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Blue Devils to watch in Summer Olympics Though he has been beset by some frustrating injuries, Kyrie Irving has experienced many of his sport’s greatest highs since his departure from Duke in the spring of 2011.

Irving knows what it’s like to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, to be selected NBA Rookie of the Year, to be named MVP of the All-Star Game and to lead USA Basketball to a gold medal at the FIBA World Cup. This summer, he found out what it’s like to win the NBA championship, as he teamed with LeBron James to help the Cleveland Cavaliers earn an epic comeback crown in the NBA Finals.

Now Irving will have another opportunity to play for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, as he has been named to USA Basketball’s 12man squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Irving played just 11 games for Coach K at Duke in 2010-11 due to a debilitating toe ailment. But he started for Krzyzewski nine times at the 2014 World Cup — leading that team in assists while earning MVP honors — and he will likely play a key role for Coach K’s final assignment as Senior National Team head coach in Rio. Irving has averaged 20.8 points per game in his 309 career NBA contests and put up a 19.6 average this past season after recovering from the knee injury that sidelined him during the 2015 NBA Finals. The New Jersey product was at his best in the playoffs with a 25.2 average overall and a 27.1 mark in the 2016 Finals, where he enjoyed a 41-point night to help the Cavaliers stay alive after they had fallen behind Golden State three games to one. In the decisive Game 7, he had 17 of his 26 points in the second half and nailed the go-ahead three-pointer in the last minute.

Irving should be fun to watch in the Olympics — and he will be joined in Rio by a host of former Blue Devil athletes competing on the world’s greatest athletic stage. Though not all Olympic teams were finalized as this issue was going to press, here is a capsule look at Duke

athletes to watch for when the Games of the XXXI Olympiad take place Aug. 5-21.

• Basketball: Besides Kyrie Irving, former Duke women’s basketball player Lindsey Harding will be in Rio, playing for Belarus. The WNBA veteran had her jersey retired at Duke.

• Diving: Duke medical student Abby Johnston will be in Rio to compete for the USA on the 3-meter springboard after taking second place at the Olympic Trials. She was a silver medalist in synchronized diving at the 2012 London Olympics during her undergraduate Duke career.

• Fencing: Former three-time All-America Ibtihaj Muhammad becomes the third Duke fencer to make the Olympics, and she will make history as well — as the first U.S. athlete to compete in an Olympics while wearing a hijab.

• Soccer: Before returning to Duke for the start of her senior season, Rebecca Quinn will play for her native Canada in the women’s soccer tourney in Rio. • Golf: This sport returns to the Olympics for the first time since 1904 and two Blue Devils should be in the women’s field.

Qualification does not become final until July 11, but expect rising junior All-America Leona Maguire to represent Ireland and 2014 AllAmerica Laetitia Beck to tee it up for Israel.

• Field hockey: The USA roster has not officially been announced, but when it is, look for 2012 Duke grad Stefanie Fee to make the team. She’s been playing with the national team for four years and has been a starter on defense in much of their recent pre-Olympic action.

• Track & field: Team USA members will be determined at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., July 1-10. Four athletes from Duke are involved, including two-time Olympian and former NCAA champion Shannon Rowbury (1,500 meters), former NCAA champion Curtis Beach (decathlon) and 2016 All-Americas Megan Clark (pole vault) and Anima Banks (800 meters).

Durham’s Favorite Destination

RELAXATION

ANTICIPATION

CELEBRATION

RECREATION

COLLABORATION

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BOB FRID/CANADA SOCCER

> Blue Devil of the Month

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or the past three years, Rebecca Quinn has been leading a double life on the soccer field. Every fall she has suited up for the Duke women’s team and has developed into one of the Blue Devils’ stars. Then every spring and summer she has changed uniforms, from royal blue to maple leaf red, to compete for the Canadian Women’s National Team.

Quinn helped spark Duke’s NCAA Tournament run to the College Cup and national championship game last fall, starting 20 matches and earning third team All-ACC honors. Then in February she helped Canada grab a silver medal at the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Houston, clinching her country’s berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics. In June she was formally named to the Canadian Olympic Team, one of the younger players who will combine with several of the veterans that won the bronze medal in the 2012 London Games.

Quinn represented Canada at the U17 World Cup in 2012 and again at the U20 World Cup in 2014. She also made her debut with the full Women’s National Team in 2014 at the Cyprus Cup and has

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since played 20 matches with eight starts for the WNT — including two games against the world No. 1 USA team.

In 2014 Quinn went to several WNT training camps alongside her spring semester academic workload at Duke. But in the springs of 2015 and 2016 she sat out the academic semester to devote her full energies to Canada soccer. In 2015 she hoped that would lead to a roster spot for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which was held in Canada, but she was one of the last players cut. This time, though, she has been rewarded with one of her country’s 18 roster spots for the Olympics.

Canada will open Aug. 3 against Australia in Sao Paulo and will also face Germany and Zimbabwe in group play, in hopes of advancing to the Aug. 12 quarterfinals — the day after Quinn’s 21st birthday.

After the Games, Quinn returns to Duke for her senior season (although she is only a junior academically) to complete a stellar college career that has encompassed 43 games, 36 starts and over 3,400 minutes of action as a versatile midfielder, defender and leader for two NCAA Tournament teams.

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> The Numbers Game

Olympics edition

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Number of Japanese Olympic teams made by Hiroshi Hoketsu, who earned a master’s degree from Duke in 1968. Hoketsu competed in the 1964, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in equestrian, with his top result being a ninth place in team dressage in ‘08. He also qualified in 1988 but couldn’t compete because his horse was quarantined.

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Duke track Olympian Dave Sime’s time, in seconds, at the 100 meters final in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Armin Hary of Germany posted the exact same hand time and was awarded the gold medal in a photo finish over Sime, who made a late charge and almost caught the world record holder Hary at the tape.

10.38

Duke track star Randy Jones’ best time in the 100 meters, in 1992, ranking him as the Blue Devils’ all-time fastest sprinter behind Dave Sime. Jones, also a football running back, put his speed and strength to good use after Duke as a push specialist in bobsled, making four Olympic teams and earning a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.

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International soccer matches played by Carla Overbeck, a Duke assistant coach since 1992, during her long career with the U.S. Women’s National Team (1988-2000). She played every minute of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics to help the U.S. win the gold medal. She retired after a silver medal finish at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

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Most points scored in an Olympic basketball game by a former Duke player, by Luol Deng in the 2012 London Games. Deng, who played for the Blue Devils one season (2004), represented host nation Great Britain in 2012 and twice hit the 26-point mark in five contests, against Russia and Spain. He added 9 rebounds and 7 assists in the Spain game.

74.4

Miles walked by Duke alumnus Curt Clausen in Olympic competition, as a three-time qualifier in the race walk event. He did the 20K in Atlanta and the 50K in both Sydney and Athens, racing for a total of 9 hours, 41 minutes, 40 seconds.

Clausen won seven U.S. titles at the 50K distance and four at 20K between 1996 and 2005.

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Number of books on Olympic history written by noted Olympic authority Dr. Bill Mallon, a former Duke and PGA Tour golfer and long-time orthopedic surgeon. Mallon co-founded and later served as president of the International Society of Olympic Historians. In 2001 he was awarded the Olympic Order for his services to the Olympic movement.

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Medals won by USA Shooting at the 2008 Beijing Games, where Duke’s Nick Potter served as the physiotherapist for the American team. Potter is the assistant director of athletic rehabilitation for Duke and works with the Blue Devil basketball team on a daily basis. He earned his doctorate in physical therapy from Duke in 2004.

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Nations represented by former Duke pole vaulter Jillian Schwartz in Olympic competition. The 2001 NCAA runnerup vaulted for the U.S. at the 2004 Athens Games and for Israel at 2012 London. She just missed a trip to Beijing in 2008 after placing fourth at the U.S. Trials, where the top three qualify. Schwartz gained Israeli citizenship in 2009.

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ACC track championships won by Duke Hall of Famer Joel Shankle in 1954 and 1955. Shankle won Duke’s first NCAA track & field title in 1954 when he claimed gold in the long jump. He became Duke’s first Olympic medalist in 1956 with a bronze in the high hurdles. His frequent training partner, Lee Calhoun of N.C. Central, won gold.

Joel Shankle, Duke’s first NCAA track champion and Olympic medalist.

The Hall of Famer passed away in April 2015 at the age of 82.

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Stars, Stripes and Hijab

Former All-America Duke fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad will make history when she competes for Team USA in Rio — speaking out and setting an example along the way

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USA FENCING

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t remains to be seen who, if anyone, emerges as the transcendent American performer of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Only weeks away from the Opening Ceremony, we cannot yet know if there will be someone forever associated with the Rio Games the way Mark Spitz is with Munich or Michael Phelps with Beijing, the way Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton are with Los Angeles, or the Dream Team with Barcelona and the Magnificent Seven with Atlanta.

But over the past few months, during the run-up to Rio, one American athlete has found the promotional spotlight more than most. She is a 30-year-old black woman from New Jersey, a 2007 Duke University graduate who competes in the relatively obscure sport of fencing.

