UI Athletes on the Road to Sydney Olympics
By Debi Cain Sports Editor
University of Idaho
Joachim Olsen competes in a track meet.
In the Olympic Games the best of the best come together and compete against one another. Dreams are fulfilled and hearts are broken as emotions run high. Athletes come from all over the world in hopes of tasting sweet victory while representing their home country. And every athlete has a story.
This is a story of four athletes from the University of Idaho
men's track and field team who will be competing in the 2000
Sydney Olympic games - two current athletes, Joachim Olsen and
Sherwin James, and two former athletes Hugo Munoz and Tawanda
Chiwira.
Joachim Olsen, representing his native Denmark, has been in the
limelight for the University of Idaho, having won this year's
NCAA Championship in the shot put. Recently, he won the Danish
National Championship, throwing a personal best 68-6. A throw
of this length ranks Olsen 11th in the world going into the Olympics.
Sherwin James will participate in two events, for Dominica, in
both the 200m and the long jump. Although this is James first
Olympics, he has competed at the '99 World Championship in the
200m and the '99 Pan American Games in the 100m and the 200m.
Sprinter Tawanda Chiwira will run the 400m for Zimbabwe. He holds
the school record at UI in the indoor 200m, indoor 400m, and
the outdoor 400m. As a three-time All American and a world championship
finalist, he participated at the games in Atlanta in 1996.
Hugo Munoz, in his last semester at UI and a Vandal athlete from
1997-99, will represent Peru in the high jump. Munoz holds the
UI school record for indoor and outdoor high jump (7-3'3/4).
He was a two-time NCAA qualifier and a 1996 Olympian. In 1995,
Munoz was ranked 25th in the world with a jump of 7-6 1/2.
Olsen, James and Chiwira were unavailable for comment. Munoz
stayed in Moscow and gave an interview with KUOI 89.3 FM before
departing to meet his Peruvian Olympic team in Los Angeles.
This is his story.
Hugo Munoz, a 27-year-old communications major, has been a student
at the UI for three and a half years. He is now in Sydney preparing
to participate in the 2000 Summer Olympics for Peru. Plagued
with injuries between the Atlanta and Sydney games, Munoz has
made a remarkable recovery.
"I'm really happy about it. It was a lot of hard work and
I had to overcome four years of injuries. This is a new chance
for me to at least go to the Olympics, jump, and enjoy what I'm
doing," Munoz said.
Hugo began jumping when he was 15 years old.
"I started by just playing. I played basketball and did
a little of everything. At the end, the high jump was my sport.
Back at home everyone plays soccer and that's usually where the
money is. For the guys that aren't good in soccer, they do some
other sport. That's why I do high jump," Munoz said.
Munoz came to the UI from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He chose
to train in the United States for the Peruvian Olympic team.
Munoz was recruited by other schools besides the UI but was influenced
by the fact that a former well-known athlete had also attended
school in Moscow.
"They (UI) told me Dan O'Brien came to this University.
I was working out in College Station, TX. That was one of the
universities that recruited me, Texas A & M, but in the end
they accepted my papers faster at UI," Munoz said.
Munoz admits that when speaking of Moscow in his country, it
was Moscow, Russia, that was being addressed. He was a bit surprised
when he arrived in Moscow, Idaho.
"I put everything in my car and drove all the way from Texas.
When I was five miles away from Moscow, I was thinking, where
is the city? One mile away I began to see a few lights and I
thought okay, it must be Moscow," Munoz said.
Originally from Coscos, Venezuela, Munoz has lived in the United
States for the past four years and has chosen to represent Peru.
According to Munoz, the benefits of training in the United States,
however, clearly outweighed preparing for the games in a third
world country.
"This University is funded by the state. There are a lot
of things the student athletes have here that the Olympic team
back home doesn't have. If you want to reach a higher level as
an athlete in Peru, it has to come from family funding. It would
be almost impossible for me to reach the Olympic games without
the help from my family," Munoz said.
When Hugo chose to train in the United States, his concerns weren't
the possible conflicts arising from those who supported him when
he was younger in Peru. He had other things on his mind.
"I have that concern of my education. Back at home, you
go to school or you are a professional athlete. The problem is
that if for any reason you get hurt, people say it was a pleasure
to meet you. While here the insurance of the University is behind
you. The system here provides you with so many things,"
Munoz said.
Hugo is taking one step at a time in preparation for the games.
"I just don't think about winning a medal. For me, qualifying
for the games was a good come back from all the injuries I had.
Right now I'm just thinking of qualifying for the final round,"
Munoz said.
Hugo jumped 7-4 1/2 to qualify for the Peruvian team, two feet
shy of his personal best. He realizes he must improve in order
to be a finalist contender.
"If I do make it to the final, I will begin to think of
something else (medal)," Munoz said.
When Sydney 2000 is over, Hugo Munoz's focus will be living life
after athletics.
"I have to work and try to pay the bills. Person first,
and then an athlete," Munoz said.
The Olympics begin at 5 a.m. Pacific Standard Time Friday.
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