6 August 2007 By Graham Croker
Sydney University will be represented by 10 athletes in five sporting disciplines at the 24th World Universiade (Summer Games) beginning this week in Bangkok, Thailand.
Swimmers Michelle Engelsman, 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 attract 10,000 students-cum-athletes and officials from 122 countries, competing in 10 sporting events and vying for 236 gold medals in total.
Approved by the International University Sports Federation the 10 disciplines comprise 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.
The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok.
The 2007 Games will be the second for 50m freestyle specialist Engelsman, who is completing an honours degree in chemistry.
She captained the swimming team at the 2003 World University Games at Daegu, South Korea, where she won a silver medal in the 50m freestyle.
Englesman is also a dual Olympian, finishing 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, Canada, and 10th at the World Short Course Championships in Shanghai, China, where she collected a silver medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay.
Following the World University Games, her build-up to make the Australian team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, will include a training program at Ispra, Italy, swimming with the A.D.N. Swim Project.
Croak, an occupational therapy student, is also a genuine medal chance in Bangkok. In 2006 she became the first Australian woman to compete at consecutive Commonwealth Games in different sports, having represented as a gymnast before taking up diving.
Her gymnastics career included 7th in the teams event at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, 7th in the teams event and all round finalist at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent, Belgium, and a gold medal in the teams event, and a silver on the vault at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.
After taking up diving in 2004, she was a semi-finalist in the 1m board at the 2005 World University Games. She then competed in Grand Prix meets in the United States and Italy and the World Cup in Chang Shu, China, in the lead-up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, where she teamed up with Melissa Wu to win a silver medal in the 10m synchronised event.
Croak also has the 2008 Olympics on her agenda.
As does middle-distance runner Renshaw, an engineering-commerce student.
In 2006, Renshaw just missed out on the Commonwealth Games team when he ran 1:47.97 for the 800m, the fastest time by an Australian junior in nine years.
Renshaw’s raw talent was evident from a young age. As a Year 9 Sydney Grammar schoolboy, he won the Greater Public Schools (GPS) Open 800m title, and continued to do so for the duration of his schooling years.
But it wasn’t until he continued his education at the University of Sydney that the dream of running professionally started to become a reality. Training under coach John Atterton, he won the 800m junior title at the 2006 Under-20 National Championships in Adelaide and contested the 2006 World Junior Athletics Championships in Beijing, where he finished second in his 800m heat and produced a personal best time of 1.47.00 . The time not only placed him as the second qualifier for the semi-finals, but was also good enough to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games. He finished 9th overall and his heat time placed him in the top 12 in the world junior ranks, and moved him to No.2 on the Australian Under-20 all-time list for 800m.
Another who will be using the Bangkok competition as part of his build-up to the 2008 Olympics is 100m hurdler, Merlino.
The 4th year physiotherapy student set his sights on Beijing after winning the 110m hurdles title at the 85th Australian Athletics Championships in Brisbane earlier this year. He set a personal best time of 13.55s to take the crown from New Zealander James Mortimer (13.71s) and fellow New South Welshman Greg Eyears (13.72s).
Coached by Fira Dviskina, Merlino is now the second fastest Australian over the 110m hurdles, behind 1996 Atlanta Olympic finalist, Kyle Vander-Kuyp, who set the Australian benchmark of 13.29s at the 1995 World Championships.
The Australian Championships doubled as the Telstra selection trials for the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships to be held in Osaka, Japan, following the World University Games.
Given the strength of Australian women’s basketball at present, it wouldn’t surprise if Afeaki, Smith and Woodyard came home with medals.
Swimmers Laforest and Newton also competed at the 2005 Universiade in Izmur, Turkey, where they were members of the 4x100m freestyle relay that finished 14th. Newton also finished 25th in the men’s 50m backstroke.
Laforest made the final of the 50m freestyle and the final of the 100m freestyle at the 2006 Commonwealth Games trial and earned selection in the Australian team for the Oceania Championships.
The Bangkok Games will be a first for golfer Boland, who earned a University Blue in 2006 after winning the gold medal at the Australian University Games in Adelaide. Her three rounds of 72, 74 and 71 (217) saw her win the individual strokeplay event by a massive 16 shots from Griffith University’s Kate McMahon (233) and Hyo Jeun (246).
Boland and Sydney University’s Courtney Dickens (274) also took won the teams event at the Games.
Richards is a member of the elite diving squad at the NSW Institute of Sport. He was a member of the National Junior squad in 2006.
