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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, August 24, 2008

How Hawaii olympians fared

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Wrestler Clarissa Chun, in blue, eventually won her Aug. 16 freestyle wrestling match with Sweden's Sofia Mattsson and got all the way to the bronze-medal match, though she didn't end up with a medal.

ED WRAY | Associated Press

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Robyn Ah Mow-Santos (Honolulu, McKinley 1993, UH 1993-96), women's volleyball, won a silver medal at her third Games. The Americans' starting setter and captain led her team to its first medal in 16 years, and its second appearance ever in a gold-medal match.

Lindsey Berg (Honolulu, Punahou 1998), women's volleyball, won a silver medal at her second Games. Berg, the back-up setter, played often and came off the bench against Italy to serve to 8-0 and 5-0 leads in the fourth and fifth games of the quarterfinal victory.

Heather Bown (California, UH 1998-99), women's volleyball, won a silver medal at her third Games. The starting middle blocker helped the U.S. reach the gold-medal match for first time in an Olympics not affected by boycotts. Finished the tournament seventh in blocking and third on the team in kills.

Brandon Brooks (Honolulu, Punahou 1999), men's water polo team, won a silver medal today at his second Olympic Games. Brooks, the backup goalie after starting every match in 2004, saw his first action in the loss to Hungary in the gold medal match.

Clarissa Chun (Kapolei, Roosevelt 1999), 48 kg (105.5 pounds) wrestling, lost in bronze-medal match to 2004 gold medalist Irini Merleni of Ukraine. After winning the first two matches, Chun fell to world champion Chiharu Icho of Japan in the semifinals in an overtime tiebreaker (last to score).

Bryan Clay (Kane'ohe, Castle 1998), decathlon, won the gold medal with 8,791 points after capturing silver at Athens in 2004. Clay won the first two events and never trailed, setting an Olympic decathlon record in discus, a personal record in shotput and a season best in long jump.

Daniel Coakley (Makapala, Kealakehe 2007), Philippines swimming team, finished 39th in 50-meter freestyle qualifying heats in personal-best time of 22.69. Coakley holds the Hawai'i state high school record in 50 free.

Meike De Nooy (Netherlands, UH 2004-07), Netherlands women's water polo, won gold medal, defeating U.S., 9-8, in final. De Nooy did not see action as goalie for the Dutch, who came into the Games ranked ninth in the world. She is scheduled to return to Hawai'i Sept. 3 and coach UH goalies.

Jared Heine (Honolulu, Damien 2002), Marshall Islands swimming, became first in history to compete for Marshall Islands, finishing 43rd in 100 backstroke qualifying heats. Time of 58.86 equaled career best he set two years ago.

Anju Jason (Honolulu, Radford 2005), Marshall Islands under-80 kg (170 pounds) tae kwon do. One of five athletes on the Marshallese team, Jason lost his opening match to Great Britain's Aaron Cook.

Natasha Kai (Kahuku, Kahuku 2001, UH 2002-05), women's soccer, won gold medal, defeating Brazil 1-0 in final. Kai, who did not start for the U.S., scored her only goal on a header in extra time that beat Canada 2-1 in quarterfinals.

Stacey Porter (Australia, UH 2001-03), Australia softball, won a bronze medal after capturing silver in 2004. Played in all nine games, batting 0.136 with 10 walks and scoring nine of Australia's 38 runs.

Christel Simms ('Ewa Beach, Punahou 2009), Philippines swimming, finished 41st in 100-meter freestyle qualifying heats and 47th in 50-meter free. Her 100 time of 56.67 beat her previous best by half a second; her 26.64 in the 50 was just off her personal best (26.31).

Justine Smethurst (Australia, UH 2006-07), Australia softball, won bronze medal. Ranked eighth with earned-run average of 1.40, allowing one run in five innings and going 1-0. Scheduled to return to Hawai'i to play her final two years.

Clay Stanley (Honolulu, Kaiser 1996, UH 1997, 1999-2000), men's volleyball, won gold yesterday, the men's first medal since 1992. Stanley entered the gold-medal match leading the tournament in kills and aces, and scored 15 more kills and two more aces.

Taylor Takata (Wahiawa, 'Iolani 2000), 66-kg (145.5 pounds) judo, finished ninth at 2-2. Hawai'i's fourth Olympic judoka won first two matches in overtime, but lost to Cuba's Yordanis Arencibia, the 2004 bronze medalist, in the quarterfinals. Loss in first repechage (second-chance) match eliminated him from medal competition.

Iefke Van Belkum (Netherlands, UH 2005-06), Netherlands women's water polo, won the gold medal, upsetting top-ranked U.S., 9-8, in the final. Van Belkum played every minute of the last three games, and scored 10 goals with seven steals overall. Her goal against Russia qualified the Dutch for their first Olympics since 2000.

Kim Willoughby (Louisiana, UH 2000-03), women's volleyball, won a silver medal after joining team in April. Coming off bench, Willoughby helped U.S. win in quarterfinal and semifinal matches by hitting 0.652 (15 kills with no errors).