At the 2016 Summer Olympics, UM alumni, student-athletes, and coaches go for the gold.

Divers Sam Dorman, B.S.M.E. ’15, and Marcela Marić, swimmer Heather Arseth, B.S. ’16, soccer goalie Catalina Perez, and track and field standouts Murielle Ahoure, A.B. ’11, and Alysha Newman, B.S. ’16, are competing for their respective countries at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Read more about their achievements and those of three Miami coaches.

Also in Rio de Janeiro, former University of Miami rower Aisha Chow, B.S. ’99, is headed to the quarterfinals of the women’s single sculls, representing her home country of Trinidad and Tobago. Chow had to wait an extra day to compete for the second time at the Rio Olympics after inclement weather forced the women’s single sculls repechage to be postponed on Sunday.

The wait was worth it as she earned one of two qualifying spots in Repechage 1, finishing second with a time of 8:04.91. Chow’s second place finish in her repechage allowed her to advance to the quarterfinals.

The past few days have been filled with excitement for Chow. On Saturday, she made history in Brazil, becoming the first rower from Trinidad and Tobago to compete in the Olympics.

Chow, who’s full name is Felice Aisha Chow, was in Heat 6 of the women’s single sculls hosted at Lagoa Stadium. Racing out of Lane 2, she finished fifth in Heat 6 of the women’s single sculls with a time of 8:31.83.

A member of Miami’s rowing team from 1995-1999, Chow arrived at Miami on an academic scholarship before trying out rowing as a novice. She quickly found success and was thrust into the top varsity boat as a strong, but inexperienced freshman.

In her time at Miami, Chow helped the Hurricanes excel at notable regattas, including Head of the Hooch, and helped the team become one of the top programs at the Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship. As a junior, Chow was part of the Hurricanes’ varsity eight that won a title at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship in 1997-98.

A trauma surgeon from UHealth – the University of Miami Health System is leading Rio’s emergency health services during the Games, so it’s no surprise that UHealth and the Miller School have supplied a number of medical volunteers.

One of those volunteers who recently returned from Brazil is Lee Kaplan, a sports medicine physician and orthopedic surgeon for UHealth. On duty when French gymnast Samir Ait Said suffered a tibia and fibula fracture during the vault competition, Kaplan played a role in helping to stabilize the young man’s leg.

Other UM scholars and researchers are offering their insights on this summer’s games—from the Zika virus to polluted waterways, and from Brazil’s political upheaval to fearful athletes skipping the event, which continues through August 21. Read more.

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Igniting the Ice in Sochi

Four-time Olympian Lauryn Williams, B.B.A. ’05, pushes her her way to another Olympic medal. Photos by Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports

When Lauryn Williams, B.B.A. ’05, rocketed to a silver medal in the two-woman bobsled with USA-1 teammate Elana Meyers on February 19 in Sochi, Russia, she became only the fifth person and second American in Olympics history to medal in both Summer and Winter Games.

Yet the former University of Miami track and field superstar, who also won gold as a member of the 4x100m relay team in 2012 and silver in the 100m in 2004, downplays her personal feat. “I came here to help Team USA, and I feel like I did the best I could,” she told the media. “I’m just happy to be here, and it wasn’t about history for me.”

Within six months of taking up the sport, Williams entered the Olympic arena as one of the world’s top female bobsled brakemen. Miami Herald writer Linda Robertson described her metamorphosis as “subtropical sprinter to sub-zero pusher.” U.S. women’s bobsled coach Todd Hays praised her as “one of the greatest U.S. sprinters of all time, incredibly talented, incredibly powerful with an incredible work ethic.” Fellow Olympian Lolo Jones, who also turned from track to bobsled, even compared Williams to track legend Jesse Owens, calling her Sochi performance “the most brilliant thing I’ve ever watched.”

USA-1’s first run set a track record of 57.26 seconds. Williams, who picked up bobsledding in July 2013, also set a record with her 5.13-second start time. In heat 2 she bested her previous record with a 5.12-second start time. Meyers then piloted USA-1 down the track for a heat best time of 57.63 seconds. “I felt like I was literally going to jump out of my skin,” Williams said of the event. “That’s a good feeling and how I felt in track and field, and I know what that means—it means going fast.”

