Monash community strive for gold in Beijing

August 2008

The Monash University community will be well represented at the Beijing Olympic Games, with alumni, staff and students taking part.

Monash alumni in the Australian team include Brenton Rickard (BSc 2006), Catriona Sens (née Oliver) (BA 2005) and Travis Brooks OAM (BComp 2005).

Brenton Rickard will be swimming in the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke. Making his Olympic debut in Beijing, he will hope to better his silver and bronze medals at the 2007 FINA world swimming championships in Melbourne.

Double sculler Catriona Sens will be competing in her second Olympic Games, having been part of the women’s eight crew at the Athens games.

Travis Brooks is a striker in the men’s hockey team, the Kookaburras. Beijing will be his second Olympics – he was part of the gold medal winning team in Athens. In fact, he scored the important equalising goal in the final.

The Monash alumni join three current Monash students in the Australian team. Catherine Arlove (Law) is competing in the half-middleweight category of judo, Jessica Walters (Arts/Science) is in the archery team and David Zalcberg (Medicine) will play in the men’s singles and team table tennis.

Some members of the Monash community are representing their home countries at the games. Doug Ellis Swimming Pool (Monash Sport) staff member Stefan (Daniel) Lee is part of the Sri Lankan swimming team. Alumna Karen Kune Foo (BEc 1990, MBA(IntBus) 1997) will play badminton for Mauritius, while biomedical science student Liying Toh is in Singapore’s sailing team.

The medical team travelling to Beijing to oversee the health of the Australian team also includes Monash alumni. Of the team’s five senior doctors, three are Monash alumni. Head of the medical team, Dr Peter Baquie (GradDipOccEnvH 1994) is joined by alumnae Drs Susan L White (MBBS(Hons) 1989) and Karen Holzer (MBBS 1992, PhD 2005). Dr White is the head swimming team doctor, while Dr Holzer is an expert in asthma in sportspeople and has helped to prepare the team for problems due to Beijing’s pollution.