Her name is Ibtihaj Muhammad, daughter of a retired narcotics detective and a special education teacher, the middle of their five children. Along with being an elite athlete, she is a fashion entrepreneur who dresses modestly, smiles readily and speaks eloquently.

She is also a Muslim. As one of the faces of Team USA, she will stand out distinctively among her Olympic peers when they march the stars and stripes into Maracana Stadium on Aug. 5 — because her face will be framed by a hijab, the headscarf that Muslim women traditionally wear to cover their hair, ears and neck.

And when the fencing tournament commences, Muhammad will make history by becoming the first U.S. athlete in any sport to compete in hijab at the Olympics.

Muhammad qualified for a place on the U.S. Olympic fencing roster last winter and almost immediately her world expanded to include a whirlwind of activities ancillary to her seven hours of training per day. In early March she was invited to the Team USA Media Summit at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, facing the probing queries of a horde of journalists. In late April she was closer to home in Manhattan’s Times Square, where she gave First Lady Michelle Obama a public fencing lesson as part of a 100-days-toRio countdown celebration and photo op.

Muhammad was one of 10 prominent Muslims who met with the First Lady’s husband for an hour and a half prior to his speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore — then received a shout-out from the president during his remarks. She has been profiled in traditional media outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and featured in magazines from Forbes and The New Yorker to Elle and Shape. She has appeared on television programs as divergent as Today, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Entertainment Tonight. She even showed up on the cover of Scholastic News, the magazine for elementary school kids.

Perhaps most significantly, she was chosen one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2016, within the category of pioneers.

The publication had earlier profiled her under the headline “A New Face For Team USA.” Muhammad has been fencing since she was 13 years old, and it is her accomplishments in sport that have brought her to this stage — setting the example that religion, race and gender need not hinder anyone from reaching their goals. She willingly shares all the details of her athletic journey, but she also is taking advantage of this unique opportunity to share her life experiences — to raise the public consciousness on issues such as prejudice and ignorance, and on concepts

such as acceptance, inclusion and diversity. Topics she faces every day as a Muslim American woman.

Muhammad was invited to speak on a panel at the South by Southwest conference in Texas this past March. When she went to the registration desk to check in, a volunteer insisted she had to remove her hijab for the photo on her credential. Even after she explained that she wore it for religious reasons, the volunteer would not relent. Eventually a staff member intervened and apologized.

Muhammad recounts this and other anecdotes of the many hassles she has faced during these times of increased Islamophobia — not only with airport security delays, but just walking down the street in New York, where she was once asked by a passerby if she was going to blow up something.

That prompted one of her frequent posts on Twitter: “We’re living in a time where people feel comfortable spewing their hate and harassing the innocent on our streets. We need change.”

“The reason I’m so public about the experiences I’ve had, especially in these last few months, is that I want the public to know this is commonplace and it shouldn’t be,” she told reporters during the Times Square event. “We have to change our conversation. We have to be more accepting of our neighbors and try to combat the bigotry that we’re experiencing now. More than anything, I want things to change.”

Muhammad acknowledges that she becomes particularly bothered and frustrated with the ignorance revealed by those who assume that Muslims aren’t American. When she hears people talk about sending Muslims back to their home country, she wonders where they would have her go, having been born and raised in Maplewood, N.J. “America is all that I know. I feel American down to my bones,” she said.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we’re in this moment, especially during the presidential election, where people feel so comfortable voicing their dislike or discontent for people of a particular background or particular religion. We as Americans have to fight that because it goes against the very values that we stand for. I feel like I’m this position and I have to use it — and I have to use it well. I want to reach as many people as I can, not just with my skills in my sport but with my voice.”

It was actually Muhammad’s devotion to her religion that led her to her sport. She was an extremely active and athletic youngster who participated in numerous sports, but she often felt detached from her teammates because she dressed differently — not only the hijab, but the alterations her mother would have to make to her various uniforms to keep her arms and legs covered.

Mother and daughter were sitting at a traffic light in Maplewood one day when they saw through some large windows at the local high school several kids with masks and long clothes practicing a sport they did not recognize. They found out later that it was fencing and Muhammad’s mother encouraged her to give it a try. She says she was not a fan initially, but she liked the fact that the uniform did not conflict with her religious tenets, so she could dress like the rest of her teammates.

Muhammad joined a fencing club in middle school to learn the sport and eventually developed into a two-time state champion in high school. Critical to that growth was her discovery of the Peter

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SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Ibtihaj on Instagram Her Visa ad, on set with Ellen DeGeneres, with Michelle Obama in Times Square, and at an event for the Time 100

Westbrook Foundation, a New York City club established by the 1984 Olympic bronze medalist and 13-time national champion, to work with under-served inner city youth. Westbrook and his assistant, 2000 Olympian Akhi Spencer-El, have guided her career; Spencer-El has been her primary coach for years and she still trains at the club.

At Duke, Muhammad competed for coach Alex Beguinet’s topnotch program her first three years and posted superb results. Her dual match records were 49-8, 38-4 and 40-3. She capped each season by earning All-America honors at the NCAA Championships, with finishes of ninth, 11th and sixth nationally. She also picked up dual degrees in International Relations and African and African American Studies.

In the nine years since graduation, her expertise with a saber has brought much acclaim — beginning with a USA Fencing individual national championship in 2009 and including five straight team medals at Senior World Championships, 2011-15. She was on the USA’s world championship team in 2014 and has been on five Pan American Games championship teams as well. At the Pan Ams this summer, she won the individual saber gold medal in the final seeding tournament before Rio. Muhammad is not considered America’s top saber fencer — that designation belongs to Mariel Zagunis, who won individual gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and is currently ranked No. 3 in the world. But Muhammad is ranked No. 2 right behind Zagunis in the U.S. and No. 8 in the world. When they join forces for the team competition, along with 2012 Olympian Dagmara Wozniak, they are considered prime contenders to bring home one of the team medals from Rio. An Olympic medal obviously would stand as one of the crowning achievements of Muhammad’s fencing career, but her long track record of standing up and speaking out may be considered more consequential than any medal. Long before she was an Olympian she was a traveling ambassador for the U.S. Department of State’s Empowering Women and Girls Through Sport initiative. And now in her role as one of the history-making faces of Team USA, she has heard from several Muslim girls who, inspired by her example, have continued playing sports despite some of the cultural obstacles they face.

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When Muhammad was growing up, there were few African Americans to emulate in the mostly white sport of fencing, and there were no Muslim American women involved in the upper echelon of any sport. In that sense, Muhammad’s rise to American Olympian can be a game-changer for the next generation.

“A large part of why I’m so involved in sport has to do with the small numbers of Muslim women who do wear the hijab who are involved in sports at the elite level,” she told Elle magazine. “With qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team, I wanted to further challenge that notion that Muslim girls and women don’t participate in sports or aren’t involved in sports at the elite level. I wanted Muslim girls to know they can be a part of Team USA.” Two years ago Muhammad launched an e-tail clothing company, Louella, which she continues to run with her siblings and which might provide some insight into future career options when competitive fencing ends. Since becoming an Olympian she has made an impression on corporate America, garnering sponsorship from Visa as a member of the credit card company’s #TeamVisa Rio 2016 roster, under the platform of acceptance and inclusion. More examples of moving beyond traditional limitations associated with her combination of religion, race and gender.

“There is a limited idea of who the Muslim woman is,” Muhammad said in her interview with Alana Glass of Forbes. “These images that are being pushed of who the Muslim woman is or what she looks like, it is a general image in a sense where she may wear all black. She is not African American. She is probably Arab. She is oppressed. She doesn’t have a voice.

“I feel that is not the Muslim women; that is not who I am. I think that it’s important for people to know and especially Americans to know that Muslims are an integral part of our society. We are no different from anyone else in terms of the things that we do. The only difference in a sense for me as a woman is that I wear hijab.”

And in August, she will wear it on the fencing strip in Rio, the first American to do so in any sport at an Olympics.

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That’s why we’re open evenings and weekends.

Page Road Orthopaedic Urgent Care Hours Monday – Friday 1 – 8:30 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

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Soccer games and spin classes don’t keep a 9-5 schedule.

That’s why if injury strikes, we’re here for you—evenings and weekends—with a quicker and less expensive option than a trip to the ER. Duke offers walk-in access to care for all orthopaedic related conditions, from breaks to sprains to concussions.

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WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS/KIRBY LEE/USA TODAY SPORTS

EVEN BETTER WITH TIME

By John Roth

With an American record and a World bronze medal in the last year, veteran Blue Devil pro SHANNON ROWBURY continues to set an impressive pace

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hen Shannon Rowbury finished her Duke track career in 2007, she stood as the most decorated middle distance runner in school history — and she still is. The San Francisco native was a six-time All-America, a six-time ACC champion and an NCAA champion in the indoor mile. During the calendar year of 2005, she won a pair of ACC indoor titles, the ACC outdoor 1,500 meters title and then capped it off with the ACC cross country title in the fall.