Williams, who spoke at the Black Student Scholarship Reception in March, is UM’s first former student-athlete to qualify for a Winter Olympics and its second to have participated in four Olympics, after diver Jose “Chemi” Gil, ’96. The U.S. is the only nation to have medaled in every Olympic women’s bobsled event since the sport debuted in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Let the (Unified) Games Begin

The UM Special Olympics unified basketball team poses with Miami Heat mascot Burnie at the regional games at the U’s Wellness Center. Photo by Andrew Innerarity

The regional Special Olympics Florida basketball games drew more than 300 athletes to the Patti and Allan Herbert Wellness Center for the first time in January, marking UM’s fast-growing commitment to the Special Olympics and integrated athletics. Two of UM’s teams won their divisions at the event.

“Unified sports is the future of the Special Olympics,” says junior Natalie Falcon, co-chair of UM’s newly formed Special Olympics club. “It meets the goal of inclusion and acceptance like nothing else.”

The club’s unified basketball program pairs UM students with players from Our Pride Academy in Kendall, a school for students with developmental disabilities. “Don’t treat them differently; don’t baby them,” Our Pride athletic director and unified teams coach Danny Cartaya reminds UM students. “If you have an opportunity to make a shot, take it. If you have an opportunity to steal the ball, steal it. That’s how they’ll get better—by you giving them your best.”

Falcon’s co-chair, Ross Ito, a junior psychology major, says his teammates push him too. “At practice, we do suicide drills, shooting drills, defensive drills, set plays,” he says. “It’s a real workout, and the teams are the real deal.”

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By Robert C. Jones Jr.

Lauryn Williams, B.B.A. ’05, right, shows her gold and silver medals to UM scholarship recipients.

Before Lauryn Williams, B.B.A. ’05, started training to become a bobsledder, her only knowledge of the sport came from the movie Cool Runnings, the 1993 comedy loosely based on the true story of the Jamaican national bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

But a chance meeting with track-and-field-star-turned-bobsledder Lolo Jones at an airport so piqued Williams’ interest that she decided to take up the discipline. Over the next six months the champion Olympic sprinter and University of Miami alumna  experienced a steep learning curve—along with a few mishaps, such as crashing in her first training run with driver Elana Meyers—en route to winning a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Games.

“Just because you’re educated, you never stop learning,” Williams told a group of students who were honored Thursday evening at the University of Miami’s Black Alumni Society and Woodson Williams Marshall Association 2014 Scholarship Reception. “Being part of a team taught me that I had a lot of room for improvement.”

Her “wolfpack,” the nickname given to the U.S. women’s bobsled team, was a wealth of knowledge and support, teaching her the value of teamwork. “Not being on the same page can cause someone to get hurt,” Williams said in her keynote address at the event, held in UM’s Newman Alumni Center in March. “I depended on my [bobsled] peers to teach me everything.”

Williams’ “education” on the bobsled track was just one of many lessons she has learned over a lifetime of achievements. She noted that the only white people she ever saw at her inner-city Detroit elementary school were teachers, but when she came to UM, she experienced a melting pot of races. “I never focused on the fact that I was a minority but on what I could be taught and what I could learn,” she said. Her many interactions with UM students of different ethnicities prepared her for the different countries in which she would compete as an athlete.

At Miami, Williams was a nine-time All-American, winning the 2004 NCAA title in the 100-meter dash. She won a silver medal in the event at the 2004 Athens Games, and in the 2012 London Olympics she captured gold as a member of the women’s 4×100-meter relay team, running the anchor leg of a qualifying heat. With her silver medal at Sochi, she is just the fifth person to win medals at both Summer and Winter Olympics.

“A living testament of the fighting Hurricane spirit” is how UM President Donna E. Shalala described her.

Williams showed off her Olympic medals to many of the students at the scholarship event, where more than $65,000 in scholarships were awarded. Crystal Jackson, a sophomore majoring in nursing who received a Black Alumni Society scholarship, said the award will help defray the cost of her college education and lessen the burden on her parents, who have provided her with substantial financial assistance.

Jackson conducts research with clinical assistant professor of nursing Natalia Villegas, testing the effectiveness of online modules on successful breastfeeding techniques. “I’m the first in my family to go to college,” Jackson said. “Getting this scholarship and hearing Lauryn speak is such an inspiration.”

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