OK, like my sig says, I’m not there in Beijing. Right now, I’m at Bucs training camp at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

But I know when someone is displaying bad manners. And if you ask me, unless tey suffer from severe asthma problems, the members of the U.S. cycling team that turned up in Beijing’s airport wearing particle masks were being a tad rude to their Chinese hosts.

First of all, they were in the airport, not outside waiting for a bus in Tiananmen Square. Second of all, they were pushing their luggage carts, not the pedals on their bikes. And finally, even if the indoor air could have been bad, would you show up to a friend’s house holding your nose?

Six or so members of the squad, both male and female, were wearing the masks. One was identified as Mike Friedman, an indoor track cyclist from Oakland, Calif., who competes indoors. Some were wearing T-shirts reading “BEIJING.” All they needed under that was the word “Stinks” and they could have added a little more insult to their arrival.

Doesn’t the USOC prep its athletes before leaving the United States? And didn’t everyone say the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were going to be ruined by smog? Turns out, the L.A. smog wasn’t a factor.

“I suspect it was their choice, you would have to talk to them as to what prompted them to do this,” said Darryl Seibel, chief communications officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee. “I will say this: I am not a scientist, but in my view that was unnecessary.”

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Chamberlain senior-to-be Dentarius Locke, the Tampa Tribune’s two-time male track and field athlete of the year, has once again shown why we picked him for that honor. And if he keeps improving like this, Locke could be Hillsborough County’s next Olympic track athlete—in 2012.

Representing The Matrix Track Club of Tampa, Locke grabbed first place in both the 100- and 200-meter dash finals of Saturday’s National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Detroit.

In the 100, Locke won with a wind-legal time of 10.49 seconds. In terms of this short-distance race, Locke won comfortably, defeating runner-up Garren Hendricks of Florissant, Mo., by .13 and third-place Done Shaw of Mint Hill, N.C., by .21. It was pretty much the same story in the 200, where he posted a winning time of 21.03 to win by .15 over Hendricks.

Shortly after the 100 finals, Locke teamed up with Hillsborough’s Lindsey Lamar and Terrence Mitchell and Wharton’s Chris Watson to take a narrow second in the 4x100 relay in 41.13, losing to the St. Louis Track Club by just .01.

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The United States Olympic Committee announced Wednesday its official team members for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and eight of them call the Tampa Bay area home. That’s double the number of locals who competed at the 2004 Athens Games.

So here are your Tampa Bay Olympians:

From track and field, there’s Leto High and USF graduate Damu Cherry, who will compete inthe women’s 100-metyer hurdles. On the men’s side, Freedom High product and Gator sophomore Calvin Smith is on the U.S. track team’s 4x400 relay.

From diving, the area boasts Brandon’s Chris Colwill, a graduate of Tampa Prep and the University of Georgia. He’ll compete in 3-meter springboard individual and 3-meter synchronized.

The area has produced two Olympic sailors, Ben Barger of Tampa, who will compete in RS:X (windsurfing), and Clearwater’s Zach Riley, who is in the Finn Class.

Just like the last Summer Games, the area has also has Olympians in tennis.

In Athens, it was Mardy Fish, who won the silver medal in men’s singles. This time it’s James Blake of Saddlebrook and twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan of Wesley Chapel. All of them are slated to play doubles.

Earlier this year, Blake cracked the world’s top 10 individual rankings. He’s currently at No. 8.  In 2005, Mike and Bob Bryan reached the finals at all four Grand Slam tournaments. That’s only the second time a doubles team has been able to do that in the open era. The Bryan brothers—aka “The Wonder Twins”—are currently seeded No. 2 in the ATP rankings.

In China, the U.S. Team will include 596 athletes—310 men and 286 women. 

The U.S. Team will compete in 30 sports at the 2008 Olympic Games, including the newest Olympic disciplines of bicycle moto-cross (BMX), open water swimming and women’s steeplechase. The United States will also boast a team in women’s field hockey for the first time since 1996 and in baseball for the first time since 2000. The only team events the United States is not entered in are men’s field hockey and team handball.

