLEY JOSH ILIKA KLETE KELLER SOFIA KONOUKH LENNY KRAYZELBURG MARK KWOK BRIGITA LANGERHOLC LISA LESLIE DORTE LINDNER JASHIA LUNA ROBERT LYNN NATASHA MAYERS OUS MELLOULI INGER MILLER BERNICE ORWIG MARGIE PEDDER DULYARIT “GOH” PHUANGTHONG VICHA RATANACHOTE DOROTHY “DOT” RICHARDSON PEDRO RODRIGUES FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ KAITLIN SANDENO EDGARDO “TONY” SERPAS RUSS SILVESTRI KYLE SPENCER JAKOB SVEINSSON BELA SZABADOS ERIK VENDT JURAJ ZATOVIC AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO USC AT THE 2000 OLYMPICS • 8 GOLD 4 SILVER 6 BRONZE ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK2000AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO NATALYA (NATASHA) CHIKINA SHEILA CORNELL-DOUTY LEONARDO COSTA MARK CREAR NATASHA DANVERS-SMITH TORRI EDWARDS JOANNA FARGUS KATRIN GLEIE BLYTHE HARTLEY JOSH ILIKA KLETE KELLER SOFIA KONOUKH LENNY KRAYZELBURG MARK KWOK BRIGITA LANGERHOLC LISA LESLIE DORTE LINDNER JASHIA LUNA ROBERT LYNN NATASHA MAYERS OUS MELLOULI INGER MILLER BERNICE ORWIG MARGIE PEDDER DULYARIT “GOH” PHUANGTHONG VICHA RATANACHOTE DOROTHY “DOT” RICHARDSON PEDRO RODRIGUES FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ KAITLIN SANDENO EDGARDO “TONY” SERPAS RUSS SILVESTRI KYLE SPENCER JAKOB SVEINSSON BELA SZABADOS ERIK VENDT JURAJ ZATOVIC AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO USC AT THE 2000 OLYMPICS • 8 GOLD 4 SILVER 6 BRONZE ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 171

2000AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO NATALYA (NATASHA) CHIKINA SHEILA CORNELL-DOUTY LEONARDO COSTA MARK CREAR NATASHA DANVERS-SMITH TORRI EDWARDS JOANNA FARGUS KATRIN GLEIE BLYTHE HARTLEY JOSH ILIKA KLETE KELLER SOFIA KONOUKH LENNY KRAYZELBURG MARK KWOK BRIGITA LANGERHOLC LISA LESLIE DORTE LINDNER JASHIA LUNA ROBERT LYNN NATASHA MAYERS OUS MELLOULI INGER MILLER BERNICE ORWIG MARGIE PEDDER DULYARIT “GOH” PHUANGTHONG VICHA RATANACHOTE DOROTHY “DOT” RICHARDSON PEDRO RODRIGUES FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ KAITLIN SANDENO EDGARDO “TONY” SERPAS RUSS SILVESTRI KYLE SPENCER JAKOB SVEINSSON BELA SZABADOS ERIK VENDT JURAJ ZATOVIC AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO USC AT THE 2000 OLYMPICS • 8 GOLD 4 SILVER 6 BRONZE ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK

In a way, the 2000 Olympic Games were about conciliation and humanity. The

International Olympic Committee’s final vote for where to stage the Games had

come down to Sydney and Beijing, and competition was fierce. In the end, Western

politicians and human rights advocates convinced the IOC that China’s suppression of

dissidents should keep the nation from hosting the millennial Olympics, and the IOC

voted for Sydney. Within Australia, the Games brought to light longstanding issues

of repression and began to heal them. The woman chosen to light the Olympic flame

was Cathy Freeman, an Australian Aboriginal athlete. Indigenous Australians long

suffered the effects of racism, so Freeman’s selection was a symbol for reconciliation

within Australia — and when Freeman ran her way to a gold medal in the 400

meters, the nation celebrated. Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea (North Korea) competed separately but marched under one flag.

Only one country from the 1996 Olympics did not show in Sydney: Afghanistan was

banned because of its oppression of women and their exclusion from sports under

the Taliban. Like many Games, Sydney had its controversies. American track and

field stars were later found to have used performance-enhancing drugs, and in

2010, the IOC stripped China of a bronze because one of its gymnasts was too

young. But at the end of the two weeks, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch

declared the competition “the best Olympic Games ever.” Nearly 50 USC athletes

participated, winning 18 medals — eight of them gold — making for the fitting

headline in the Daily Trojan at the end of the Games: “Golden dreams fulfilled.”