Rowbury has been competing professionally since then, with equally spectacular success. She has won six USATF national championships (four indoor, two outdoor), competed in the IAAF World Championships all four times they’ve been held since 2009, and earned two bronze medals in world competition, most recently in the 3,000 meters at the 2016 world indoors held in Portland in March. Last summer, on July 17 in Monaco, she broke Mary Decker Slaney’s 32-year-old American record in the 1,500 meters with a clocking of 3:56.29. That came about two months after she was part of a world record setting distance medley relay performance in the Bahamas.

Rowbury also has competed at the last two Summer Olympics in her specialty, placing seventh in the 1,500 at Beijing and then sixth at London — the best finishes ever by an American woman in that event at the Olympics. She will be trying to secure her third straight Olympic berth when she races in the U.S. Olympic Trials July 1-10 in Eugene, Ore.

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A CONVERSATION

Since 2013 Rowbury has trained under the direction of Alberto Salazar with the Nike Oregon Project in Portland. Over the past nine years there haven’t been many Duke pros, in any sport, more consistent than Rowbury — a point of pride that surfaced in this recent edited conversation with GoDuke The Magazine.

Rowbury: One of the things I’m most proud about in my career is the consistency I’ve had. Every World Championship team I’ve tried out for since 2008 indoors I’ve made, and at every World Championship I’ve made the final, with the exception of one year when I was coming off of an injury. I think my consistency of performance is something I’m really proud of and something that sets me apart from a lot of my competitors.

It has enabled me to each year perfect and refine and not rewrite the whole thing. I’m able to keep building on what I did before.

Any principles or factors that have been key to both your consistency and longevity?

Rowbury: I credit my high school coach for creating a strong foundation for me and teaching me to think long-term rather than always thinking instant gratification. What’s the most important goal? What are you trying to be, not just as a freshman in your first cross country season but as a senior in high school and then in college and beyond? In addition to that there is the strong foundation I have from my family, the work

ethic that they gave me, ever since I was a 5-year-old doing Irish dancing and learning the lesson of “You get out what you put in.” I’ve always been someone who’s been able to take direction, make a plan and then put my head down and work toward it. I think it’s just in my identity, in my DNA — that’s how I work on things.

When you finished at Duke and turned pro almost a decade ago, did you envision a professional career that would last this long?

Rowbury: I remember starting out and being like, I could run through the 2016 Olympics and maybe even longer.

But I think that was the fresh-out-of-college girl in me that didn’t quite comprehend how much work it would be. I had a really successful first year as a pro and I was so excited about it. But once I had gotten to that peak that I was driving for, or close to it, then it changes because At the Millrose you are not trying to Games Feb. 20, achieve something any Rowbury more, you are trying to successfully replicate it. That can defended her be tough and challengchampionship in ing. the Wanamaker There were some Mile with a time challenging times for of 4:24.39 me mentally to wrap

my head around what it meant to be a professional athlete and have that be my full-time job. Long story short, when I started out I thought I could run forever. Two years into it I thought, “I don’t know about this.”

And now coming out the other side I’m really enjoying and cherishing each moment, because the successes are so hard to come by. You work so hard for sometimes the smallest of rewards. I’ve come to a good place with the sport and being with the Oregon Project and this team where I have a lot of support around me.

What were some of those mental challenges you had to deal with?

Rowbury: You see it in a lot of athletes, this sense of when you are first coming out, everything you do is praised and is an accomplishment.

Everything you do is new and exciting. Once you’ve achieved a level of success, then comes expectations and being able to have those expectations motivate you rather than weigh you down. And making sure those expectations are ones that you put on yourself, you don’t let others impose their expectations on you.

For me it was challenging as well because I was in a long-distance coaching relationship at the time. My coach was in Florida and I was in San Francisco, so the mental energy that I had been able to give to have such a successful year in 2008, to then have to get myself up to do that year after year largely on my own was a challenge. I had to work on ways to get a better support system of my own creation around me, until I changed to the Oregon Project.

Even in a career as consistent as yours, the past year or so has been pretty noteworthy. You set the American record in your event, ran on a world record relay, won the national championship indoors in the 3K and took the bronze medal at world indoors. Do you find yourself getting better with age in some ways?

Rowbury: I definitely feel changes from where I was in 2008. I think

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the energy that you have as a 22- or 23-year-old is a different level of energy than you have when you are 31 like I am now. But at the same time, because I’ve been able to stay healthy, I’ve been able to build my fitness year after year. I have all this knowledge and understanding about the sport that I didn’t have then. I think I’m a smarter athlete. I can put my talents to better use and not waste energy in areas where it’s unnecessary.

There were years when I look back where if I’d have had guidance maybe I could have accomplished these things earlier on. But each person has their own timeline with what nature and fate has in store for them, so I’m just grateful that I’ve had such a long career in the sport and that I’ve been able to continue to have these successful seasons.

ARMORY FOUNDATION/ROSS DETTMAN

So you are based in Portland, you spend several months a year training at altitude in Utah, you travel all over to meets — and you also seem to have an active life off the track. For instance, this spring you were invited to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House. You were on the red carpet for the world premiere of The Race. What are some of the other interesting activities you’ve enjoyed recently?

Rowbury: The White House trip was awesome. It was a last-minute opportunity that came around, and to be on the White House grounds and interact with the children, that was great.

My husband Pablo and I met through running and he works in finance, but he’s also a very talented painter. One of the more interesting things I’ve done recently was fly home to Portland for a night when he had an art opening, an exhibit of portraits that he painted. He had received a grant to do a series of portraits of influential Latino leaders in the Portland area. It was exciting to see him connecting with that community, and it fits with the non-profit that we started (in 2012), called Imagining More, which promotes arts and athletics among young women and provides some college scholarship funding. The goal is to encourage cross-cultural communication. We do these art projects, like with one high school girl from Mexico and one from the U.S. — they do paintings of what it’s like to be a woman in their sport… They use art as a way to express their experience. That’s something Pablo and I connected on, being athletes but also interested in arts.

One of my goals after running is to be in the entertainment industry, and I had an opportunity to go with USA Track & Field to an “Upfront” event where they promoted themselves to potential sponsors to gain more sponsorship. They had me say some things along with Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Bernard Lagat and Dan O’Brien — a cool group to be around!

I love the things that enable me to see the world outside of the sport and learn how people are interacting with it and see if there are better ways I can be an ambassador. I enjoy stepping outside of my own little bubble every once in awhile and connecting that way.

If you qualify for Rio, how concerned will you be with the Zika virus?

Rowbury: For me definitely there is a concern about it because I am a 31-year-old married woman who hopes to have children in the future.

I don’t know when or how soon, but I see these heartbreaking photos of children who have been deformed from the Zika virus, and the idea of that, the threat of that is something that is very scary. That being said, my education was not in medicine or public health or anything like that, but I know that USA Track and Field and the USOC and IOC are putting a lot of time and effort into making the place as safe as possible. I have to put my faith in them that they will do their job and create a safe environment for the athletes. Ultimately all I can try to do is first, make the team, and then wear whatever mosquito repellent or clothing that I have to — you know, try to focus on what I can control.

At the London Olympics, in your 1,500-meter final, six of the 12 women in the race have been implicated for using performance-enhancing drugs, including four of the five people who finished ahead of you. Several are serving or have served bans from competition. What are your thoughts on the dirty side of the sport?

Rowbury: I try not to think about it too often because it makes me so upset. But when I do think about it, it’s horrifying to me. I’ve dedicated my life to this sport — to competing in a clean and moral way, to competing in a way where I know that whatever I accomplish will last, and to behaving in a way that would bring honor to my family and my country.

To see these competitors of mine stooping to such low levels to get this money and fame and glory, and then to see that it’s not just the individual athletes but the federations in some instances that are orchestrating such bad behavior — it was kind of mind-blowing to me because I came into the sport completely naïve, with the sense that we are doing all this for a bigger cause. Why would anybody dishonor themselves? Why would anybody risk their future and the future of their potential children? I came in very naïve, and the things I have learned along the way are very

disappointing. I’m hopeful that with new leadership in the IAAF that the sport will be cleaned up to some extent, but I am frustrated still by the lack of support for the clean athletes.

Having twice now competed in an Olympic final, in what many would consider the pinnacle of your sport, what do you remember about those moments that make them unforgettable?

Rowbury: The one I remember the most was in Beijing, walking out into the Bird’s Nest for the final, each of us is in our kit from our respective country. To be in a stadium that grand with 90,000 people cheering down — I remember taking a moment and looking up and looking around. I’ve watched these things on TV and seen them from the spectator standpoint but now I’m that person in the midst of it all. It was kind of a mind-blowing experience.

In London the great thing was that the European fans are so well informed about the sport. So getting to race in front of a European crowd, it’s like they run the race with you. In Beijing there was lots of noise and lots of enthusiasm but it was a different kind of crowd participation than in London, where you could feel the energy of the crowd rise and fall given what was going on in the race — vibrationally almost. You just feel it in you. It was quite amazing.

The Opening Ceremony in Beijing was probably one of my top life experiences. I think we left the Olympic Village around 4 o’clock and it was around 8 or 9 o’clock when we finally made it into the stadium.