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Freedom High product Calvin Smith, a sophomore at the University of Florida, finished ninth overall in the 400-meter run at Tuesday’s prestigious DN Galan track and field meet in Stockholm, Sweden.

The European meet was Smith’s third in the last 10 days as he prepares to join the U.S. team for the Beijing Olympics. Smith is vying for a spot on the American 4x400 relay in Beijing and Sunday ran a personal best in the 400 of 45.07 in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium.

Tuesday in Stockholm, Smith was second in his heat of the 400 in 45.52, .28 behind heat winner Sean Wroe of Australia. In a faster heat, defending Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner posted the top time of the day at 44.29, defeaqting Chris Brown (44.53) of the Bahamas and third-place Ricardo Chambers (44.84), a former FSU star who represents Jamaica. Smith will race a final European meet later this week in London before returning home to Gainesville for a brief rest.

Also at Stockholm, former Lakewood High standout Rose Richmond, who was unable to finish in the top three of the U.S. Olympic trials long jump to earn a berth in the Beijing Games, finished fourth in the event at DN Galan with a mark of 20 feet, 10.5 inches.

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Former Freedom High track star Calvin Smith, a sophomore at the University of Florida, is making a strong case for himself to be part of the mix in the Beijing Games for the U.S. Olympic 4x400-meter relay team.

Sunday in Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, the Gator All-American ran a lifetime best in the 400 at 45.07 seconds to finish third in the race behind Jamaica’s Ricardo Chambers (44.80), a former Florida State standout, and Trinidad’s Reny Quow (45.89). Smith’s previous best was 45.14, which he ran at the NCAA championships a little more than five weeks ago.

As the top American in the race and boasting a personal best, Smith certainly boosted his stock with U.S. Olympic track coaches. Smith was fifth in the 400 at the Olympic trials, a spot that normally earns a leg in at least a preliminary round of the Olympics. But the U.S. coaches can select anyone from their team to run in the rounds and finals and with several strong American quarter milers in the 400 hurdles, the coaches have several options.

Smith can solidify his chances to run in the rounds this Tuesday when he competes in the prestigious DN Galan IAAF Super Grand Prix meet in Stockholm Sweden. There, anyone who breaks a stadium record earns a diamond worth $10,000. Of course, NCAA rules prevent Smith from accepting any kind of monetary award at these meets in Europe. All he’s trying to do is earn a spot in the 4x400 realy in Beijing, something that most would consider an invaluable experience.

Smith will also run in a meet in London this week, then return to Gainesville for a brief stop before heading to Beijing.

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Chris Colwill has made the U.S. Olympic diving team, but he hasn’t forgotten where he got his start. That’s one of the main reasons he made a special trip home from Athens, Ga., this weekend—to thank the folks who have helped propel him to the Beijing Games.

The 23-year-old Colwill, a product of Tampa Prep and the University of Georgia, returned to his home club, the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Club on Saturday. He was there to perform a diving exhibition for 200-plus well wishers Saturday and before it was all over, he probably took time to thank each of them. Considering Colwill broke three bones in his foot almost one year ago doing a similar diving exhibition in Atlanta, you would’ve forgiven him if he opted just to turn up at the BSAC and just sign autographs.

Instead, he got up on the 3-meter board and did several dives for the crowd as his former Jetstream Diving coach, Joe Greenwell, narrated the event over the public address system.

This is what’s great about most Olympic sports—the grassroots feel to them. Colwill’s horizons and possibilities have expanded by making the Olympic team, but his head hasn’t. As he prepared for each dive, a group of young boys from the Jetstream squad—kids just like him some 15 years ago—asked him questions and rated his dives. And when he finished diving, Colwill signed everything and anything handed to him until the last person in line had his autograph. He also did a question and answer session with several of the kids from the club.

