Aug. 9, 2004
OSLO, Norway - Missouri track and field sophomore Hans Uldal was informed Sunday by the Norwegian Olympic Committee that he will compete in the decathlon later this month in Athens, Greece, in the Olympic Games. Uldal becomes the first Tiger decathlete to reach the Olympic Games since 1924 and the first Tiger collegian to make the games since 1980. Uldal broke Missouri's school record in the decathlon two weeks ago in the Norwegian National Combined Event Championships with an Olympic "B" qualifying standard score of 7,733 points. Earlier this year, Uldal took fifth place at the NCAA Championships in Austin, scoring 7,661. In the Big 12 Championships, Uldal finished second with 7,329. "It's just exciting," said Matt Candrl, Assistant Track & Field Coach. "It's exciting to know that all of the ups-and-downs he experienced during the season would culminate to this great opportunity to compete at the highest level possible." Uldal was the last to find out his fate of the 53 named to the country's team. Helping his cause was his showing in the Norwegian Nationals this weekend in the 110-meter hurdles, where ran near a personal-best time of 14.78. Uldal is currently in the Norwegian capital of Oslo in processing for the games and is scheduled the leave his country on Friday. Uldal will join Tiger post-collegian Derrick Peterson at the games. Peterson qualified for the games in the 800-meter run. The decathlon is scheduled for August 23-24; the 800 meters' first round is on Wednesday, August 25th. The semifinal round for the 800 is the next day on the 26th, and should Peterson qualify, the final will be held on Saturday, the 28th. The last Tiger decathlete to make an Olympic team was Brutus Hamilton in 1924. Hamilton. Prior to those games, Hamilton was stricken with an illness and was unable to compete. However, in 1920, Hamilton earned the silver medal in the decathlon and also qualified for the pentathlon, setting a world record in the trials. Television coverage of the Olympic Games in America will be spread out amongst the NBC, USA, CNBC, MSNBC, and Bravo television networks. For more information, visit mutigers.com. MISSOURI OLYMPIANS...
(USA) 1912, John Nicholson, 120-yard Hurdles, sixth place 1920, Jackson Scholz, 100-meter dash, fourth place 1920, Jackson Scholz, 440-meter relay, GOLD medal 1920, Brutus Hamilton, decathlon, Silver medal 1920, Brutus Hamilton, pentathlon, DNC-injured 1920, George Maasengale, hurdles, DNC-injured 1924, Jackson Scholz, 200-meter dash, GOLD medal 1924, Jackson Scholz, 100-meter dash, Silver medal 1924, Brutus Hamilton, decathlon 1928, Jackson Scholz, 200-meter dash, fourth place 1948, Dick Ault, 400-meter hurdles, fourth place 1952, Dan Pippin, basketball, GOLD medal team 1960, Dick Cochran, discus, Bronze medal 1980, Nat Page, high jump, USA Boycott 1980, Ben Plucknett, discus, USA Boycott 1988, Dave Silvestri, baseball, demostration sport 1992, Natasha Kaiser-Brown, 400-meter dash, did not place 1992, Natasha Kaiser-Brown, 1600-meter relay, Silver medal 1996, Natasha Kaiser-Brown, 1600-meter relay, did not place 2004, Derrick Peterson, 800-meter run (Norway) 2004, Hans Uldal, decathlon (Nigeria) Iziaq Adeyanju Ajayi Agebaku Henry Amike Yussaf Alli Victor Edet Chidi Imoh Goodwin Obasogie Ed Offili Dele Udo