We walked to one place and took photos with the president, then we walked to another place and sat around waiting our turn. Then when we were called we had to zigzag in these Disneyland kind of lines to make our way into the stadium, so the anticipation had been building over the hours. To enter the stadium you do down a little bit, then you go up to come into the stadium itself, and I remember when we made that crest, you could see the view of inside the Bird’s Nest, the entire USA team started chanting “U-S-A” and it was just incredible.

17

KOICHI KAMOSHIDA/GETTY IMAGES

One H More H Time H

Coach K’s golden tenure as Senior National Team head coach wraps up at the Rio Olympics

T

By Barry Jacobs

he occasion was a simple family drive, the coach and his wife taking a few of their nine grandchildren to watch a schoolboy basketball game. There had been some talk of the future, but not in front of the youngsters: Grandpa was considering a return to the big extra job he’d done nearly flawlessly since a year before Quin Fraser, one of his passengers, was born.

But children have a way of knowing what’s going on even when you think they don’t, even when their understandings are only half-formed.

So it was that, more or less out of the blue, young Quin weighed in on the pending decision, a reversal of a previously announced choice to let someone else coach the USA Basketball Senior National Team in the upcoming 2016 Olympics.

“You know, Poppy,” said the boy, who will turn 10 this summer, “I’ve always dreamed of going to Rio.” Mike Krzyzewski and wife Mickie remember the moment with ever-fresh amusement. “I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” Krzyzewski recalls of his grandson’s worldly aspiration. “It’s a big-time move.”

Sure enough, Quin will be among family members on hand in Brazil when Krzyzewski leads the American squad of NBA players in pursuit of their third consecutive Olympic championship.

He had previously announced, in the wake of Olympic victory at London in 2012, that he was through. “When I said I wasn’t going to do it, I wasn’t going to do it,” Krzyzewski said. But lobbying by Jerry Colangelo, Managing Director of USA Basketball, and others, as well as the lure of what the coach called “the ultimate honor” of representing his country, brought Krzyzewski to reconsider.

18

“I thought time would be what he needed in terms of a tonic to think through the positives and also weigh the positives and whatever negatives there may be,” Colangelo said after Krzyzewski consulted closely with his family and agreed to return. “I think his legacy is very much tied to USA Basketball, as it certainly is to Duke University.”

Perhaps making the sale was not so difficult, after all. “It is tough to give up something you’ve absolutely loved doing for seven years, the people you’re doing it with, and most important the country you’re doing it for,” Krzyzewski, the former U.S. Army captain, declared when he reenlisted in May 2013.

Since then he and a staff mixing college and pro coaches, anchored

by Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Krzyzewski’s designated successor, directed the Americans to another title, capturing the 2014 FIBA World Cup. They’ve also solidified the efficacy of a system instituted a decade ago, with a dependable pool of superior players from whom to choose, a sense of structure and common purpose, and rekindled pride in representing the U.S. “Continuity is a critical factor in our success,” Colangelo said.

Under Krzyzewski American teams compiled a 75-1 record entering competition at Rio de Janeiro, with two Olympic golds, a FIBA Americas Championship, and two World Cups. The defeat came in the 2006 FIBA World Championship while Krzyzewski and Co. were establishing the current program and its unselfish ethic. They won the bronze medal.

Only Henry “Hank” Iba of Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) coached as many U.S. Olympic men’s basketball squads as Krzyzewski.

Iba lost (or was robbed, is more like it) in the title game at Munich in

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19

JON GARDINER

1972 (his third Olympics) in an era when the international level of play rarely equaled that of the American teams populated by collegians.

Making life easier, Krzyzewski has coached, and earned the vocal respect of, many of the most prominent professional players of recent history, including certain Hall of Famers LeBron James, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. This year’s 12-man roster, which experienced several last-minute withdrawals, was able to call on its deep bench to line up returnees such at Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving, along with 2016 all-pros DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins and Draymond Green.

Of course, like anything else in contemporary American life, Krzyzewski’s tenure atop the basketball totem pole has not been without its detractors.

Early on, the knock was that the distractions of crafting a national roster and then coaching teams during the summer would be a significant distraction from Krzyzewski’s duties at Duke. Precious opportunities to recruit during the summer would surely be lost. In 2014, with support systems firmly in place, Krzyzewski nevertheless estimated he devoted 50 days to USA Basketball.

Krzyzewski didn’t buy the argument he was compromising his day job. He worried instead that by losing games he might embarrass the United States or himself. “I would be the main person to know if this had a negative impact,” he said in 2009. “It has had an amazingly positive impact. Just an amazingly positive impact with me. I’m a better coach. I think our program is more solid. I’ve learned more.”

Assistants and former associates saw a more energized man as he moved deeper into his 60s. Krzyzewski agreed. “To be able to study a subset of this world game, the international community, how they look at the game, play it offensively and defensively, that’s like taking another course. For me, it excited me. I think it just added to my shelf life, not

20

taken away. I feel I’m a better coach. I’m even more enthusiastic, not that I wasn’t enthusiastic. It’s only been positive.”

The following season, the Blue Devils made their first Final Four appearance in six years and surprisingly came away with the 2010 NCAA title. They won again in 2015. In between Krzyzewski became the men’s coach with the most victories in the history of Division I. In 2014 the criticisms came from a different, almost opposite direction, alleging Krzyzewski used his position as overseer of America’s international basketball interests, and his access to talent, to aggrandize Duke recruiting. This despite the fact he landed comparable numbers of standout players prior to his stint with USA Basketball, as well as his only consensus national players of the year (Danny Ferry, 1989; Christian Laettner, 1992; Elton Brand, 1999; Shane Battier, 2001; Jason Williams, 2002; and J.J. Redick, 2006).,”” “There are always concerns about any action that anybody takes,” Krzyzewski responded at a press conference shortly after returning from winning another World Cup. “Anybody who wins, or if someone writes a great book or a great article, somebody wins a championship — they have an advantage. But it’s advantage through accomplishment. The notoriety that you get from it, there’s a risk to that. In other words, you can lose. There’s time that you give up. The fact that you win, if you gain an advantage from that, then so be it.”

Once he hands the coaching reins to the NBA’s Popovich, Krzyzewski will stay on as an advisor to USA Basketball. In a more structured basketball universe, he might also help orchestrate consistent playing rules from the American high school level to the international game.

But whatever else he does, Coach K will always have his standing in U.S. and Duke basketball annals. And, based on his recent comments, perhaps for as many as five more years the Blue Devils also will have him.

THE RUN

2016 USA Olympic Basketball Team

Coach K has been active with USA Basketball since serving as an assistant coach at the 1979 Pan American Games. Here is his record in his current role as Senior National Team head coach:

2006

Record

USA National Team Tour

5-0

FIBA World Championship

8-1

Medal Bronze

2007 FIBA Americas Championship

10-0

Gold

2008 USA National Team Tour

5-0

Beijing Olympics

8-0

Gold

2010 USA National Team Tour

4-0

FIBA World Championship

9-0

Gold

2012 USA National Team Tour

5-0

London Olympics

8-0

Gold

2014 USA National Team Tour

4-0

FIBA World Cup

9-0

TOTALS

75-1

Carmelo Anthony • Harrison Barnes Jimmy Butler • DeMarcus Cousins DeMar DeRozan • Kevin Durant • Paul George • Draymond Green • Kyrie Irving DeAndre Jordan • Kyle Lowry • Klay Thompson

Gold

2016 USA National Team Tour July 22

vs Argentina

@ Las Vegas

July 24

vs China

@ Los Angeles

July 26

vs China

@ Oakland

July 29

vs Venezuela

@ Chicago

Aug 1

vs Nigeria

@ Houston

2016 USA Olympics Schedule Aug 6

vs China

Aug 8

vs Venezuela

Aug 10

vs Australia

Aug 12

vs TBD Qualifier 2

Aug 14

vs TBD Qualifier 1

Aug 17

Quarterfinals

Aug 19

Semifinals

Aug 21

Medal Games

TBD opponents to be determined by final Olympic qualifying tournaments July 4-11

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JESSE GARRABRANT/NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Goingfor Global Olympic Goal How former Duke great Lindsey Harding found a place on the Belarus Olympic team

By Jim Sumner

S

ports is global — nothing earth-shattering about that statement.

In the recent NBA Draft, a record 26 international players were chosen among the 60 picks. The top-ranked male golfer in the world hails from Australia, the top-ranked female from New Zealand. The Minnesota Twins have a German outfielder.

Which partially explains how former Blue Devil Lindsey Harding punched her ticket to Rio de Janeiro as a member of the 2016 Belarus Olympic Team.

The eastern European, former Soviet republic needed a point guard.

And Lindsey Harding is most emphatically a point guard.

One of best point guards in ACC history. In 2007 she was voted the Naismith national player of the year, the WBCA national defensive player of the year and ACC player of the year, while averaging 13.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and one steal per game.

Her number 10 jersey hangs in the Cameron rafters. She and Alana Beard are the only former Duke women players so honored She was the first pick in the 2007 WNBA Draft and has had a sterling career with six teams. Harding led the league in assists in 2009, with the Washington Mystics. She also led the league with 1,194 minutes played.

That was in the summer. Like most WNBA players, Harding also has played overseas — in Turkey, Lithuania and Russia, most notably for Dynamo Kursk in the Russian Premier League.

