Dartmouth's Olympic Heroes

By James T. Preston Jr. | Sunday, June 11, 2006

This year, Dartmouth continued its long tradition of sending athletes to compete in the winter Olympics. A total of fourteen Dartmouth athletes went to Turin to compete in four sports, representing four different countries and winning a total of five medals.

Dartmouth was particularly well-represented in skiing. Five Dartmouth skiers competed in alpine events with mixed results. Scott Macartney ‘01, an economics major at the College who had previously competed in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, did quite well in several events. In Italy this year, he had the best American performance in the men’s super-G, finishing seventh overall. He finished just half a second behind the leader, while compatriot Bode Miller, who was expected to medal, almost hit a gate and skied off the course. Macartney also finished an impressive 15th in men’s downhill and 16th in men’s combined. Kaylin Richardson ‘09 performed well in the women’s combined, racing to a 17th place finish, and Libby Ludlow ‘07 placed 28th in the women’s super-G. Competing for other countries were Bradley Wall ’02, who skied in the giant slalom for Australia, and Patrick Biggs ’06, who skied the slalom for Canada.

Dartmouth skiers also competed in two other sports. Sarah Konrad ’89 made history this year as the first U.S. woman to compete in two separate sports in the Winter Olympics. She competed in events in both biathlon and cross country skiing. Although she was the oldest American woman competing at the Games, she gave an impressive performance. Konrad had one of the fastest skiing times in the 15 km individual biathlon. Unfortunately, her shooting was not as good: her missed shots gave her a ten-minute penalty, setting her back into 63rd place. She had similar problems in the 7.5 km sprint, in which she placed 75th. In cross country skiing, Konrad helped her team to a 14th place finish in the women’s 4x5 km relay and was the first American to finish in the 30 km freestyle, where she placed 32nd.

Two more Nordic skiers competed alongside Konrad in Turin. Biathlete Carolyn Treacy ‘06 was just behind Konrad in the 7.5 km sprint, finishing 80th. Treacy was also the anchor leg of the U.S. women’s 4x6 km relay team, which finished 15th, improving on the American showing at Salt Lake City. In her leg, Treacy clocked the second-best American time in the relay. Skiing for the U.S. men’s cross country team was Carl Swenson ’92, a political philosophy major at the College who has since competed in three Winter Olympics. He was the fastest American in the 30 km pursuit, finishing 40th, and he anchored the U.S. team to a 12th place finish in the 4x10 km relay.

Three Indian Olympians will be returning home with gold, as the Canadian women’s hockey team defeated Sweden in the gold medal game 4-1. Both Cherie Piper ’06 and Gillian Apps ’06 scored in the final contest; Katie Weatherston ’06 also contributed strongly to Canada’s dominance of the tournament. Playing for the American team were Kristen King ’02 and Sarah Parsons ’09. The Swedish team upset the Americans in the semi-final game, giving the U.S. women their only loss of the tournament and putting them out of contention for gold for the first time ever in an international competition. Midway through the first period King scored the first goal of the game, and the U.S. scored again to go up 2-0 early in the second period. But the Swedes managed to come back and tie the game, sending it into a shootout which they won. The U.S. went on to easily claim the bronze medal, shutting out Finland 4-0. Dartmouth was also represented by Rachel Rochat ‘95, who helped Switzerland crush Italy 11-0 in their last game to finish in seventh place.

Throughout the games, Dartmouth women dominated women’s hockey. Piper and Apps scored seven goals apiece, tied for first in the tournament, and had the second and third most assists, respectively of all women’s hockey players. Overall, Dartmouth women (Piper, Apps, Weatherston and Parsons) made up four of the top ten goal scorers in the tournament.

Dartmouth kept up its strong tradition of athleticism as it once again led the Ivy League in Olympic athletes. This year the Ivy League sent a record 29 Olympians to the winter games and Dartmouth athletes make up just under half of them. Among the other Ivies Harvard sent six athletes, Brown five, Yale two, and Princeton and Cornell one. However, Cornell was the only Ivy aside from Dartmouth to send athletes in an event other than women’s hockey. Dartmouth should take great pride in the performance of her sons and daughters in the 2006 Olympic Games. n

Dartmouth's Olympic Heroes

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