On the eve of the first Olympics of the new millennium, the world's premier athletes prepare to compete in what is the culmination of years of intense, grueling training. This year, four current and former University swimmers will test their athletic prowess in Sydney against the best swimmers in the world.
However, these are not the only Virginia athletes to experience the rush, the pressure, and the pride of the most intense athletic competition in the world. Throughout the years, and most notably four years ago in Atlanta, dozens of athletes and even coaches from the University have represented their country and their alma mater in the Olympic Games.
Melanie Valerio, a 1991 College graduate, attained the highest athletic honor in 1996 as a member of the women's gold-medal winning 400-meter freestyle relay team. While at the University, Valerio achieved various accolades including the 1990 ACC Swimmer of the Year award, but most of her success occurred after graduation, when swimming became the focal point of her life.
"It was pretty much my career at the time. It was different [than college] because [back] then I was just swimming." In 1996 she placed fourth in the 100 free at the Olympic trials to secure a spot on the women's relay team, on which she ultimately struck gold.
Another former Cavalier swimmer, 1997 Engineering graduate Peter Wright, said he entered the University as a self-proclaimed "naïve high school kid," but by 1996 had matured enough to compete in the Olympics. He took his third year off from school to devote more time to training, and completed the Games as the top American finisher in the 1,500 freestyle. Socially, academically and athletically, Wright said he feels that the University "gave me everything I needed. It's a great atmosphere overall."
Clint Peay, a 1995 College graduate, played soccer on the 1996 Olympic team along with five other former Cavaliers. The standout defender from Columbia, Maryland, helped Virginia win four consecutive NCAA titles. The intensive soccer training during the school year had a "definite effect" on Peay's schoolwork, he said, because the "Final Four came right around finals, and I had to reschedule my exams as I was trying to compete for a national championship."
Somehow, however, Peay managed to balance what he deemed a sound education, an outstanding collegiate career, and the pressures of the national team, which led to a spot on the '96 roster.
Although the American men's soccer team did not come close to medalling in Atlanta, Peay said he still regards the experience as a completely positive one. The traveling and training involved with being on the national team allowed him to go to other parts of the country and the world and "experience other cultures and other people" while developing his own game and skills.
Former Olympic and Virginia teammate A.J. Wood remains close to Peay through their continued play on D.C. United, a high profile Major League Soccer team. A 1995 graduate of the Commerce School, Wood says his years at the University were "a great experience."
Both players say they decided to come to Virginia because of its location and top-notch academic and athletic programs. Peay said he "thought the academic part was terrific. As far as soccer was concerned, you couldn't really ask for more. A dream come true, I guess."
Wood also came to the University because "it was a perfect mix of everything," from academic quality to "tremendous coaching."
However, balancing the rigors of schoolwork with the mental and physical commitments of international-level sports was difficult at times.
"Honestly, it's not an easy balance to do academics and athletics," admits Wright, but the lesson that "hard work pays off" has helped him excel in "the real world" in his current position at Anderson Consulting.
Valerio, who received her masters in exercise physiology from the University last spring, echoes Wright's sentiments, explaining that while it was hard to concentrate on swimming and school, "it's made me realize that I can probably do anything."
Coaches get a somewhat different perspective of the Olympic process. Bruce Arena has climbed to the top position in his professional field, as the former Virginia men's soccer coach from 1978-1995, the 1996 Olympic men's soccer team coach, and the current national team coach.
Arena credits the University for helping him obtain such a revered position in the coaching community. Coaching at Virginia "developed me professionally. [Otherwise] I would not be where I am today."
As far as coaching the Olympic team, which boasted six of his former players, Arena says "it was a great experience both personally and obviously professionally as well. To see some of the kids that you recruited move on in their athletic careers and represent their country is a great thrill."
Arena maintains that despite his national success, he would still like to return to Charlottesville "at some point in [his] career."
During his 23-year tenure at the University, head swimming coach Mark Bernardino has trained six Olympians, four of whom are competing this summer in Sydney. On what separates Olympic athletes from other high caliber, collegiate-level performers, Bernardino surmises that while perhaps Olympians have more God-given talent and a stronger work ethic, they also have "something that sets them apart mentally from other athletes."
Bernardino admits that while "it's the hope" that his recruits will one day achieve a spot on the Olympic team, "the reality of it is that 26 men and 26 women make the team out of hundreds of thousands of competitive swimmers. It's almost like finding a needle in a haystack."
Current men's soccer coach George Gelnovatch agrees. He is always recruiting talented athletes, many of whom aspire toward Olympic berths, but sometimes the athlete who makes the ultimate cut is "someone you never expected to be an Olympian."
Valerio says one of the most valuable things she learned from the Olympics was that often, spectators and other athletes assume that "the people who win all the time are really different," but once you get to know your competitors you learn that "they're no different from anyone else. It's not like they have any special powers. It's just hard work."
Going into his fifth season at Virginia, Gelnovatch has coached two former Cavaliers -- Ben Olson and Chris Albright -- both of whom are playing for the soccer team this week in Sydney. Gelnovatch said he believes the experience the athletes obtain through national team training and international travel along with the "great experience here combine to determine if the athlete will become an Olympian."
The University alumni who have gone on to compete in the Olympics all seem to have come away with more than just a premier athletic experience.
As Peay explains, "it's just one more experience that helps you grow as a person, just one more thing to add to the story of your life that a lot of people don't get to experience."
Wood stressed the importance of the friendships he made throughout the nearly four total years of training with a core group of 18 players.
The Olympics, he said, "are an achievement I will always have and appreciate and remember, but it's the friendships that, looking back, will probably be the most valuable memories."
This year, the former Olympians generally concur they will feel a mix of emotions as they watch the Sydney Games.
Wood said he will be watching several players from his professional team, hoping they "do better than we did and hopefully get a medal."
Wright said he will be a little nostalgic, remembering the good times he had and wishing a little bit that he could still be competing.
He maintains though, that "it's a great thrill to know that at one point I was there."
Valerio also said she feels a bit wistful after having just missed the cut at trials this year, but as a member of the 1996 team she felt she came away from the Olympics having learned a lot about herself and "a lot about life."
And as Bernardino watches his swimmers in the pool over the next couple of weeks, he said he hopes they will have the best races of their lives.
"I hope they come back from that experience better people, more worldly people, with a better understanding of the Olympic Games. I'll be thinking 'swim fast,'" he said.
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