So, she knows the territory.

“Everybody speaks English,” she notes. “Students learn English in school, Euro teams usually have two Americans. Everywhere I’ve played, the coaches have spoken English, the practices are run in English. Everyone knows everyone.”

Harding was a member of the pool for the United States team for international play. But she did not make the roster for the 2010 FIBA World Championships or the 2012 Olympics.

“Growing up (near Houston), I never imagined playing in the Olympics,” she says. “Then I got involved with USA Basketball and it became something I could possibly do. Every athlete has that dream.”

FIBA (international basketball’s governing body) allows one naturalized citizen per team for international competition.

“Belarus needed someone at my position,” Harding says. “I was available. Simple as that.”

22

Her agent — she’s represented by Boris Lelchiski overseas — and Belarus’ head coach Anatoli Buyalski began negotiations. Harding became a naturalized Belarusian.

She made her debut for that team in the summer of 2015 in the Euro Basketball Challenge. But the real challenge was qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. Twelve teams met in France in June, vying for five open spots in the Olympic field.

Belarus split its first two games and advanced. They had a chance to clinch a spot in Rio against China. Harding had a great game, 22 points and six assists, but China dominated inside and pulled off an 84-70 upset.

“We thought we could close it out,” Harding says. “We expected to win. They played very well. It was disappointing. But we knew we were still in it.”

Belarus had to win its next two games to finish in the top five of the tournament. Argentina was badly overmatched, falling 84-44. Korea was next. They had edged Belarus 66-65 in group play.

But Belarus held Korea to 27 percent shooting and cruised to a 59-38 win.

Belarus had the fifth and final spot — and a trip to Rio. Harding led everyone with 17 points. She averaged 13.8 points, 4.0 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game for the tournament.

Harding played five games for the New York Liberty but then was released by the WNBA team while she was overseas at the Olympic qualifying tournament.

“I think I made the right decision,” she maintains. “You might only get one chance at the Olympics and this is my chance. Being an inter-

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23

national athlete involves prioritizing and I think I’ve prioritized this the right way.”

A week after returning, though, Harding was back in the league, signing with the Phoenix Mercury. The WNBA will take a one-month schedule break July 23 through August 25 as about two dozen of its players will be involved in the Olympics.

Harding’s Belarus squad is in Group A, with Turkey, France, Australia, Japan and host Brazil. The United States is in Group B along with Spain, China, Canada, Serbia and Senegal.

Each team plays the other five in its group, with the top four in each group advancing to the knockout stage. Competition begins August 6.

A realistic goal?

“To compete. We know we can compete with these teams. Compete and play well. That’s the goal.”

Harding says she has done her research on the Zika virus and feels confident that she will take “the proper precautions. It is what it is. I’m not too worried.”

She notes that she was playing in Turkey during a period of social unrest, including bombings, and never felt threatened. “The world is the world. People in Europe look at the United States, see all the guns and think we’re crazy.”

What’s next? “I don’t know about the WNBA,” Harding, says. “I might play three more years or I might not play any. I’m not going to play until the wheels fall off. We’ll see what happens. I’ve got my foot in a few things. My father was a businessman. But I’m not sure I have the business gene. Maybe.”

Harding says she’d love to stay close to basketball but doesn’t see herself coaching.

“Basketball has given so much to me. I’d like to give back. But pro athletes lead a dysfunctional life. College coaches lead another kind of dysfunctional life. It’s a lot of travel, especially recruiting. You don’t have an offseason. Nothing is 100 percent.”

But that decision will have to wait. First, Lindsey Harding has a dream to fulfill.

Compliance

Quiz

The Duke Compliance Office is responsible for education and enforcement of NCAA rules. NCAA rules are vast and complex, and we hope you read the information below as an introduction to a few of the issues that could arise as you root for the Blue Devils. If you have any questions about NCAA rules, please contact the Compliance Office at 919613-6214. We truly appreciate your continued support of Duke University and Duke Athletics. Always remember to ask before you act.

Question: Every summer in Atlanta, Benjamin Booster and several other Iron Dukes get together and purchase a suite at Turner Field for an Atlanta Braves baseball game.

One of the Iron Dukes attending this event lives down the street from Sam, an incoming freshman baseball player who has signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play for Duke.

Is it permissible for Sam and his family to join the Iron Dukes in the suite at the Braves game?

Answer: No. Even though Sam has signed a NLI with Duke, it is not permissible for boosters to invite him to attend such an event, as doing so would be considered the provision of an impermissible material benefit to a prospect.

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I There’s a big

Leona Maguire • Duke ‘18 • Cavan, Ireland PHOTO: TIM COWIE

Laetitia Beck • Duke ‘14 • Caesarea, Israel PHOTO: MATT SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

on these teams

With golf back in the Olympics, Ireland and Israel are likely to be represented by a pair of Blue Devils — one past, one present

A

By John Roth

dd up the four years she spent at high school in Florida, her four years of college at Duke and the two years she’s played on the LPGA Tour. That decade represents how long it’s been since 24-year-old golfer Laetitia Beck has been a fulltime resident of Israel.

But neither time nor distance have softened Beck’s feelings for the nation where the rest of her family still lives. Her pride in Israel is on display wherever she goes, from the country’s blue and white flag emblazoned on her golf bag and ball markers to the Star of David hanging around her neck. At virtually every tournament stop, she finds a Jewish host family to stay with instead of checking into a hotel.

“It makes me not feel like I’m away from home,” Beck said. “It makes me feel like I have a family with me every week. That’s the most amazing thing I’ve experienced on tour.”

Beck readily acknowledges that she wants people to know where she comes from and to understand that her homeland is about more than war and political conflict. A major goal is to positively represent her country and her culture every week of the LPGA season — a goal that takes on heightened dimensions later this summer when she competes for Israel

26

at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. As of mid-June, Beck stood 42nd in the official Olympic golf rankings, with the top 60 on the July 11 cutoff date earning spots in Rio. Since spots outside the top 15 are limited to no more than two per country, Beck is virtually guaranteed a berth. She is the only Israeli woman, now or ever, to play on the LPGA Tour, and she has performed well enough to avoid being supplanted at this point.

“After it was announced that golf was going to be in the Olympics, I knew I was the only one from my country who was going to have a chance because we don’t have a lot of golfers, especially professional golfers,” she said. “So I knew my competition was going to be with the other athletes. I felt like I had enough talent and that my game was good enough to represent my country.

“It was a big goal and I’m happy it’s happening now — and hopefully the next Olympics we’re still going to have golf.”

Beck is excited to be part of Israel’s largest-ever Olympic contingent, which will number at least 46 athletes across several sports. She looks forward to marching in the Opening Ceremony and to interacting with the other members of her country’s delegation. “I never really met a lot

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Before you step onto the first tee at Pinehurst, you sense it’s like nowhere you’ve ever played.

You take in the stories of champions as you walk the hallways of the clubhouse. You warm up on the nation’s first practice range. You gaze at the courses of Ross, Fazio, Maples, Nicklaus and Jones. Then you slowly exhale, step up to the tee and begin a story of your own.

27

of Israeli athletes, so just meeting them and feeling part of the Israeli athletic program is going to be special,” she said.

As with her visibility on the LPGA tour, she views her Olympic appearance as a chance to raise the profile of her sport in Israel.

“More Israelis are going to be exposed and hopefully they’re going to learn about the game and perhaps enjoy it, because not a lot of Israelis know anything about golf,” she explained. “They usually have a bad perception of the sport. So I’m hoping it will help them understand the sport better and that they’ll be proud to have someone represent them.

Obviously playing on a bigger stage and showing more people that Israel has a golfer, hopefully I can show good golf and be a good representative of my country.”

Beck actually was born in Belgium and moved to Israel with her family when she was 6. Their town of Caesarea had the only 18-hole golf course in the country, and there was a 9-hole course about 40 minutes away. Beck’s parents played the sport and encouraged Laetitia and her twin sister Olivia to give it a try by signing them up for twice-weekly lessons when they were 9. Olivia didn’t last long, but the athletic and competitive Laetitia began to flourish. At age 12 she won the Ladies Israeli Open and decided to narrow her interests from several sports down to just one. By 14 she was competing mostly against guys because there weren’t any women at her level.

Beck moved alone to the United States for high school, attending IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. From there she earned a scholarship

date, as she also completed her psychology degree at Duke, turned pro and earned her LPGA Tour card in her first attempt, placing 18th in the qualifying tournament.

Beck played in 14 events last year during her rookie season, made the cut eight times and pocketed $54,278 in prize money. She has played in 14 events so far this year, making five cuts and earning $55,216.

Twice in May, Beck experienced the sensation of being atop the leaderboard in an LPGA event. At the Yokohama Tire Classic in Alabama she opened with a 7-under 65 to claim the first-round lead. Two weeks later at the Kingsmill Championship in Virginia she was in first place after carding an eagle on the 15th hole, before ending that opening round tied for fourth at 4-under 67.

In both instances she easily made the cut, shot well under par for the week and placed in the final top 20 — valuable experiences that also showed her she needs to improve her approach to dealing with pressure if she wants to contend for titles.

