Record UQ cohort set for Beijing

More than 20 UQ students, graduates and staff members are ready to represent Australia at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

With only days until the opening ceremony on August 8, there are high expectations for the group, one of the largest to take part in the University's history.

About 16 competitors and six coaches and officials with a UQ connection have been given the opportunity to don the green and gold, from University alumnus and Australian swimming chief team motivator Laurie Lawrence to current UQ Business Management student and rower Sam Conrad, who follows his father and grandfather into the Olympic arena.

UQ Beijing Olympians

Athletes

Athletics: Mitchell Kealey (1500m) (Business management graduate)
Alana Boyd (Pole vault) (Business management graduate)
Bronwyn Thompson (Long jump) (Physiotherapy graduate)

Diving: Robert Newbery (10m synchronised, 3m individual and synchronised) (MBBS student)

Rowing: Pippa Savage (Women’s single scull – Applied Science student) Sam Conrad (Coxed men’s eights – Business Management student) Marguerite Houston (Lightweight doubles scull - Physiotherapy graduate)

Softball: Tanya Harding (Grad Diploma Applied Science student)

Swimming: Melanie Schlanger (4 x 100m / 4 x 200m freestyle relay) (Bachelor of Science student)
Leith Brodie (200 individual medley) (Bachelor of International Hotel and Tourism Management student)

Triathlon: Emma Moffatt (Human Movement Studies student)

Water Polo: Suzie Fraser (Science / Laws graduate)
Amy Hetzel (Occupational Therapy graduate)
Anthony Martin (Business management student)
Robert Maitland (Human Movement Studies student)

Coaches and officials

Mark Alexander - Triathlon physiotherapist
Tim Conrad - Rowing coach
Ivan Hooper - Rowing physiotherapist
Laurie Lawrence - Chief Team Motivator
Shane Lemcke - Track and Field physiotherapist
Shaun Stephens - Triathlon coach (staff member School of Human Movement Science)
John Eales - Team motivator

A special exhibition celebrating UQ's Olympic history is currently on show at the Social Sciences and Humanities Library at St Lucia and will be open to the public throughout the Games.

Note: If any UQ students, graduates or staff have been excluded from the list please contact UQ Communications on the number below.

Media: Eliza Plant at UQ Communications on (07 3365 2619).