Sept. 8, 2004

Colonials Pursue Olympic Dreams

Athletes Return from Athens

By Rachel Muir

A third of second — a literal blink of an eye. That’s how close Aquil Abdullah—one of five GW athletes competing in Athens this summer — came to the Olympics four years ago. He had just won the US National Champions, a silver medal at the Pan American Games, and the first race in a best-of-three Olympic trials final. But instead of cinching an Olympic berth in the second trials race as widely expected, Abdullah suffered an asthma attack and lost the race. In what became a winner-take-all third race, Abdullah fell .33 of a second, or seven feet, short of making the trip to Sydney.

Fast forward four years. In Athens, Abdullah, along with double sculls partner Henry Nuzum, advanced in an Olympic semifinal race with a margin of victory that made the 2000 trials seem like a rout when they edged out a Norwegian duo by .01 second. (After a protest from the Norwegian team, the race was deemed a dead heat and both pairs advanced to the finals.) Abdullah and Nuzum went on to finish an impressive sixth overall.

Abdullah’s road to Athens began his senior year at DC’s Wilson High School. A wide receiver talented enough to attract college scouts, Abdullah tried his hand at rowing, primarily to keep in shape for football, and something clicked. “I just really enjoyed rowing,” says Abdullah. “It was a natural fit.”

However, it wasn’t until his mother made him decide on a college before she would let him go on his high school “beach week” that he opted for rowing over football and for GW. He hasn’t looked back since. “It was a great time for me and for rowing at GW,” he says. “The coaching staff was supportive, and the athletic department was great.”

His lessons from GW weren’t learned just on the Potomac. Abdullah majored in physics and credits the scientific method with helping him hone his problem-solving skills in all aspects of life. He cites as a favorite GW memory watching the men’s basketball team on TV in a packed Marvin Center when the Colonials advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1993.

Abdullah, who trains in Princeton, NJ, has achieved national and international acclaim in rowing in the eight years since he left GW. He’s also suffered his share of heartache, most notably the failure to make the 2000 Olympic team, and admits to considering “giving up his oars.” But his persistence paid off as did his switch earlier this year from single to double sculls, which presented a better opportunity for making the Olympic team. In April, he partnered with Nuzum, a Harvard graduate and Naval lieutenant. Both were looking for other partners when they won two out of three races at the Olympic trials and figured they must be doing something right.

With their performance at the trials, Abdullah secured his spot on the Olympic team — and in history, becoming the first African American man to make the US Olympic rowing team. But he doesn’t consider himself a pioneer. “It’s not that important as an accolade,” he says. What’s more significant to him is the opportunity it presents as a role model, inspiring people not traditionally involved in a predominantly white, affluent sport.

While Abdullah says these Olympics are his last, he has plenty of skills to fall back on. He’s an accomplished saxophone player and singer who has jammed with James Brown, the godfather of soul, and Latin legend Tito Puente. He’s also co-written Perfect Balance, a book about his quest to make the Olympic team, and hopes to return to writing. But more immediately, Abdullah says, “I’m going to walk the Earth like Caine from Kung Fu and have adventures.”

Being All You Can Be
Not many athletes can claim mastery of disciplines as diverse as swimming and pistol shooting or horseback riding and fencing. Chad Senior, BS ’97, does all four, plus running. An Army infantry officer stationed at Colorado’s Fort Carson, Senior competes in the modern pentathlon. The only sport created for the Olympics, the modern pentathlon made its debut at the 1912 games as a then-contemporary version of the classic pentathlon. It requires athletes to perform in five disciplines — swimming, shooting, running, horseback riding and fencing — all in one grueling day.

Swimming and running are Senior’s strengths; they’re the sports he’s been training for, and competing in, most of his life. The Fort Myers, FL, native swam competitively at GW, setting five records and earning the titles Atlantic 10 Freshman Swimmer of the Year and A-10 champion. It wasn’t until he was in college that he even heard of the modern pentathlon.

Senior explains that the US Modern Pentathlon Committee got its hands on a letter that he, as a high school student, sent out to colleges, inquiring about their athletic programs and detailing his accomplishments in swimming and running. The committee invited him to a development camp the summer after his sophomore year even though he had little or no experience in the other three disciplines.

Senior, who still feels most comfortable in the pool and on the track, typically practices four sports for a total of 10 hours each day. Shooting, he says, requires steady nerves above all. “It can’t make you,” he adds, “but it can break you.” Fencing is his most inconsistent event. “Some days you’re on and some days you’re off,” says Senior, explaining that at the Olympics fencing is a round robin, requiring each of the 32 competitors to fence each other.

It’s the luck of the draw in the equestrian segment. Horses are matched with riders through a lottery held about 20 minutes before the competition, giving them little chance to practice together. And Senior knows all too well how detrimental a poor match can be to an athlete’s medal hopes.