After he was done at the BSAC, Colwill headed home with his parents, Chuck and Debbie Colwill, along with his girlfriend, former Tampa Prep swimming star Chelsea Nauta, now at UGA and herself just a step away from making an Olympic team. Once there, several more friends and family members turned up to greet him. Outside on the lawn of the Colwill home were small American flags, posters congratulating him and an USA Olympic banner on the door. Inside were red, white and blue cakes, food and refreshments—along with hugs and high-fives everywhere he turned.

Let’s see a pro athlete from another sport do what Chris Colwill did Saturday. Colwill could’ve stayed at his training base in Athens. But he came home for the love of the sport, and the love of the people who helped put him on top of it.

Tribune/TBO.com photos by Mike Young

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U.S. Paralympics, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee, have chosen Wharton High’s Sarah Goldman and Andy Chasanoff of Hillsborough County’s BlazeSports to attend the 2008 International Paralympic Academy in Beijing China.

The Paralympic Academy will take place Sept. 5-11, during the Beijing Paralympic Games. Goldman, who has cerebral pausy, is one of just 35 student athletes from the United States selected for this honor. Chasanoff, coordinator for the county’s Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department’s BlazeSports program, is one of just two coaches chosen to escort the group as a community program leader.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity and I’m honored to be selected,” said Chasanoff, whose son, Andy, nearly made the U.S. Paralympic track team in the 800-meter run. “We’re all very excited. My motivation now is to get in shape for this because I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot of walking. My hope is to do some of that along the Great Wall.”

The Academy offers a group of Paralympic student athletes and coaches to experience the Paralympic Games firsthand. The participants have the opportunity to meet U.S. Paralympic team members, attend the Paralympics’ Opening Ceremonies and competitions and gain an insider’s view on the Games. The first International Paralympic Academy took place at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Born out of an initiative that began with the 1996 Atlanta Games, the Tampa Bay BlazeSports program began in 2002 as one of the 10 charter clubs in the United States. More than 200 disabled athletes train and compete in Hillsborough County’s program at the All People’s Life Center on Sligh Ave., Tampa

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Former Freedom High track star Calvin Smith, now a sophomore at the University of Florida, is officially in the hunt for a gold medal at this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

Brooks Johnson, chairman of USA Track and Field’s High Performance division announced the relay pools for the men’s and women’s squads that will compete in next month’s Games and Johnson is on the list for the 4x400-meter relay. If you know your Olympic history in this event, you know the United States has dominated the 4x400, winning the gold medal at every Olympics since 1984 and all but five since the first modern Games were staged in 1912.

The official U.S. men’s 4x400 relay pool is Smith, LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner, David Neville, Reggie Witherspoon and Darold Williamson. Typically, the top four from the finals of the open 400 at the U.S. Olympic trials are considered the likely foursome that will run the finals of the Olymp;ics. Smith was fifth at the trials and his place, along with sixth, are often used in qualifying rounds of the 4x400. Everyone who runs in a qualifying or finals, however, received the same medal won in the title race.

Complicating that scenario is the the fact U.S. coaches can consider anyone who made the Olympic team for any of the relays. Johnson says there’s a chance U.S. coaches might select one or more of the athletes who made the team in the 400 hurdles.

“From the rest of the team, we would first look at any of the 400 hurdlers,” Johnson says of the threesome of Bershawn Jackson, Kerron Clement and Angelo Taylor.

Still, Smith could find himself in the qualifying rounds, especially if he performs well in some of the European meets he is currently competing in.

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After battling through the lingering symptoms of mononucleosis at the U.S. Olympic swim trials earlier this month, St. Petersburg’s Megan Romano bounced back in a big way at the FINA Junior Swimming Championships in Monterrey, Mexico.

Romano, who attends Northeast High, teamed up with Dagny Knutson, Elizabeth Pelton and Samantha Tucker turned to turn in a winning 400-meter freestyle relay time on Saturday of 3 minutes, 43.54 seconds. That not only took the gold medal but it also bettered the former meet record by more than three seconds.

A total of 588 swimmers competed in this meet for swimmers between 14-17 years of age for girls and between 15-18 years of age for boys. The U.S. squad was selected from the results of the Olympic swim trials.

