University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Track Well-Represented In London
July 25, 2012 | Track & Field
July 25, 2012
 Jamol James
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Seven products of the Tennessee track & field program are set to take part in the 2012 Olympic Games, and three others will provide support as the London Olympiad gets underway this weekend.
Rising Vol sophomore Jamol James impressively earned the right to compete in the international spectacle, and he will represent his native country of Trinidad & Tobago in the 4x100-meter relay. Track & field events will be contested Aug. 3-12, and James and his teammates will finally see duty on Aug. 10 in the first round.
"This is such a great experience for Jamol to be able to compete in the Olympics," UT Director of Track & Field J.J. Clark said. "He went to his country's national championship meet and ran a personal best of 10.17 in the 100 meters, which would do very well in our conference meet. Because of that performance, he'll probably run a leg or two for the Trinidad & Tobago relay team in London.
"It's a great honor to be an Olympian. I'm very happy for Jamol and our men's sprint coach, Rohsaan Griffin, who's done a great job of getting him to this point."
Five former Tennessee standouts also will compete in the Games, and another will serve as a coach. Former Vols Jangy Addy (decathlon, Liberia), Justin Gatlin (100m/4x100m relay, United States) and Aries Merritt (110m hurdles, United States) are set to compete, with Addy and Gatlin making their second Olympic appearances. Gatlin earned three medals at the 2004 Olympics, including gold in the 100m dash, silver in the 4x100m relay and bronze in the 200m.
Two former Lady Vols are set to compete in London. Dee Dee Trotter (400m/4x400m relay, United States) returns for her third Olympiad, having earned a gold medal in 2004 with the USA 4x400m relay and placing fifth in the 400 meters. Tianna Madison (100m, 4x100m relay, United States) is making her first trip.
Former Vol Hassaan Stamps always dreamed of going as an athlete, but he'll instead take part as head coach for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While coaching male athletes for KSA, Stamps also has been an advocate for women competing in track & field in that country, and some of the nation's leaders have been willing to listen to the former Tennessee standout's views on that subject.
"The involvement of these individuals in the Olympics just shows you the type of program that Tennessee has and the great history surrounding it," Clark said. "If you come here, you have a great chance to do very well academically and athletically in college and also excel at the next level, which includes competing in the Olympic Games.
"We are very proud of what these young men and women have done over the past several years. It's exciting to watch them mature and grow at the world level, and it's good to see our program reflected by the quality of student-athletes who have come through our campus."
Three others with Tennessee ties will be involved in the Games via support capacities. Former Lady Vols Benita Fitzgerald Mosley and Sharrieffa Barksdale are employees of USA Track & Field, filling the posts of Chief of Sport Performance and President of the USA Track & Field Alumni Association, respectively. Dr. Michael Petty, who serves as UT's team chiropractor, will make the trip to London to provide personal medical attention to several of the athletes with Tennessee ties.
Mini-bios on UT's participating athletes and coach follow.
Jamol James
(Current Student-Athlete)
The rising sophomore Vol will represent Trinidad & Tobago as part of the 4x100-meter relay team in his first Olympic appearance...James was a first-team All-American outdoors in 2012 with Tennessee's 4x100m relay, which finished seventh at the NCAA Championships...He finished sixth in the 100m dash at his country's Olympic Trials meet, running a career-best time of 10.17 seconds...That mark ranks him No. 10 on UT's all-time performers list in the 100m dash.
Justin Gatlin
(At UT 2001-02)
The former Vol sprinter will be competing in his second Olympiad, running the 100m dash and aiding the USA 4x100m relay team...He won gold at the 2004 Olympics in the 100m dash, took silver with the 4x100m relay unit and earned bronze in the 200m dash...Gatlin, the U.S. Olympic Trials champion in the 100m dash at 9.80 seconds, is the third-fastest sprinter this season behind Jamaica's Yohan Blake (9.75) and Usain Bolt (9.76).
Dee Dee Trotter
(At UT 2002-04)
The former Lady Vol is making her third Olympic appearance in the 400 meters for the USA and is once again in contention for a spot on the 4x400m relay...Trotter made the 2004 team at the conclusion of her junior season at UT and won gold with the 4x400m relay unit and took fifth in the 400...In 2008, she overcame injury to make the squad and advanced to the semifinal round in the 400 before bowing out.
Jangy Addy
(At UT 2005-08)
The former Vol is slated to compete in his second Olympic decathlon for the country of Liberia...Addy made the trip to Beijing in 2008 and came away with a 20th-place finish...He qualified for the 2012 Olympiad by virtue of winning the All-Africa Games decathlon in 2011 with a score of 7,985...He became Liberia's first gold medalist in an international athletic competition with that triumph.
Aries Merritt
(At UT 2004-06)
The former Vol is making his first Olympic appearance and will run the 110-meter hurdles for the U.S...Merritt won the 60m hurdles at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships, knocking off China's Xiang Liu, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 110m hurdles...The U.S. Trials champion enters the Olympiad ranked No. 1 in the world at 12.93, with Liu (12.97) and U.S. teammate Jason Richardson (12.98) with the next best marks.
Tianna Madison
(At UT 2004-05)
The former Lady Vol is making her first Olympic appearance and will run the 100m dash and 4x100m relay for the Americans...Madison finished second in the 100m at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a time of 10.96 seconds and earlier this season was the 2012 USA Indoor 60m champion, going on to earn a bronze medal at the World Championships...Madison ranks No. 8 in the world in the 100.
Hassaan Stamps
(At UT 1999-2002)
Hassaan is national teams coach for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and will be leading that squad at the Olympics...Stamps, a former sprinter/hurdler at Tennessee who was part of UT's 2001 NCAA Outdoor and 2002 NCAA Indoor National Championship squads, took a sabbatical from his assistant coaching position at the University of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to pursue his Olympic Dream.