Four years ago in Sydney, Senior led the Olympic field after three events. A medal seemed all but certain, especially since his worst event, fencing, was behind him. But when his horse botched four jumps, Senior placed 18th in the horseback riding portion and finished sixth overall. Frustrated, he took a two-year hiatus from the sport.

Senior’s Olympic dreams were realized with a lot of hard work — and some help from Uncle Sam. After graduating from GW, Senior joined the Army and its World Class Athlete Program, created for aspiring Olympians. “It’s been a huge blessing for me,” says Senior. “They took a chance on me. I wouldn’t have had the success I’ve had without them.” Not only has the Army made his training possible, it’s also given him a career, says Senior. He plans to stay in the Army for the foreseeable future, but is considering veterinarian school some day.

How is it different going to the Olympics for the second time? “I know what to expect, but it’s just as nerve-wracking and exciting,” says Senior.

Senior finished 13th out of 32 in this year’s games. His best events were swimming, where he placed fourth, and and running where he took second.

Steering an Olympic Course
It’s said that whitewater slalom kayaking is a daredevil’s sport, requiring paddlers to steer through as many as 20 gates, all the time navigating whitewater rapids. Races take little more than a minute and a half, but what the sport lacks in longevity it makes up for in exhilaration. “It’s 100 very exciting seconds,” says GW student Brett Heyl, who competed in the men’s whitewater kayak slalom in Athens.

Heyl’s first love was skiing, taking to the slopes at age 5. It wasn’t until the ripe old age of 9 that the Vermont native tried his hand at kayaking. By age 10 he was racing at the US Junior National Championships, and by 13 he earned a spot on the junior national team. He’s since trained around the world, including stints in Slovenia and Australia, and racked up an impressive list of victories.

When he’s not training, Heyl studies economics and political science at the University. “I love GW,” he says. “There’s a lot I want to do in my life, and GW is helping prepare me to do it.” Heyl took a break from his studies to prepare for the Olympics, but has stayed nearby, training in Bethesda, MD, on the Potomac’s Feeder Canal and on a whitewater course in Dickerson, MD.

This year has been particularly good for Heyl with a win in the Pan American Games, a second-place finish at the US team trials, and an eighth-place finish in the first World Cup event this season. The latter secured his place on the Olympic team. “It was a dream come true,” says Heyl. “I borrowed someone’s cell phone and woke my parents up with the news.” While Heyl says he wants to win every race, he doesn’t let the pressure get to him. “It’s about going out, doing our best, and living with the results.”

In Athens, Heyl finished 15th in the kayak semifinals, failing to make the cut for the finals. But if he has anything to do with it these Olympics won’t be his last. Heyl already has his sights on Beijing in 2008.

Hoop Dreams
“Wow,” says Ugo Oha, BA ’04, when asked to describe her feelings about competing in the Olympics. “I still can’t believe it.” Oha, one of two GW women’s basketball stars in the Athens games, played hoops for the Nigerian national team in its Olympic debut. The 6-foot-4 center was raised in Houston, but her parents are both Nigerian and she has dual citizenship.

Oha has played basketball since sixth grade, and it shows. While at GW, Oha was named A-10 Defensive Player of the Year and All-Conference First Team. She’s in the GW record books for shot blocking (first), all-time scoring (eighth), and rebounds (sixth).

Unlike other athletes who’ve been harboring Olympic dreams for years, Oha hadn’t seriously considered the possibility until earlier this year when Nigerian coach and NBA veteran Sam Vincent approached GW Coach Joe McKeown about her. Since making the team, it’s been a whirlwind, says Oha, who spent much of the summer in training camp in Germany, sometimes training more than 12 hours a day. One of the most difficult adjustments for Oha was adapting to the Nigerian team’s style of play, which, she explains, is more typically European. It’s a style she plans to get used to: Oha hopes to play professionally in Europe after the Olympics.

Elisa Aguilar, BA ’00, a 5-foot-8 guard, knows all about the European style of basketball. She has played professionally in Spain and with the WNBA’s Utah Starzz, in addition to representing her native Spain in Athens. She holds GW’s record for free throw percentage and ranks third in three-point shooting. Like Oha, Aguilar was named Rookie of the Year and All-Conference First Team.

Aguilar and her teammates had an impressive first round of Olympic play, beating four of five opponents and advancing to the quarterfinals, where they lost a closely contested game to Brazil. The Nigerian team, on the other hand, won only one game, but in doing so made Olympic history. Nigeria’s victory over South Korea made it the first African women’s basketball team to win an Olympic game, ending a 0–18 losing streak.

Oha, who credits McKeown and her teammates with helping prepare her to compete in Athens, describes the Olympics as “quite a thrill.” Abdullah, for his part, calls the games “one of the greatest experiences of his life.” No doubt all the GW athletes competing in Athens would agree.

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