2000AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK WAYNE BLACK VIKTOR BODROGI RODRIGO CASTRO NATALYA (NATASHA) CHIKINA SHEILA CORNELL-DOUTY LEONARDO COSTA MARK CREAR NATASHA DANVERS-SMITH TORRI EDWARDS JOANNA FARGUS KATRIN GLEIE BLYTHE HARTLEY JOSH ILIKA KLETE KELLER SOFIA KONOUKH LENNY KRAYZELBURG MARK KWOK BRIGITA LANGERHOLC LISA LESLIE DORTE LINDNER JASHIA LUNA ROBERT LYNN NATASHA MAYERS OUS MELLOULI INGER MILLER BERNICE ORWIG MARGIE PEDDER DULYARIT “GOH” PHUANGTHONG VICHA RATANACHOTE DOROTHY “DOT” RICHARDSON PEDRO RODRIGUES FÉLIX SÁNCHEZ KAITLIN SANDENO EDGARDO “TONY” SERPAS RUSS SILVESTRI KYLE SPENCER JAKOB SVEINSSON BELA SZABADOS ERIK VENDT JURAJ ZATOVIC AHMAD AL-KUDMANI ORN ARNARSON LINDSAY BENKO USC AT THE 2000 OLYMPICS • 8 GOLD 4 SILVER 6 BRONZE ESI BENYARKU KIM BLACK

Klete Keller ’09 (left) flexed his muscle in the pool for the U.S. at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, winning silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay and bronze in the 400-meter freestyle.

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 173

It was a bumpy road to success for Lenny Krayzelburg ’98. Raised in what is now Ukraine, he took to swimming early, and by the time he was 9, he was training five hours a day. Hoping to give Krayzelburg a greater chance of success in the sport, his family moved to the United States in 1989. He continued training in Los Angeles through a local Jewish community center, but almost quit swimming.

It wasn’t until coach Stu Blumkin at Santa Monica City College saw his potential in 1993 that Krayzelburg resumed serious training at age 17. After just one session, Blumkin began working to help him earn a scholarship to USC — an effort that soon paid off. After becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, Krayzelburg qualified for the Olympic Trials as a sophomore in 1996 and won an NCAA title for USC in the 200-meter backstroke as a junior.

Krayzelburg’s list of accomplishments is long: Known for his powerful stroke, he was the first swimmer in more than a decade to sweep the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke events at the World Championships in 1998. The following year, he set world records in the 50-meter, 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. He dominated the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, coming home with three gold medals and setting an Olympic record in the 200-meter backstroke and a world record in the 4x100-meter medley relay. His performances led him to receive USA Swimming’s Swimmer of the Year Award in 1999 and 2000.

He returned to the Olympics in 2004, this time in Athens, where his fourth career gold medal came as a member of the 4x100-meter medley relay team. Hopes for a third trip to the Games, held in Beijing in 2008, were dashed because of shoulder injuries.

Since retiring from competition, Krayzelburg has focused on teaching people of all ages how to swim. He started a non-profit organization, the LK Foundation, to introduce swimming to inner-city children. The group works with the Los Angeles Unified School District to offer free swim clinics at facilities near USC and elsewhere in South Los Angeles. In 2005, a donation by Krayzelburg helped refurbish and reopen the pool at the Westside Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles — the very pool where he had trained as a teenage boy.

LENNY KRAYZELBURG

174 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

There I was, lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, and I just couldn’t do it. I was at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and it was the night before the 100-meter backstroke. As anticipated, after the preliminary heats and semifinals, I was a top qualifier going into the final.

As I closed my eyes, my life flashed in front of me. There were memories of me as a kid growing up in the Soviet Union and being taken to the pool for the first time by my dad. There was the first time I was thrown into a 50-meter pool and how I was able to get to the other side only by sliding along the side of the pool.

I remembered coming to Los Angeles in 1989 and joining a swim team in Santa Monica, feeling welcomed by my swim team peers yet lonely because of my very limited English. I recalled swim meets that I went to and how I always looked up to kids that were better than me, wondering how and why they were so much faster.

I re-envisioned the first time I showed up on the pool deck at USC to try out with the Trojan Swim Club, and how I felt like I did not belong and wasn’t good enough because all the swimmers seemed larger than life and on a completely different level than I was.

But now I was in the Olympic Village with the greatest athletes in the world, just hours away from having an opportunity to win an Olympic gold medal. Come 7:30 tomorrow night, I knew I had to be great for 53 seconds in order to realize a dream that only a few short years earlier seemed farther away than the moon. Thinking about the moment overwhelmed me as I tossed and turned in my bed.

The next morning, I couldn’t wait for the race to come, but unfortunately the finals were not until that evening. Time felt as if it were standing still

as I thought more about the race and got more nervous. When I was younger I used to get very nervous before races, but as I ascended to the top of the sport and became the best in the world, confidence and knowledge that I was always ready and prepared to race helped me manage my pre-race emotions. However, on this day nothing helped me. The moment was just too big. What was at stake was too special.