“That first day (in Alabama) I didn’t really know what was happening (on the way to 65) but the next day, I was never in that situation, never had that much competition and that much stress before,” she said. “I never really led such a big event so I really have to learn how to handle that better. With more experience I’m sure it is going to get better. I’m happy I got myself in that place because mentally I needed to realize that I do have what it takes to compete with the best.

“I’m going to have to really work on pressure situations and try to Beck at an LPGA Tour stop this season DONALD MIRALLE/GETTY IMAGES

Beck helped Duke win the NCAA title as a senior in 2014 TIM COWIE

to Duke and enjoyed a noteworthy college career, taking ACC rookie of the year honors as a freshman, making the All-ACC team every year and finishing as the ACC runnerup for both her junior and senior seasons.

Along the way her personality matured as much as her golf game.

“When she came in as a freshman, I didn’t know if she and I were going to make it,” veteran Duke coach Dan Brooks recalled. “She was pretty tough, pretty tough to be around. She didn’t trust things — she was sort of testing us, driving me crazy, that sort of thing. I probably have had no greater evolution of a relationship than she and I had. By the time she left we were real tight, and we continue to be. She changed so much and grew so much.”

Beck’s 85 birdies in 2013 led the team and her 45 career rounds of par or better rank sixth in Duke history. Her best year was her last, 2014, when she crafted a sterling 72.29 stroke average, earned first team All-America honors and finished No. 14 in the final college rankings.

But more important than all those accomplishments were her performances in the ACC and NCAA Championships. She carded a final-round 68 at ACCs to take second place and help the Blue Devils win the team title. At NCAAs she closed strong again with another 68 that was critical in securing Duke’s sixth national title.

Beck refers to the second half of 2014 as her most memorable year to

28

create that pressure when I practice, the same pressure I feel during the competition. I need to feel it during practice time so I can handle the stress better. It’s hard to create that pressure when you haven’t experienced it.”

The 72-hole Olympic golf tournament Aug. 17-20 in Rio promises more new experiences and different forms of pressure. Israel’s only professional women’s golfer hopes her efforts will be noticed back home, raising awareness and promoting the sport there as she fulfills her No. 1 goal of representing her country and the Jewish people.

“I do everything I can to show people where I’m from and what I represent,” said Beck, who has spent only about two weeks per year at home in Israel over the past 10 years. “That’s something that really pushes me and motivates me to get better. I’m really thankful of this opportunity I have to represent. I get so much support from so many people it’s amazing.”

“She’s a great ambassador for that country,” added Brooks. “You hear her say it all the time in her interviews — she talks about it and she’s not afraid to accept that responsibility. That’s great that she takes it in stride, is proud of it, and she plays well with that responsibility, carrying that around. She doesn’t shy away from it. I think she would have shied away from it as a freshman, frankly. I think she has really stepped up.”

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F

or Duke golf star Leona Maguire, a trip to Oregon for the NCAA Championships in late May stood as the most important tournament of the year on her college calendar.

But once it ended, with the Blue Devils reaching the semifinals before falling to Stanford, Maguire’s attention shifted immediately to the start of a new season — a summer schedule loaded with major international events that she would like to culminate with a trip to Brazil for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The 60-player field for the first Olympic golf tournament since 1904 will be determined on July 11, based on a worldwide ranking metric that listed Maguire at No. 49 in mid-June. So chances lie somewhere between good and excellent that Maguire will be representing her native Ireland when Olympic medals go up for grabs over 72 holes at Rio’s newly-constructed Reserva De Marapendi course on Aug. 17-20, just before the start of her junior year with the Blue Devils.

Finding that pot of gold medal opportunity at the end of her summer rainbow would fulfill a lifelong dream for the two-time Duke All-America.

“The Olympics has been a goal of mine since I was a little kid,” she noted recently.

“I didn’t know what sport it was going to be in. It’s great Maguire has now that golf is back in the won four Olympics and if I have the tournaments opportunity to go. My schedin her two ule this summer is based on Duke seasons playing in as many pro events TIM COWIE as I can to try to make that cut for the deadline in July.

“I’m just going to have to play as well as I can and wait it out and see what happens, but the Olympics are as big as it gets for any sport. I know there has been a little debate over majors vs. Olympics but for me an Olympic gold medal is as big as they come, so I’m going to be trying to do my very best to be there.”

Maguire harbored Olympic dreams while watching the spectacle every four years as a youngster in Cavan, Ireland. She competed in several sports, most notably swimming, before she and her twin sister Lisa began concentrating on golf at the age of 10. Golf wasn’t an Olympic sport then, but now that it has returned Leona has put herself in prime position to realize the dream.

Ranked as the No. 1 amateur in the world for most of the past year, Maguire has enjoyed two successful seasons at Duke with four tournament titles and a host of accolades, including the 2015 ANNIKA Award as national player of the year following her freshman campaign.

But she has also sparkled on other stages, such as finishing as the runnerup at the European Masters and winning the stroke play portion of the Ladies British Open Amateur last summer.

During the middle of the recent Duke spring season she played in the first LPGA major of the year, the ANA Inspiration in California. As soon as the Duke season ended she headed back home to represent Great Britain and Ireland in the prestigious Curtis Cup competition against the United States. It was her third time to participate in the event, and she won four of her five matches to help GB&I take the title — on home soil just south of Dublin.

Her hectic summer of ’16 schedule then took her to Scotland for the Ladies British Open Amateur, where she reached the quarterfinals. After that she was slated to play in the U.S. Women’s Open during Fourth of

30

July week in California, and the Women’s British Open in Woburn, England at the end of July. Her invites to the two professional majors came courtesy of her selection as the 2015 Mark McCormack Medal winner, an honor bestowed annually on the leading player in the World Amateur Golf rankings.

Dan Brooks, Duke’s Hall of Fame head coach, expects Maguire to deal with the rigors of the summer and the road to Rio with a maturity that belies her 21 years of age.

“There has not been a player on my team that handles things better than Leona Maguire,” Brooks said. “That ought to be her middle name, handle — she handles weather, difficult golf courses, extremely tight scheduling, academics. She’s just a really strong kid.

“The thing she has to be smart about is that everybody needs rest.

I’m sure that what she does in her planning is to make sure she has time to rest, and that’s not an automatic for her. As long as between all these tournaments she rests herself, she’ll be fine. She’ll be ready to play in everything.”

Maguire says she will also be ready to savor and grow from all these summer experiences as she continues to develop a game that can one day thrive long-term in the professional environment.

“Any time you play in a big event with players that are on a world-class stage, that are playing on that stage day in and day out — I’m not — but any time you get to play against people that are better, you learn things,” she said. “Hopefully I can bring the experiences I’ve had from those events in the past and build off them and do even better than I have in the past.”

While pro golf may be a decidedly individual endeavor in most circumstances, Maguire relishes her opportunities to play the sport now as part of a team. She refers to the recent GB&I Curtis Cup victory as one of the best team experiences she’s ever had — “We all wanted to win so badly” — and the possibility of being in the Irish delegation at Rio could multiply those feelings to another level.

“Any time you get to represent a team, when you are playing for other people, it’s obviously a huge honor,” she said. “I always like to play as part of a team. It’s nice to know that there are people there who have your back and that you are playing for something bigger than yourself. Any time you get to represent your country it’s huge, it’s a great honor. It’s not something that you get to do all that often, so when you do get to do it on a big stage it’s special.

“But playing for Duke is also incredibly special and it’s a wonderful opportunity. It’s apples and oranges. It’s kind of hard to compare the two, but it’s great to do both.”

Brooks expects his All-American to benefit greatly from her summer challenges, as have the many other Blue Devils across his 32 years who have pursued top amateur championships and LPGA majors while navigating their college years.

“It’s really fun to watch them when I can go and be there — it’s fantastic,” he noted. “But it’s really great because every time they play in something like this, they are so much better prepared for what we do.

When you play in a really important big event with all the best players, everything seems a little easier after that. It’s great experience.”

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The First

GOLDEN Blue Devil

Basketball legend Jeff Mullins recalls the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, when he became the first Duke player to earn a gold medal

By Al Featherston

F

or Jeff Mullins, the chance to compete in the Olympics came as a wake-up call.

Literally.

“I got a call at 6:30 in the morning, the day after the national championship game,” Mullins said. “Obviously, I had not gotten a lot of sleep. The call was from Coach (Henry) Iba, inviting me to the Olympic Trials. If I said yes, I had two hours to make the plane.”

Mullins, who had just completed his stellar career at Duke with a loss to UCLA in the 1964 NCAA championship game, never hesitated, despite the inconvenience of the early call and the quick trip to the airport.

“Playing for the Olympic team was my only long-term plan,” Mullins said. “Growing up, I didn’t dream of playing in the NBA … I dreamed of playing for my country in the Olympics.”

Mullins was lucky to be a college senior in an Olympic year. Under the rules at the time, all Olympians were amateurs — either college players or military personnel or players from amateur leagues. College underclassmen were rarely invited, so that for a college player to get an Olympic chance, they had to finish their careers at the right time. Mullins had to seize his chance in the spring of 1964 if he ever wanted to wear the USA jersey.

At the time, there was no structured selection process, no USA Basketball to carefully collect and train the best prospects to represent the United States.

