Track and Field
Shalane Flanagan is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill who currently resides in the Raleigh suburb of Pittsboro. She will compete in both the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter runs in Beijing . This is her second Olympic Games. She also competed in the 5,000 meter run at the 2004 games in Athens.Bershawn Jackson, a 2006 graduate of Raleigh's St. Augustine's College, finished first in the Olympic Trials 400 meter hurdles event with a time of 48.17 seconds. Mr. Jackson is one of the top-ranked hurdlers in the world, and was the 2005 World Champion in the 400m hurdles, yet this will be his first trip to the Olympic Games. The 5'8'', 158 lb. hurdler currently lives in Raleigh.
Jesse Williams, a 2002 graduate of Raleigh's Broughton High School , will be competing in the high jump. He is the 2008 Olympic Trials High Jump Champion, and has a personal best high jump of 2.33 meters (7'7 3/4'').
Shannon Rowbury, is a 2006 graduate of Duke University, where she ran both track and cross country. At Duke, Shannon competed in many events incuding the 1500 meters, the event in which she qualified for the Beijing Olympics.
Leigh Smith a Cardinal Gibbons high school grad (Class of 2000), will be competing in javelin at The Beijing Olympics. During his time at Raleigh's Cardinal Gibbons, he was already a star athlete: he had stints as the school's football quarterback and baseball pitcher, as well as being a hurdler and a discus and javelin thrower. Mr. Smith currently lives in Destrehan, LA, where he works as a flight instructor. He is ranked 13th in the world in javelin throwing, and threw the longest throw by an American so far this year: 274 feet, 9 inches.
Men's Soccer
DaxMcCarty will be playing a defender position on the 2008 USA Men's Olympic Soccer Team. Mr. McCarty played on the UNC-Chapel Hill Men's Soccer Team for two seasons, in 2004-05. His career as a Tarheel ended when he was drafted by FC Dallas, a Major League Soccer Team.Women's Soccer
Tobin Heath, currently plays for the UNC Tarheels women's soccer team. She is 21 years old, and is the youngest player on the 2008 Olympic Women's Soccer team. She will be playing the position of midfielder.Heather O'Reilly graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2007 with a degree in education. She has been a forward on the US National Women's Soccer Team Since 2002, and she competed in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, where she won a gold medal.
Lori Chalupny is a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who will be a defender on the 2008 Olympic team.
Lindsay Tarpley graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005 with a degree in communications. She was a member of 2004 Olympic Women's Soccer Team, which won a gold medal in Athens. In fact, Lindsay scored the first goal of 2004's gold medal-winning game against Brazil. She most often plays the position of midfielder, though she has also played forward for the US National Team.
Kacey White is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill who currently coaches soccer at Texas Tech. She is an alternate on the 2008 Olympic Team.
Robyn Gayle is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill who will be playing on the Canadian National Women's Soccer Team at the Beijing Olympics.
Swimming
Dan Velez, a former Wolfpack swimmer who is competing for Puerto Rico in the 100 meter breaststroke.Cullen Jones, a former Wolfpack swimmer who currently resides in Raleigh and is competing in the 100 meter freestyle and the 4 X 100 relay.