13 August 2007 By Graham Croker
Sydney University’s Olympic swimming representative Michelle Englesman and former Australian Under 20 basketballer Mitchell Brennan have been named captains of the Australian team at the 24th Universiade (World University Games) being held in Bangkok.
Englesman and Brennan led the Australian 134-strong team into National Stadium for the official opening ceremony which was attended by Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. The Australians joined 10,000 athletes from 122 countries at the Games.
Englesman, a former Vice-Chancellor’s Sports Scholarship holder at the University of Sydney, said captaining the Australian team was a once in a lifetime experience. The masters student in international relations, who has attended Olympic and Commonwealth Games and one previous Universiade, said because of swimming commitments, it was the first time she had been able to march at any opening ceremony.
Sydney University us being represented by 10 athletes in five sporting disciplines at the Summer Games. As well as Englesman, swimmers Tim Laforest and Jonathon Newton, middle distance runner Lachlan Renshaw and hurdler Justin Merlino, divers Alex Croak and Thomas Rickards, golfer Julia Boland, and women’s basketballers Eva Afeaki, Melissa Smith and Georgia Woodyard will represent Australia at the games. All are Sydney University Sport scholarship holders.
Dubbed the Olympics for university athletes, the World University Games cover 10 disciplines including athletics, aquatics (swimming, diving and water polo), basketball, fencing, judo, gymnastics, soccer, tennis, table tennis and volleyball. The five optional sports (selected by the host country) are badminton, golf, shooting and skeet shooting, softball and taekwondo.
Englesman captained the swimming team at the 2003 World University Games at Daegu, South Korea, where she won a silver medal in the 50m freestyle. A dual Olympian, she finished 5th in her pet event at the 2000 Sydney Games and 6th at the 2004 Athens Games.
She was a gold medalist in the 50m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2000 Oceania Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a semi-finalist at thee 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and at the 2002 World Short Course Championships in Moscow.
In 2006 she finished 6th at the Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria.