Instead, candidates gathered at the Trials at St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y. There were 94 players divided into eight teams — three NCAA teams, one of NAIA all-stars, two AAU groups and two military teams. Over a three-day period the teams played each other in a tournament.

Mullins’ team ended up losing in the finals to a team of mostly AAU players, led by former UNC guard Larry Brown. After the final game, Mullins — and the rest of the candidates — had to sweat it out for several hours.

After concluding his Duke career in the 1964 NCAA championship game against UCLA on Mar. 21 (above), Jeff Mullins immediately had to shift gears for the U.S. Olympic Trials shortly thereafter in New York. The Olympic team was announced in early April, then he was the No. 5 pick of the NBA Draft (by St. Louis) on May 4. Olympic training camp and exhibition games against NBA teams took place in September, followed by the Olympic basketball tournament Oct. 11-23 in Japan. The 1964-65 NBA season had already begun (Oct. 17) by the time Mullins and his fellow Olympians returned from Tokyo. Mullins went on to play 12 NBA campaigns, 10 with the Warriors, and was a three-time All-Star.

“They told us they would post the team at midnight on the bulletin board at the hotel where we were staying,” Mullins said. “You can imagine how we all crowded around to see the list. I was thrilled to make the team.”

The team included several familiar college stars, including Mullins, UCLA guard Walt Hazzard, Cincinnati’s George Wilson, Oregon State’s Mel Counts and the only undergraduate to make the team, Princeton’s Bill Bradley. A couple of obscure collegians – Joe Caldwell and Luke Jackson – would later find fame in college basketball. Because the Olympics weren’t held until October, undergraduates were at a disadvantage.

But Bradley was able to take some independent studies courses for that semester.

Mullins’ selection not only made him the first Duke basketball player to play in the Olympics, but he and UNC’s Brown became the first ACC players to represent the United States.

WINNING THE GOLD The 1964 team was under a lot of pressure.

Ever since basketball was introduced to the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, the United States had dominated the sport — not only winning

33

USA BASKETBALL

The 1964 U.S. Olympic Team posed before the Games (Mullins second from left, front row) and on the medal stand in Tokyo five straight gold medals, but also 37 games without a loss.

When the 1964 team was announced, there were some skeptics who wondered if that domination would continue. “The 12 men selected yesterday for the October duty in Tokyo have the best chance in history to lose one,” George Meyers wrote in The Seattle Daily Times.

First-year coach Hank Iba admitted that his team lacked the star power of the ’56 team, with Bill Russell in the middle and K.C. Jones at guard — or the ’60 team which started Jerry West and Oscar Robertson in the backcourt.

But he was confident that his team’s balance would prevail in Tokyo.

“Our big problem is that we have no one man who’ll get us 20 points every game,” he pointed out. “So it has to be a team effort. But when a team has played together as short a time as this one has, it’s bound to get sloppy at times.”

To reduce that sloppiness, Iba took his team to Hawaii — to Pearl Harbor to be exact — for a three-week training camp.

“We stayed at the submarine barracks,” Mullins said. “We practiced twice a day. We got a little time to visit the beaches and see the sights, but not much.”

After the Pearl Harbor boot camp, the team returned to the mainland for a series of exhibitions against NBA teams. Then they headed across the Pacific for the Tokyo Games, confident that they could keep the U.S. winning streak alive.

“Russia, Yugoslavia and Brazil were the only competitive teams,” Mullins said. “Australia was better than expected. They were a bunch of fun guys. I’ve been told that that’s when interest in basketball took a big jump in Australia.”

The U.S. team had little trouble with anybody. Yugoslavia was competitive in an eight-point loss in pool play and Russia lost by “only” 14 in the title game, but every other win was by 20 points or more.

The top scorer on the team was the relatively unknown Jerry Shipp, who starred for the AAU Phillips 66ers. The number two scorer was Bradley, who averaged exactly 10.0 points a game.

Mullins was limited in Tokyo by knee problems.

“My knee bothered me my whole senior year at Duke,” he said. “But because I got such excellent care at Duke Hospital, we were able to manage it. I had been getting a cortisone shot once a month. When I got to Tokyo, my knee was bothering me, so I went to the hospital to get another shot. Dr. Lenox Baker sent them detailed instructions as to how to do it, but they decided to do it their way. My knee swelled up to three times the normal size and I ended up missing several early games.”

Mullins did return in time to play in the last half of the round robin.

He scored 10 points in a win over Korea and appeared in both the semifinals and the gold medal game, becoming the first of five Duke basketball players to earn Olympic gold.

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ENJOYING TOKYO Aside from his knee issues, Mullins enjoyed everything about his Olympic experience.

“I roomed with Larry Brown and Bill Bradley,” he said. “Bill was tied down a lot, working on his independent studies courses. But Larry and I spent a lot of time as spectators, mostly at swimming and the track and field events. We didn’t have tickets, we snuck in.”

Mullins remembers watching swimming heroes Don Schollander and Donna de Varona. He was at the track stadium to watch “Bullet” Bob Hayes — not yet a football name — dominate the sprints and to see Billy Mills pull off his incredible upset in the 10,000 meters.

The Duke All-America suggested that the modern NBA Olympic teams are missing something by separating themselves from the Games and from the other Olympic athletes.

“We marched in the opening ceremonies and lived in the village,” Mullins said. “It was a great cultural experience.”

Mullins and Bradley became caught up in the trading frenzy that surrounds the games. Every team is issued national pins that became popular trade items. But Mullins soon found an ever better trade item.

“Our official uniform included an ‘LBJ’ (cowboy) hat,” he said. “It was a great trade item. I got hats from several players and was able to make some great deals. I remember that the Norwegian team had these beautiful sweaters. I was able to trade a hat for one.”

Of course, Mullins’ greatest prize was his gold medal, which he still proudly displays.

It’s a prize he shares with four other Duke basketball players: • Tate Armstrong won gold in the 1976 Montreal Games, playing for UNC coach Dean Smith. He scored 16 points and had two assists in six games.

• Christian Laettner won gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, playing for former Duke assistant coach Chuck Daly. Laettner was the only collegiate player on the original Dream Team. He averaged 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in eight games.

• Grant Hill won gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, playing for Lenny Wilkens. Hill averaged 9.7 points, 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds in six games.

• Carlos Boozer won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, playing for Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. He averaged 3.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in eight games. Boozer also won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, playing for coach Larry Brown. Boozer averaged 7.6 points and 6.1 rebounds in eight games.

A number of Duke players have played in the Olympics for other countries, but only one has won a medal — Crawford Palmer won a silver medal in 2000, playing for France. Other participants include: Cameron Hall (1976 Canada), Dan Meagher (1984 Canada), Greg Newton

Five Pieces of Gold Duke basketball players who have won Olympic gold medals

JEFF MULLINS • 1964 Tokyo

Gold medal game (10-23-64): USA 73, Soviet Union 59 Mullins in final: Played but did not score Top scoring game: 10 points vs. Korea Olympic stats: 18 points in 8 games, 8-12 FG

TATE ARMSTRONG • 1976 Montreal

Gold medal game (7-27-76): USA 95, Yugoslavia 74 Armstrong in final: Scored two points and had one assist Top scoring game: 5 points vs. Yugoslavia Olympic stats: 16 points in 6 games, 5-7 FG, 6-8 FT

LAETTNER PHOTO

BY ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES ARMSTRONG PAINTING

BY JOHN FURLOW BOOZER & COACH K PHOTO

BY JENNIFER POTTHEISER VIA GETTY IMAGES HILL PHOTO

BY ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES

CHRISTIAN LAETTNER • 1992 Barcelona

Gold medal game (9-8-92): USA 117, Croatia 85 Laettner in final: Scored 2 points Top scoring game: 11 points vs. Puerto Rico Olympic stats: 38 points, 20 rebounds in 8 games, 9-20 FG, 18-20 FT

GRANT HILL • 1996 Atlanta

Gold medal game (9-2-96): USA 95, Serbia & Montenegro 69 Hill in final: Did not play due to injury Top scoring game: 19 points vs. China Olympic stats: 58 points, 21 assists, 17 rebounds in 6 games, 22-36 FG

CARLOS BOOZER • 2008 Beijing

Gold medal game (9-24-08): USA 118, Spain 107 Boozer in final: Played but did not score Top scoring game: 6 points vs. Germany Olympic stats: 26 points, 15 rebounds in 8 games, 10-18 FG Note: Boozer also had 61 points and 49 rebounds while playing 8 games and winning a bronze medal in 2004

(2000 Canada), Luol Deng (2012 Great Britain) and Marty Pocius (2012 Lithuania).

Coaches aren’t awarded medals, but two Duke coaches have played a significant role for American Olympic teams. Former Vic Bubas assistant Chuck Daly — a 14-year NBA head coach who won two titles and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame — guided the original Dream Team to gold in 1992. And Mike Krzyzewski, who was an assistant coach on the ’92 team, was head coach in 2008 and 2012 when the United States won gold medals. He has a chance to become the first coach to guide Team USA to three gold medals this summer in Rio.

