While we’ve come to realize that Columbians may not be the most athletically inclined people, no one can deny that the Olympics are something that the whole world can come together for (mainly because they’re on TV).  This year, at least 10 former and current Columbia students and coaches will be competing.  Check out who’ll be nimble/quick, and when it will air*, so you can finally have that light-blue themed tailgate and BBQ you’ve always dreamed of. On your couch.

Women’s Fencing: Nzingha Prescod, CC ’15, and Nicole Ross, CC ’12, will be fencing in team and individual foil.
Individual: Saturday, July 28; airing 9-9:30am, 4:30-5pm (finals)
Team: Thursday, August 2

Lightweight Rowing: Nick LaCava, CC ’09, will be rowing in the lightweight men’s four without coxswain (we have no idea either). He’s also a chocolate entrepreneur.
Heats: Saturday, July 28; airing 2:30-3pm
Finals: Sunday, July 29; airing Thursday, August 2, 2:20-3pm

Men’s Fencing: James Williams, CC ’07, and Jeff Spear, CC ’10, will be fencing in team and individual sabre.
Individual Sabre: Sunday, July 29
Team Sabre: Friday, August 3
Sherif Farrag, CC’09, will be fencing foil for Egypt.
Individual Foil: Tuesday, July 31
Team Foil: Sunday, August 5

Field Hockey: Caroline Nichols, Columbia field hockey assistant coach, will be competing as a defender on the field hockey team.
USA v. Germany: Sunday, July 29; airing 4:15-6pm (live)
USA v. Argentina: Tuesday, July 31; airing 2-3:30pm (live) - Update: US won 1-0!
USA v. Australia: Thursday, August 2; airing 5:45-7:15am (live)
USA v. New Zealand: Saturday, August 4; airing 2-3:30pm (live)
USA v. South Africa: Monday, August 6; airing 5:45-7:15am (live)
Semifinal: Wednesday, August 8; airing 2:15-3pm
Bronze-medal Match: Friday, August 10; airing 2-3:30pm

Women’s Marathon: Lisa Stublic, CC ’06, will be running for Croatia.
Marathon: Sunday, August 5; airing 6-9am (live)

Men’s 400 Meters: Erison Hurtault, CC ’07, will be running for Dominica.
Round 1: Saturday, August 4; airing 11:15-11:45am
Semifinals: Sunday, August 5
Finals: Monday, August 6; airing 8pm-midnight

Men’s Modern Pentathlon: Michael Aufrichtig, Columbia head fencing coach, will be coaching the fencing portion of the pentathlon (horseback riding, fencing, swimming, rifle, and running).
Pentathlon: Saturday, August 11

P.S. Columbia Athletics is doing a cute feature on the Olympics.  Enjoy!

Good luck to all, continue to make our community proud!

*all times based on NBC New York

Glorious rings via Wikimedia Commons

James Williams

As you may have heard, the Columbia fencing team is pretty freaking baller.  This summer, four of our own fencers will be going to London to compete in the 2012 Olympics. James Williams, CC ’07, was an alternate in Beijing in 2008, where he was called in to help the US win silver.  He is part of the US team this year. Jeff Spear, CC ’10, will be an alternate. Bwog giddily talked to these two sabre fencers about their journey, America, and James Bond.

Bwog: How long have you been fencing? When did the dream of going to the Olympics start to become a realistic possibility?
James: 17 years!  My junior year (2005) at Columbia, I made it onto the U.S. National team and realized that if I could do that again in 3 years time, I could go to the Olympics.
Jeff: I have been fencing for 11 years.  The best answer to when the dream became a realistic possibility is probably when I decided to ‘go for it’ in 2008.  At the time the goal was still unreachable—I had recently dropped off the national senior rankings—but it really was a conscious decision to try to go that made all the difference in the world.

B: James, how does it feel to be the “first Ivy League male to win an Olympics fencing medal in 60 years and the first to finish as high as second since 1904″?
JW: It feels fine. If you use that many qualifiers, you can be first or second in almost anything!

B: Has being involved in the Olympics made you more patriotic?
JW: Yes! Wow. It made me really proud to be an American.
JS: Yes and no. I am very proud to represent my country, but I think an even more important lesson I have learned is how similar people are all across the world. Every tournament there are 200 of us from 30 countries united by a common dream. I spend weeks at training camps with people from different teams, and we tell stories, share experiences, and talk about life.  The Olympics unites countries but I think, even more importantly, it unites the world.

B: Do people make a lot of obnoxious pirate jokes re: swords? Is that annoying?
JW:  Much more so before I made it to the Beijing Games. I mostly hear fencing related puns now. The humor has been exhausted, but I admit that were it someone else, I would be making the jokes, so I take it in stride.
JS: Mostly people make comments about my name, which I guess is tangentially related to fencing.

Emotional Olympics commercials, I Love You Man, and LitHum analyses after the jump