Every day before the finals, our team gathered for a short meeting where coaches gave us instructions and called out names of everyone who was swimming that evening, and the team captains led us in a team cheer before we departed for the pool. Because I was swimming later in the evening, I did not need to go to the pool right away. I stopped by the Olympic Village cafeteria to grab a light snack, hung out and caught up with other athletes. Then it was time to go.

Over the years I had developed a pre-race routine, plotting out how far in advance of the race I warmed up, when I got a light massage, and when I changed into my race suit and got ready to go. On this day I followed my plan just as I always did.

When the time for the race finally came, all eight finalists got called into a ready room. I simply cannot describe the atmosphere of being in that room with your competitors getting ready to swim for an Olympic gold medal. It is an absolutely surreal experience. Some swimmers are calm. Some are jumping around. Some are stretching. Some are just sitting there. But you can see that all of them are trying to shake off the nerves. Of course, there are always a few who are trying to psych you out by staring at you. No doubt I was nervous, but I kept a good poker face and did not show my true emotions.

I tried having a conversation with anyone who was willing to talk, as it helped me keep my mind

off the moment and the race. After about 10 minutes, they called all eight of us to line up and get ready to walk out for the Olympic final.

Wow, what a moment that was!

As we started walking onto the pool deck toward our lanes, an incredible feeling of calmness fell over me. I knew this was my moment and could only control myself. If I did what I was capable of, no one could beat me.

I don’t remember most of my race, but I vividly recall the finish and the moment when I became an Olympic champion. I knew that I was in a pretty close race with Australian swimmer Matt Welsh, and as I launched toward the wall for the finish, I took a glance to my left where Matt was, and I could see that I was a bit ahead and would touch the wall first.

My dream was realized.

In Lenny’s Words:

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 175

“I don’t remember most of my

race, but I vividly recall the finish

and the moment when I became

an Olympic champion.”

176 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

COMEBACK FOR GOLDTHE AMERICAN SOFTBALL

TEAM IMPRESSED AUDIENCES WITH A SPIRITED COMEBACK.

THE U.S. COMPETITORS LOST THREE STRAIGHT GAMES, BUT EVENTUALLY WON GOLD

BY BEATING ALL THREE TEAMS THAT HAD EARLIER DEFEATED THEM.

TORCH DOWN UNDER (WATER)

ON ITS JOURNEY TO SYDNEY, THE OLYMPIC TORCH TRAVELED

UNDERWATER FOR THE FIRST TIME. A SPECIAL APPARATUS WAS

CONSTRUCTED FOR THE FLAME’S DESCENT

TO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF.

KLETE KELLER ’09Three-time Olympian Klete Keller captured the first two of his five career medals in Sydney. The backbone of USC’s freestyle corps, he won a silver medal in the men’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay and a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle.

BERNICE ORWIG ’99After leading USC to the 1999 NCAA women’s title and earning the Peter J. Cutino Award as the top female collegiate water polo player in the nation, Bernice Orwig won silver in Sydney as a goalie for Team USA.

LISA LESLIE ’97A Hall of Famer at USC, Lisa Leslie won her second gold medal with the U.S. women’s basketball team. With victories in Atlanta, Athens and Beijing, she was the first basketball player to win gold medals in four straight Olympics. TROJAN VICTORIES

AND HIGHLIGHTS OFTHE 2000 SYDNEY GAMES

usc olympians: 47 gold: 8 silver: 4 bronze: 6

AN OLYMPIC HERITAGE 177

TROJAN VICTORIESAND HIGHLIGHTS OF

THE 2000 SYDNEY GAMES

A SCENIC DEBUTWOMEN’S TRIATHLON MADE ITS DEBUT ON THE OLYMPIC PROGRAM IN 2000.

THE COURSE WAS SET IN THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE ICONIC SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE.

TORRI EDWARDS ’05Torri Edwards, who took Pac-12 titles in the 100 meters twice and the 200 meters three times, was on the U.S. bronze-medal-winning 4x100-meter relay team in Sydney.

LINDSAY BENKO ’99A USC Hall of Famer and 21-time All-American swimmer, Lindsay Benko won Olympic gold as a member of the United States’ 4x200-meter freestyle relay team in Sydney. She would win two more medals in Athens in 2004.

DÖRTE LINDNER ’00USC diver Dörte Lindner followed up her 1998 Pac-10 titles in women’s 1-meter and 3-meter springboard diving with a bronze medal for Germany in the 3-meter springboard in Sydney.

KIM BLACKKim Black, who competed for one season at USC, won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the United States’ 4x200-meter freestyle relay team in Sydney.

usc olympians: 47 gold: 8 silver: 4 bronze: 6