The 2008 Summer Olympics (2008年夏季奥运会), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (第二十九届夏季奥林匹克运动会) and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (北京2008), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports and 302 events, one event more than those scheduled for the 2004 Summer Olympics. This was the first time China had hosted the Olympic Games, and the third time the Summer Olympic Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were also the second Summer Olympic Games to be held in a communist state, the first being the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.
The Big Ten Conference is the oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1896, it predates the founding of its regulating organization, the NCAA. It is based in the Chicago area in Rosemont, Illinois. For many decades the conference consisted of ten prominent universities, which accounts for its name. On August 2, 2024, the conference expanded to 18 member institutions and 2 affiliate institutions. The conference competes in the NCAA Division I and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, the highest level of NCAA competition in that sport.
Keeth Thomas Smart is an American saber fencer, who was the first American to gain the sport's top ranking for males in saber. A three-time Olympian, he won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in team sabre.
Teresa Edwards is an American former women's basketball player and four time Olympic gold medalist.
Maria Valentina Vezzali is an Italian politician and retired Olympic and World Champion foil fencer. As a fencer, Vezzali won six Olympic gold medals and was a 16-time World Champion in foil. She is one of only five athletes in the history of the Summer Olympic Games to have won five medals in the same individual event.
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The intercollegiate athletics logo was commissioned in 1983.
Rebecca Ward is an American sabre fencer. She won the gold medal at the sabre 2006 World Fencing Championships after beating Mariel Zagunis 15–11 in the final, and took bronze in both individual and team sabre events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She also won the women's NCAA national individual sabre championship three times, the first in history to do so in sabre. In 2015, she was inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame.
Giovanna Trillini is an Italian foil fencer. She is a 4-time Olympic champion and won an additional silver and two bronze medals in individual Olympic competitions.
Cliff Bayer is an American two-time Olympian foil fencer.
Soren Hunter Miles S Thompson is an American épée fencer, team world champion, and two-time Olympian. He represented the United States in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, where he reached the quarterfinals and came in 7th, the best US result in the event since 1956 and at the time the second-best US result of all time. He also represented the US in the 2012 Olympics in London. Thompson won a gold medal and world championship in the team épée event at the 2012 World Fencing Championships. He was inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame in 2018, and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC began as the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010 to 2017, on ESPN News and ESPN3 from 2018 to 2019, The Rugby Network in 2021 and 2023, and on CBS Sports in 2022. The CRC capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby at major universities following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics. Beginning in 2021, the tournament has been organized by National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) under license for the name and logo. Since the CRC franchise was licensed to NCR, the tournament has primarily featured comparatively smaller universities, as USA Rugby, recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the sport's National Governing Body (NGB), holds the official championship in June 2024.
Race Alick Reid Imboden is an American left-handed former foil fencer. He is a nine-time team Pan American champion, six-time individual Pan American champion, and 2019 team world champion. A three-time Olympian, Imboden is a two-time team Olympic bronze medalist. He competed in the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Jacquelyn Kate Johnson is an American heptathlete. She is a four-time NCAA outdoor champion, and a three-time NCAA indoor champion (2006–2008) while competing for Arizona State University. She also set a personal best of 6,347 points by placing second at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, which guaranteed her a qualifying place for the Olympics. Johnson was a member of the track and field team for the Arizona State Sun Devils, where she wa coached and trained by Dan O'Brien, gold medalist in the decathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2008, she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's best female collegiate track and field athlete.
Nontapat Panchan is a Thai foil fencer. Panchan had won nine medals - 5 Golds and 1 Silver in Individual Men's Foil, 2 Golds, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze in the Men's Team Foil event Southeast Asian Games 2001 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2003 in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, 2005 in Manila, Philippines, 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, 2011 in Palembang, Indonesia, and 2015 in Singapore. He is also a two-time NCAA champion. Nontapat graduated with an Economics Degree from Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania, under a full scholarship grant.
Frank Molinaro is an American wrestler and coach. He was the 2012 NCAA Champion with an undefeated season record of 33–0 at 149 lbs, helping him become a four-time NCAA Division I All-American at Penn State. In 2016, Molinaro won the US Olympic Team Trials, earning the ability to qualify and represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics at 65 kg. Molinaro would finish the Rio Olympics in 5th place, after losing to Italy's Frank Chamizo Marquez in the bronze medal match 5–3.
Darrell Hill is an American track and field athlete known for the shot put. On July 1, 2016, at the 2016 Olympic Trials, Hill threw a new personal best of 21.63 m to finish third and qualify for the 2016 Olympics. His previous personal best of 21.16m was set just two weeks earlier at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.
Stephen John Nedoroscik is an American artistic gymnast. A pommel horse specialist, he is a two-time Olympic medalist, the 2021 world champion—the first and only American to win the event—a two-time FIG World Cup champion, a four-time U.S. national champion, and a two-time NCAA national champion for the apparatus.
Nick Itkin is an American foil fencer. He is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, two-time World Championship individual medalist, 2023 Pan American Games team gold medalist, 2024 Pan American Games team gold medalist, and two-time NCAA individual champion.
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