Nov. 10, 2000
At the 2000 Summer Olympics, four present or past Wildcat athletes competed for their respective countries in Sydney, Australia. These four athletes which included Maddy Crippen (United States Swimming), Mike Neill (United State Baseball), Sonia O'Sullivan (Ireland Track) and Jen Rhines (United States Track), gave the Villanova University a total of 40 Olympians in the school's glorious history. Villanova's Olympic history has seen at least one Wildcat in every Summer Olympics since 1948. Today, the Villanova Athletic Department will honor these four Olympians during a special halftime presentation.
In 1908, J.E. O'Connell became the first-ever Villanova athlete to compete in the Olympic Games. Exactly 40 years after O'Connell became the first Wildcat Olympian, Villanova track stars George Guida and Browning Ross became the next set of Olympians, and started a consecutive games streak that has yet to be broken. On September 15, as the opening ceremonies of the 2000 games commenced, Crippen, Neill, O'Sullivan, and Rhines continued the tradition that O'Connell began so long ago.
Villanova's world renowned track program has produced 33 of Villanova's 40 Olympians, with 28 coming from the men's track & field program and five coming from the women's program. In addition, the Wildcat swimming and diving program has produced six Olympians, while the Villanova baseball program had its first Olympian, Mike Neill, in 2000.
Villanova's four 2000 Olympians traveled to Sydney with outstanding credentials and added to their already unprecedented list of honors. Sonia O'Sullivan, a 1990 Villanova graduate, competed for Ireland in both the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. The 2000 games were the third games for O'Sullivan, who earned the renowned Honda Broderick Award twice and won NCAA individual titles five times during her storybook Villanova career. At the Sydney games in September, she won her first Olympic medal bringing home the silver in the 5,000m
The Wildcats' second 2000 women's track & field Olympian, Jen Rhines, also left Villanova with an outstanding list of accomplishments. Rhines amassed five individual NCAA titles, and one relay championship during her four years on the Main Line. Like O'Sullivan, she also received the Honda Broderick Award, taking home the honor in 1994. Rhines competed in the 10,000m run in Sydney.
The only current Wildcat to participate in the 2000 Olympics, Maddy Crippen won a NCAA title in the 400 yard individual medley, becoming only the second Wildcat female swimmer ever to win a National Championship. During the summer of 1999, Crippen added a U.S. National title to an already impressive resume that included a World Championship appearance in 1998.
Crippen's most important race came this past August, when a second place finish in the 400m Individual Medley at the United States Olympic Swim Team Trials earned her an Olympic berth and a lifelong dream come true. At the Sydney Olympics, she recorded an outstanding performance, advancing to the finals of the 400 I.M., where she finished in sixth place.
The 2000 Summer Olympics included a Villanova baseball player for the first time ever, in Wildcat standout Mike Neill. Neill played at Villanova from 1989-91. As a
junior in 1991, Neill batted .468 with 85 runs scored, 76 RBI, 22 doubles and 19 home runs. For his efforts in 1991, he was named the Big East Conference Player of the Year. Neill still currently owns nine Villanova school records.
A member of the Seattle Mariner organization, Neill is currently playing for the Mariner AAA affiliate Tacoma Rainiers. He made the big leagues for the first time in 1998 as a member of the Oakland Athletics.
Despite many highlights at both the collegiate and professional ranks, Neill's greatest moments came in Sydney, where he was the hero in the United States' gold medal run. Against Japan early in the tournament, he hit the game-winning home run in the 13th inning to lift the U.S. over Japan. It was the second huge hit for Neill, who sent to U.S. to the Olympics with a 10th inning game-winning single, last Summer at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He finished the Olympic Games with a team-high three home runs, as United States Baseball went on to earn the Olympic gold.
In the 2000 Summer Games, four more Olympic dreams came true. For Sonia O'Sullivan, it is a dream she has reached twice before. For Jen Rhines, Maddy Crippen and Mike Neill, the Olympic experience was a first time feeling that they will never relinquish. For years these four athletes proudly wore the blue and white of Villanova University. In Sydney they wore the colors of a nation.
