The last Harvard athlete to compete in the London Olympics was Alex Meyer '10 in the men's 10k open water marathon.
Meyer had legitimate hopes of medalling, holding the 2010 World Championship in the 25k open water race. But it was not meant to be, as Meyer finished 10th in a 25 swimmer field, just over 50 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Oussama Mellouli.
Samyr Laine '06 made headlines leading up to the games both for his famous freshman roommate, Facebook creator Mark E. Zuckerberg, and for his support of Haitian athletics.
Born and raised in the USA, Laine competed for his parents' home country of Haiti in the Triple Jump. After qualifying for Thursday's final, Laine finished 11th out of 12 finalists, with a final distance of 16.65 meters, 0.74 meters less than his personal best jump of 17.39 which would have put Laine in fourth at time of publication.
Rising sophomore Temi Fagbenle (far right) is the youngest of 12 players on Great Britain's Olympic women's basketball team.
Before the London 2012 Games Great Britain’s women’s basketball team had never played in an Olympic game. After five group-stage games, the Brits exit these Olympics winless, falling 78-66 to Brazil on Saturday night and failing to advance to the quarterfinals.
Temi Fagbenle ’15, who at just 19 years old was a surprising selection for the team, averaged about 20 minutes a game for Team GB. The 6’4” forward showed signs of her impressive talent that made her a high school All-American and the highest rated recruit to come to an Ivy League team in recent years. But at times she was out-muscled by older, more experience players. In the tournament, she averaged 4.8 points, to go with 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.
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The Harvard men’s basketball team announced most of its 2012-13 home schedule today, with season tickets going on sale on the Athletic Department’s website.
There are no surprises in Ivy League play. Harvard and Dartmouth remain traveling partners, and all the other partnerships have stayed the same.
Alex Biega '10
While the sports world has its eyes trained on the London Games, recent Harvard men’s hockey alums continue to make news on this side of the Pond.
After spending two years with the Buffalo Sabres’ American Hockey League affiliates, former Crimson defenseman Alex Biega ’10 will extend his stay with the organization after signing a one-year deal, the team announced Thursday night. Biega comes off a 2011-12 season with the Rochester Americans in which he scored five times while doling out 18 assists in 65 games played.
