University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Olympic Recap: Tar Heels Golden in Sydney
October 3, 2000 | General
Oct. 3, 2000
By Heather Dichter
TarHeelBlue.com
With the 2000 Olympic Summer Games having concluded, UNC fans can celebrate the medals won by Tar Heel alumni in seven events. Ten athletes and two coaches placed in the top three in their events, all of whom competed for the United States.
The U.S. Women's Soccer Team -- led by six former Tar Heels and coached by another UNC graduate, April Heinrichs -- went 2-1 in their preliminary group, defeating Norway and Nigeria and tying China. The American women shut out Brazil in the semifinals 1-0, with the lone goal scored by former Carolina great Mia Hamm. The women's team, however, eventually fell to Norway 3-2 in overtime in the gold medal match, earning the team and the United States the silver medal.
Former Tar Heels joining Hamm on the field were team captain Carla (Werden) Overbeck, U.S. women's soccer's all-time appearance leader Kristine Lilly, goalkeeper Siri Mullinix, defender/midfielder Lorrie Fair, and forward Cindy Parlow.
Another athlete-coach duo helped the United States to the gold medal in men's basketball. Vince Carter used his experience from leading UNC to two Final Four appearances during his time in Chapel Hill to help the third edition of the Dream Team to the championship. Carter led the U.S. team with 14.8 points per game in a team-high 181 minutes. He also led the team in scoring against New Zealand, Italy, and in the semi-final win over Lithuania. Carter's 13 points in the gold medal game against France helped lead the United States to an 85-75 victory.
Larry Brown, a UNC letterman from 1961-63, served as an assistant coach for U.S. men's basketball team. A former basketball gold medal winner himself at the 1964 Olympic Games, Brown is the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.
UNC was represented by several stars on the track. The best performances came in sprints and relays. Allen Johnson, a gold medalist in 1996, just missed winning a medal in the 110m hurdles, placing fourth with a time of 13.23 to Cuba's Anier Garcia (13.00) and fellow Americans Terrence Trammell and Mark Crear.
Marion Jones turned out one of the best performances by a female track and field Olympian ever. Competing in five events, Jones won three gold and two bronze medals. She first won the 100m with a time of 10.75, and five days later she won the 200m in 22.27 seconds.
The day after winning the 200m Jones's quest to become the first female ever to win five gold medals in one Olympics ended when her best long jump of the day (6.92m/ 22-8 1/4) earned her the bronze to Germany's Heike Drechsler (6.99m/22-11 1/4) and Italy's Fiora May. On her last day of competition, Jones ran on both the 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay teams. The 4x100m relay team captured the bronze with the time of 42.20, 0.25 seconds behind the gold medal-winning team from the Bahamas.
Jones ran the third leg of the 4x400m relay, which captured the gold medal. In addition to Jones, two of the other three runners on the relay are former Tar Heels. Monique Hennagan (UNC career: 1995-1998) ran second and LaTasha Colander-Richardson ran the anchor leg for the team that won the gold medal in 3:22.62.
