Salukis in the Olympics

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Three former Saluki student-athletes will compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, beginning with the opening ceremony on Friday, August 5. Competition begins on August 6 and concludes on August 20.

First-time Olympians DeAnna Price and Gwen Berry are set to compete in the hammer throw for the United States of America. Price and Berry will both throw in qualifying group A, with the top-12 of the 32 competitors advancing to Monday's final.

Salukis #Rio2016 #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/HpuArsUNF3
— Gwen Berry (@BeRRy_EDible) August 5, 2016

Price will become just the third woman in NCAA history to win a NCAA hammer throw title and compete at the Olympics in the same year. Price joins Candice Scott, who won the 2004 NCAA title at the University of Florida and went on to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and Eva Orban, who won the 2008 NCAA title at USC before representing Hungary at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

A 2011 graduate and three-time All-American while at Southern, Berry qualified for the games after edging out Price for second place at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Both Price and Berry threw 239'-09" at the trials, but Berry was named the runner-up by virtue of a better second mark.

The women's head coach for Team USA at the 2016 Olympics is none other than SIU alumna and four-time Olympian Connie Price-Smith. She will be coaching in her third-straight Olympics, as she served as an assistant coach for the US at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Bianca Stuart, a 2009 graduate, qualified in the long jump for the Bahamas after leaping 20'-2.50" (6.16m) to finish third at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations National Championships. The national record holder in the long jump with a personal-best leap of 22'-4.25" (6.81m), Stuart was a two-time All-American at SIU and returns to the Olympics for the second time. She finished 18^th in the long jump at the 2012 Olympics in London.

SIU track and field has now produced 29 Olympians dating back to 1956.

Salukis at the 2016 Olympics