With the help of young swimmers like Romano, Team USA won the final medal count with 21—including nine gold—to easily out-distance runner-up Russia, which tallied 13 medals.

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Former Leto High and University of South Florida track star Damu Cherry was officially named to the U.S. Olympic Women’s Track and Field roster Monday, and ex-Freedom High and current University of Florida standout Calvin Smith was placed on the men’s roster.

Cherry, 30, made the squad in the 100-meter hurdles, the event she finished second in at the recent U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.

Smith, a UF sophomore, earned a spot on the U.S team as part of the relay pool for the 4x400 relay. Smith landed that berth by reaching the finals of the open 400 at the trials and finishing fifth.

Smith left Sunday for some tune-up meets in Europe while Cherry says she is resting up from a hard trials. She and trials winner Lolo Jones own the world’s Nos. 1 and 2 times this season and could take the top two spots in the event in Beijing. Smith said he will be running in the open 400 at those European meets.

Many of the world’s top track athletes are converging on these European meets to stay in top form. The Beijing Games begin Aug. 8 but the track and field competition is still a month away. The first track events begin Aug. 15. Cherry starts qualifying rounds of the 100 hurdles Aug. 17. Smith’s first round of the 4x400 is Aug. 22.

You can see the entire U.S. Olympic track roster on this link: http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?DUID=USATF_2008_07_14_09_52_13

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Wharton High product Teona Rodgers (center) celebrates after winning the 100-meter hurdles final Saturday at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland

Former Wharton High track and field standout Teona Rodgers, a freshman at Florida State, became Hillsborough County’s first-ever winner at the IAAF World Junior Championships when she took first place Saturday in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Rodgers faced a standout international field—and a stiff headwind—but still managed to race to the gold medal in a time of 13.40 seconds. Taking the silver was Jamaica’s Shermaine Williams (13.48) while Cuba’s Beliks Milanes (13.49) was third.

Although Rodgers’ personal best in the event in 13.33, the headwind of 2.4 meters per second slowed her and the finals field significantly. By using a formula to calculate the effect of that headwind, Rodgers’ 13.40 Saturday equates to an approximate time of 13.20.

“For her career, that’s a milestone and sets her at an entirely new level, maybe one that will set her on a path to an Olympic medal” said her Wharton coach, Wes Newton. “You think about that. Teona just ran the equivalent of about 13.20 today and [U.S. Olympic hurdler and Leto/USF product] Damu [Cherry] never ran that fast in her entire college career.”

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Following a dominating performance by Chris Colwill at last week’s U.S. Olympic Diving Selection Camp, the 23-year-old Brandon native and Tampa Prep graduate was officially named to the Olympic roster Monday in both 3-meter individual springboard and, with teammate Jevon Tarantino, 3-meter synchronized.

Including Colwill, 12 divers have now been named to the U.S. squad for the Beijing Olympics. A total of eight divers earned spots from the the five days of competition at the Selection Camp at the University of Tennessee, while four others landed their spots at last month’s Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis.

For the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games, the United States will have the maximum participation at the Olympic Games. The U.S. has qualified in all of four synchronized diving events and have earned the maximum two individual spots per event.

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Damu Cherry’s persistence has paid off. After sitting out two years with a suspension and getting herself back to world-class form, the former Leto and USF track standout earned a berth in the Beijing Games by finishing second in the 100-meter hurdles at Sunday’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.

The 30-year-old Cherry has repeatedly denied that she knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs but her appeal was denied and she was hit with the ban. As a result, she missed the 2004 trials and had to train on her own with her coach and eventual fiance, former Olympic sprint medalist Dennis Mitchell, at the National Training Center in Clermont.

After breezing through two qualifying rounds, Cherry reached Sunday’s finals. She said she experienced some problems with the strong tailwind and nearly over-ran the final two hurdles. But after bolting out with eventual winner Lolo Jones, Cherry maintained her form in the final 30 meters and grabbed the silver medal in a time of 12.58 seconds. Jones, a two-time world indoor champion, was first in 12.29.

