Aug. 1, 2012

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Official London 2012 Olympic Page

STANFORD, Calif. - Sophomore Kristian Ipsen became Stanford's first 2012 Olympic medalist Wednesday, capturing the bronze medal with partner Troy Dumais in the 3-meter springboard competition.

Ipsen's medal highlighted a full day of action for Stanford's contingent.

In Beach Volleyball action...
The top-seeded team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor improved to 3-0 in preliminary play with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-8, 15-10) win over Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger.

Walsh Jennings made 11 kills with four blocks and three service aces in the win, as she and May-Treanor recovered from a first-set loss to sweep the final two for the victory.

The U.S. pair topped Pool C with six points and will advance to the knockout stages of the tournament. The Round of 16 is set to get underway Friday and continue into Saturday. Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor's opponent for that round is currently to be determined.

In Men's Synchronized Diving action...
Kristian Ipsen '15 became Stanford's first medalist of the 2012 London Games early Wednesday morning, as he and partner Troy Dumais captured bronze in the 3-meter springboard synchronized diving event.

The pair accumulated a total score of 446.70, out-distancing the pair from Ukraine by 12.48 points to earn the bronze.

China's Luo Yutong and Qin Kai won the gold with a score of 477.00 while the Russian pair of Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov took silver with a score of 459.63.

In Men's Rowing action...
U.S. men's eight crewmembers David Banks '05 and Jake Cornelius '05 helped the boat to a fourth-place finish in Wednesday's Gold Medal Final.

Rowing from the back half of the pack, the U.S. fought its way down the 2,000-meter course and into a position to move into a medal spot with a strong surge.

However, with Germany well on its way to victory and Canada finishing strong in second position, the U.S. was left to try and run down the fading boat from Great Britain in the final 200 meters. The U.S. push would fall just short, as Banks, Cornelius and crew would cross the line in 5:51.48, coming up just 0.3 of a second short of catching the British boat for the bronze medal.

In men's pair action, Silas Stafford '08 and partner Tom Peszek finished fourth in Wednesday's first semifinal in a time of 6:58.58, just over two seconds behind third-place Canada.

The finish was one spot out of the top three, which would have sent them to the Gold Medal Final. Stafford and Peszek will now race in the B Final for spots 7-12 Friday at 2:20 a.m. PT (10:20 a.m. local time).

In Men's Soccer action...
Ryan Nelsen and Team New Zealand were eliminated from competition on Wednesday after a 3-0 loss to Brazil. The All-Whites finished group play 0-2-1 with just one point, which was not enough to advance.

Nelsen again anchored the New Zealand defense, but ran into a tough opponent in tournament favorite Brazil. The Brazilians scored three times and finished group play with nine points to win Group C.

In Men's Swimming action...
In the pool, Stanford alumni Tobias Oriwol '06 of Canada and Markus Rogan '04 of Austria were in action.

Oriwol, competing in the 200-meter backstroke, finished fourth with a time of 1:58.06 in the third heat of the prelims, earning a spot into the semifinals.

There, Oriwol would finish seventh in the second semifinal with a time of 1:58.74 for an overall finish of 13th in the event.

Rogan competed in the 200-meter individual medley, opening in the fourth preliminary heat next to 19-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps of the United States.

Undaunted, Rogan finished third in the heat with a time of 1:58.66, just 0.44 of a second behind heat winner Kosuke Hagino of Japan and 0.42 of a second behind Phelps to qualify for the semifinals.

In the semifinal, Rogan was disqualified for using an illegal dolphin kick in the transition from backstroke to breaststrokeat the 100-meter mark. A protest filed by the Austrian swimming federation following the race was denied by officials.

In Tennis action...
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan traded doubles partners on Wednesday afternoon, competing in the opening round of mixed doubles at the All-England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in Wimbledon.

Mike Bryan teamed with Lisa Raymond for a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Italy's Sara Errani and Andreas Seppi. Bob Bryan and partner Liezel Huber were scheduled to face Germany's Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas, however that match was rescheduled for Thursday.

The Bryan Brothers, who are the No. 1 seeded doubles team in the draw, will be back in action on Thursday, facing Israel's unseeded tandem of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the quarterfinals.

The Bryan Brothers have captured 78 career doubles titles, representing an all-time men's team record. The duo has competed in two Olympic competitions, earning a bronze medal finish at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and reaching the quarterfinals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

In Women's Volleyball action...
The United States, featuring Cardinal alumnae Foluke Akinradewo '09 and Logan Tom '03, rolled through China Wednesday, posting a 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 31-29) sweep.

Akinradewo posted eight kills to go with a pair of blocks in the match, while Tom had five kills, two blocks and served up a pair of aces.

The win puts the U.S. in firm control of Group B at 3-0 and with nine points heading into Friday's penultimate pool play match against Serbia at 12 noon PT (8 p.m. local time).

In Women's Water Polo action...
Four Stanford alumnae scored in the United States' 9-9 draw with Spain Wednesday.

Annika Dries '14, Melissa Seidemann '13, Maggie Steffens '16 and Brenda Villa '03 each netted a goal in the contest. Seidemann and Steffens scored in the second period as the U.S. trailed 5-3 at the break.

Dries and Villa would add second-half goals during a 6-1 U.S. run that put the Americans up 9-6 with 4:49 to play. However, Spain managed to score three times over the final 2:49 to knot things up at 9-9. Neither team could capitalize on its final opportunity and settled for the draw.

The U.S. (1-0-1, three points) is tied atop Group A with Spain and will close pool play Friday at 11:40 a.m. PT (7:40 p.m. local time) against China.