Of the eight athletes with ties to UVA who went to compete in the Beijing Olympics, five are still competing:
* Darden student (and C-VILLE 20) Adam Nelson has been chasing gold for the past two Olympics. We’ll find out Friday whether he will get his third shot after the shot put qualifying rounds.
* Lindsay Shoop and her women’s eight rowing team will compete for the gold medal in Sunday’s final.
* Another rower, Melanie Kok representing Canada, has qualified for the next week’s finals in the women’s lightweight double.
* With the success of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team in the last Olympics, Angela Hucles and her teammates have the difficult task of going for gold a second time. Hucles and the team will be playing New Zealand tonight in the preliminary game.
* With the quarterfinals’ best time, Wyatt Allen and his men’s eight crew have qualified for next week’s eight men crew rowing finals.
For the other three athletes, the trip to China has come to an end. Vanjia Rogulj failed to advance to the semifinals in the 100m breaststroke while incoming freshman swimmer Erika Stewart, representing Colombia, did not make the cut in the 200m individual medley. Ruby Rojas‘ time in Beijing was cut short after her Venezuelan softball team was crushed by the U.S. 0-11.
Will the third time be the charm? C-VILLE 20 Adam Nelson has been chasing the gold for the past two Olympics. His qualifying rounds start Friday.