“I feel great. I kept seeing myself crossing that finish line and getting on the [Olympic] team,” said Cherry, a Leto High and University of South Florida graduate. “I saw myself with the [American] flag. I kept seeing it over and over again and I said ‘No matter what, I’m going to be on this team.’ “

Cherry started out her athletic career as a standout gymnast but by the time she was a sophomore at Leto, she had earned first team All County honors in the hurdles from the Tampa Tribune. That was 1994, a team I actually picked.

Damu was a good high school hurdler, but not the best. She was third in the 100 hurldes at the Class 6A state meet during her senior year. Her freshman year at USF, she was running 14.4 for the event—two seconds slower than she is now at age 30. But by her sophomore season, she had set school records for the Bulls in the 100 (11.78) and 100 hurdles (13.41) and was showing serious promise as an elite hurdler.

By her junior year at USF, Cherry had qualified for the NCAA championships. And when she was a senior, she had returned to the NCAA finals and lowered her 100 hurdles PR to 13.26. But here, too, Cherry was a good collegiate hurdler but not among the nation’s best collegiate hurdlers. She wasn’t even a Conference USA champ because 11-time NCAA All-American Jenny Adams was running for the University of Houston during Cherry’s time at USF.

What Cherry has always been, however, is determined. Once she left USF with her degree and started training under Mitchell in Gainesville, Cherry became a national-class hurdler, finishing fifth in the USA Outdoor National Championships in 2003. And she did this while still holding down a job. But that was the same year she received the ban and, despite her pleas of innocence and mounting a strong case to support her appeal, was forced out of competition for two long years. In this sport at this level, that’s often long enough to end a career.

But Cherry and Mitchell eventually relocated their training base to the NTC in Clermont and in that rather remote location, Cherry managed to remained focused on the event until she was allowed to return to competition in 2005. All during that time, Cherry had to make ends meet by working a full-time job as a gymnastics coach. The following year, she was back among the U.S. and world rankings and taking aim once more at the Olympic Games.

You may not want to give Cherry the benefit of a doubt regarding her suspension, but there’s no denying she has made a remarkable, virtually unheard of comeback. And with track athletes undergoing blood testing at these trials for the first time, you can feel more comfortable about the cleanliness of the U.S. squad going to these Olympics.

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Clearwater’s Robert Margalis, a University of Georgia graduate, made his third appearance in a Olympic swim trials final Sunday and finished seventh in the 1,500-meter freestyle at 15:19.96.

The closest Margalis came to making the team was on opening day of the trials eight days ago, when he finished third in the 400 individual medley. Only the top two in that event earn a spot in the Olympics and the top two places went to stars Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, who both broke the world record.

This was Margalis’ third Olymoic trials without making the Olympic team. In 2000, he was third in two events. Although he’s 26—relatively old for a world-class swimmer—Margalis said he has no plans of retiring.

“I’m having too much fun and that’s the main goal,” Margalis said.

After the 1,500 finished, Margalis made sure to find his parents at the Qwest Center and thank them for their support.

“I told my parents I loved them and I was glad they came even though I didn’t give them the show I thought I would. They seemed pretty happy and they had a good time here, so that’s what matters.”

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Chris Colwll has made the U.S. Olympic Diving Team 3-meter springboard and, with Jevon Tarantino, in 3-meter synchro.

You know it, I know it, his parents, know it and so does his coach, Dan Laak. More importantly, the members of the selection committee who will meet later this afternoon already know it. Colwill dominated 3-meter individual at this week’s Selection Camp at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and he teamed up with Tarantino to do the same thing in synchro.

Besides that, Colwill owns all the tiebreakers the selection committee will be looking at to name the 12 remaining members of the men’s and women’s U.S. dive team.

Still, we’ll have to wait until Monday’s USA Diving news conference to get the official roster headed to Beijing. Maybe then, Colwill will cut loose and do a little celebrating. Until then, he’s playig it cool. “You never know until it’s official,” Colwill said after his last dive of the camp Saturday.

But c’mon. You know it, I know it and so does anyone who has seen him dive in the last year.

Chris Colwill is going to Beijing.

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