Arkansas Razorbacks at the 2008 Olympic Games

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Razorback men’s and women’s track and field will be represented by 10 former student-athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. The opening ceremonies will begin Friday, August 8 and track and field competition will begin Friday, August 15.

NBC and its affiliates (MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Universal HD, Oxygen and Telemundo) will broadcast coverage of the Olympic Games from Beijing. Visit www.nbcolympics.com for a complete listing of coverage.

Representing men’s track and field will be Wallace Spearmon (200 meters), Tyson Gay (100 meters) and Alistair Cragg (1,500 meters and 5,000 meters). Spearmon and Gay are also included in the 4×100-meter relay pool. Both former Hog sprinters were members of the gold medal-winning 4×100-meter relay at the 2007 IAFF World Championships in Osaka Japan.

One of Arkansas’ greatest distance runners, Alistair Cragg, will be a member of Team Ireland in his second Olympic Games. He is scheduled to compete in the 1,500 meters and the 5K. He finished 12th in the 5,000 meters four years ago in Athens.

Arkansas women’s track and field will have six of its former student-athletes competing in Beijing. Nicole Teter (800 meters), Christin Wurth-Thomas (1,500 meters), Amy Yoder Begley (10,000 meters), Deena Kastor (marathon), April Steiner Bennett (pole vault) and LaShaunte’a Moore (4×100-meter relay pool) will represent Team USA while Veronica Campbell-Brown will run the 200 meters and as a member of the 4×100-meter relay for Team Jamaica.

Campbell-Brown became the first Razorback women’s Olympic gold medalist in UA school history at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She was the winner at 200 meters and was also a member of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning 4×100-meter relay team.

She added one more piece of hardware in 2004; bronze at 100 meters. Add these to her silver finish in the 4×100-meter relay in Sydney in 2000 and Campbell-Brown becomes a four-time Olympic medalist and only Razorback woman to ever win multiple gold medals.

Kastor will also be after another Olympic medal in Beijing. She won bronze in the marathon in 2004 and Beijing marks the third Olympic Games of her career.

Teter is another multi-time Olympian for the Razorback women. Her appearance in Beijing will mark the second Olympic Games in her career. She also qualified for the 800 meters in Athens.

For a complete listing and bios of Arkansas’ 2008 Olympians, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com. For a schedule and complete results from the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, visit www.iaaf.org.