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H

H

H

H

H

1956 MELBOURNE Nation Joel Shankle USA

Sport track & field

Note bronze in 110 hurdles

1960 ROME Dave Sime

USA

track & field

silver in 100 meters

1964 TOKYO Jeff Mullins

USA

basketball

team won gold

1972 MUNICH Al Buehler • Bob Wheeler

USA USA

track & field track & field

team manager semifinals in 1,500 meters

1976 MONTREAL Tate Armstrong Cameron Hall

USA Canada

basketball basketball

team won gold team placed 4th

1980 MOSCOW Nancy Hogshead

USA

swimming

USA boycotted Games

1984 LOS ANGELES Al Buehler • Bert Govig Nancy Hogshead Tom Kain Dan Meagher

USA USA USA USA Canada

track & field wrestling swimming soccer basketball

team manager injured, did not compete won 3 golds and 1 silver injured, did not compete team placed 4th

1988 SEOUL Al Buehler •

USA

track & field

team manager

1992 BARCELONA Mike Krzyzewski • Christian Laettner John Moore

USA USA USA

basketball basketball rowing

asst. coach, team won gold team won gold 8th in men’s pair

1994 LILLEHAMMER Randy Jones

USA

bobsled

13th in 2-man

PHOTOS (FROM TOP): AL BUEHLER (BY BRUCE FEELEY), NANCY HOGSHEAD (DUKE UNIVERSITY PHOTO), ABBY JOHNSTON & NICK MCCRORY (BY JON GARDINER), RANDY JONES (USA BOBSLED FEDERATION) PAGE 35: JILLIAN SCHWARTZ (BY KIRBY LEE), CARLA OVERBECK (BY RON FERRELL), BECCA WARD (BY JON GARDINER), CURT CLAUSEN (BY ROBERT BECK)

1996 ATLANTA Curt Clausen Grant Hill Horace Holden Will Martin Leslie Marx Carla Overbeck • Liz Tchou •

Nation Sport USA track & field USA basketball USA canoe/kayak USA yachting USA fencing USA soccer USA field hockey

Note 50th in 20k race walk team won gold 11th in 2-man whitewater slalom 23rd in single-handed dinghy top 16 in epee team won gold team placed 5th

1998 NAGANO Randy Jones

USA

bobsled

5th in 4-man

2000 SYDNEY Lynda Blutreich • Curt Clausen Greg Newton Carla Overbeck • Crawford Palmer Vanessa Webb Evan Whitfield

USA USA Canada USA France Canada USA

track & field track & field basketball soccer basketball tennis soccer

11th in javelin qualifying 22nd in 50k race walk team placed 7th team won silver team won silver played doubles team placed 4th

H

H

2002 SALT LAKE CITY Randy Jones

USA

bobsled

silver in 4-man

2004 ATHENS Carlos Boozer Curt Clausen Gail Goestenkors • Jillian Schwartz

USA USA USA USA

basketball track & field basketball track & field

team won bronze 32nd in 50k race walk asst. coach, team won gold 17th in pole vault qualifying

2006 TORINO Randy Jones

USA

bobsled

reserve, did not compete

H

2008 BEIJING Carlos Boozer Mike Krzyzewski • Shannon Rowbury Rebecca Smith Becca Ward

USA USA USA New Zealand USA

basketball basketball track & field soccer fencing

team won gold head coach, team won gold 7th in 1,500 meters team placed 10th bronze in team & individual saber

H

2012 LONDON Luol Deng Drew Johansen • Abby Johnston Mike Krzyzewski • Nick McCrory Martynas Pocius Shannon Rowbury Jillian Schwartz Rebecca Smith

Great Britain USA USA USA USA Lithuania USA Israel New Zealand

basketball diving diving basketball diving basketball track & field track & field soccer

team placed 9th head coach silver in synchro 3m springboard head coach, team won gold bronze in synchro 10m platform team placed 8th 5th in 1,500 meters 18th in pole vault qualifying captain, team placed 8th

• These representatives were Duke coaches at the time of their Olympics participation

H

> The Final Round

A unique balancing act: Olympics and medical school

By Leslie Gaber Before making her way to London for the 2012 Olympic Games, Duke diver Abby Johnston stepped away from collegiate competition and undergraduate studies for a year to focus on chasing her Olympic dream. After coming away with a silver medal in women’s synchronized 3-meter diving, Johnston hopes to find herself right back in the mix this August in Rio. This time around, though, Johnston has had to juggle her preparations in the pool with the demands of being a full-time medical student. She is coming off of her second year of medical school at Duke, where she has also been training at the Blue Devils’ Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion under the guidance of Duke head diving coach Nunzio Esposto.

The balancing act has presented a unique challenge, but one that Johnston feels fortunate to be able to pursue at Duke.

“The day that I got into medical school is definitely one of the highlights of my life,” she said. “It’s an honor to be at Duke and be in medical school. It has the best facilities, best training environment for me and I’m really happy to be able to pursue both medicine and the Olympics at the same time. I don’t think that would be possible at any other place.”

For Johnston, who will compete in the women’s individual 3-meter event in Rio, the inspiration to chase both dreams simultaneously came four years ago in London. While eating McDonald’s in the Olympic Village cafeteria, Johnston happened to meet U.S. rower Gevvie Stone, who competed in the single skull event. The two struck up a conversation, with Stone telling Johnston she was in medical school back home in Boston.

“I was like, ‘Wait, you’re in med school and you’re at the Olympics?’” Johnston recalled. “Light bulb moment. Meeting Gevvie was really a crucial thing for me to able to do what I’m doing. We’ve stayed in touch actually. I was just in Boston a few weeks ago and had lunch with her. She’s a couple of steps ahead of me in the process — she’s applying for her residency. She’s been a really great inspiration for me.”

While in her first year of medical school, Johnston — a Psychology major and member of the Collegiate Athlete Premedical Experience (CAPE) as an undergrad — obtained permission from Duke to switch her second and third years. The move allowed her to delay her clinical rotations until next year, and spend this past year conducting research while sticking to a regular training schedule in the pool.

“Medical school is a bit more rigid in the scheduling,” said Johnston, who won one NCAA crown and five ACC titles at Duke (2009-11). “It’s not like you can pick classes that work with practice times. I’m lucky that Nunzio was willing to help me adjust my training schedule and fit me in with whichever practice worked best. It was a bit more of a shuffle.

Every day has to be a little different.”

A typical day during the school year began with practice from 6:30 to 8 a.m. Johnston would frequently join Duke varsity and club divers at Taishoff for those sessions before heading off to either the Duke Clinical Research Institute or Perkins Library on campus. She would work on her research projects, head back to the pool for a second practice around the lunch hour and then spend the rest of the day working once more.

During the seven weeks leading up to her medical board exams, Johnston dedicated even more time to studying, leaving her with less time to sleep and prepare to do it all over again the next day. However, she remains appreciative of Esposto’s flexibility in scheduling her training sessions.

38

OLYMPIC DIVING TRIALS/BRIAN SPURLOCK/USA TODAY SPORTS

“I’m really excited and happy to be diving with Nunzio,” she said.

“He’s the perfect person that I need at this point in my career. He’s very upbeat and always encouraging. It’s a collaboration. We really work together on figuring out what I need to succeed in my competitions and my training. I really like that partnership that we have.”

The partnership with Esposto and time spent balancing her athletic and academic pursuits has paid off for Johnston, who claimed silver on the 3-meter board at April’s FINA Puerto Rico Grand Prix before heading to Indianapolis for last month’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

The U.S. had just one spot on the Olympic Team in women’s 3-meter diving heading into the Trials, but was approved for a second spot in between the semifinal and final rounds. Johnston finished second behind only Kassidy Cook with a three-round total of 949.30 points to lock up her second Olympic berth.

As she makes her final preparations before traveling to Rio, Johnston says she plans to draw upon her previous experiences, even though she will be competing in the individual event this time rather than in synchro with a diving partner.

“I’m definitely channeling some of the tactics that I used in 2012 to try to avoid any of that extra pressure and chaos that comes along with the Olympic Trials and Olympic Games, and trying to treat it like any other meet,” she said. “We’ve been doing a bunch of practice meets. For me, that’s good just to get up there and hear Nunzio announce, ‘Abby Johnston, 205B,’ and just hearing my dive and kind of feeling those butterflies so that I’ll hopefully be able to control them in the moment.”

Johnston’s plans after the Olympics include completing her clinical rotations and then potentially venturing into emergency medicine. The high-pressure environment of that particular atmosphere appeals to her personality — and aligns with the scenarios she faces daily on the diving boards.

As for Rio, Johnston said that she continues to be motivated not only by the younger divers she practices alongside every day at Duke, but also an internal drive that is not yet satiated.

“The college and club divers are great,” she said. “They all have a lot of enthusiasm for diving, and that’s refreshing, because I could be really jaded at this point in my career. But I think their excitement for learning new dives and just showing up at the pool every day rubs off on me.

“I still get those butterflies when I’m on the board. I’m still excited to compete and feel like I’m chasing the Olympic dream. I know I have the experience that I can draw from, but I wouldn’t be doing this if I felt like I was satisfied with my career. I still feel like there’s more to be had and more that I can do.”

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