Athens Games Open with Strong NU Contingent

Lincoln -- Five more current or former Husker student-athletes and two current members of NU’s coaching staff have been added to the University of Nebraska’s presence at the Olympics.

Nenad Loncar, Dace Ruskule, Valery Kalmikovs, Therese Alshammar, Pablo Morales, and Lori Sippel will be among those representing NU at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Nenad Loncar, a senior-to-be for the Nebraska track and field team, will run for Serbia and Montenegro in the 110-meter hurdles. The Belgrade native holds the Yugoslavian national record in the 110-meter hurdles, as he ran at a 13.60 clip in the semifinals of the European Under-23 Championships in the summer of 2003 to clinch his spot on the Olympic team. This season at Nebraska, Loncar qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.76 at the NCAA Regional meet. Loncar ran his best time of the season at the 2004 Big 12 Outdoor Championships, finishing second with a time of 13.74.

An incoming freshman for the 2005 track season, Dace Ruskule will throw the discus for Latvia. She joins former Huskers Dmitrijs Milkevics and Ineta Radevica on the Latvian track and field team.

Valery Kalmikovs will compete in his third Olympics on Latvia’s swimming and diving team. In the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Kalmikovs finished 12th in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:16:36. He followed that up with a time of 2:16.21 and a 19th-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke in Sydney in 2000.

Therese Alshammar has also competed in the last two Olympics. Alshammar won three medals for Sweden in the 2000 Olympics. She finished with the silver medal in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle (24:51 and 54.33, respectively) while swimming on the 400-meter freestyle relay, which captured the bronze with a time of 3:40.40. Alshammar also competed for Sweden in the 1996 Olympics, and has been a member of Sweden’s National Team since 1993.

Meanwhile, representing Nebraska behind the microphone will be former Husker and current NU softball associate head coach Lori Sippel and current head swimming and diving coach Pablo Morales.

Sippel will serve as the color commentator for the softball games broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Sippel was a 13-year member of the Canadian National Team and pitched for Canada in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, in which Canada finished fifth. This will be Sippel’s second Olympic broadcasting assignment, as she assisted the CBC with their coverage of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

A two-time Olympian, Morales will team with Barry Landers to describe the swimming and diving action on the Westwood One radio network. Morales was selected as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sportsperson of the Year in 1992 after overcoming a three-year sabbatical from competitive swimming to capture the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly. He also competed in the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

The Opening Ceremonies for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad will be held tonight in Athens, Greece.