CSUN and the 2016 Summer Olympics

Image photos, clockwise from upper left: Katie Holloway, Natasha Watley, Lovie Jung, Jeff Stork, Tairia Flowers, Dawn Ellerbe Crawford, Lawrence Johnson with Kristi Castlin, Dalilah Muhammed and Brianna Rollins, Hafsatu Kamara and Lynda Morales

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- Although Rio de Janiero is more than 7,000 miles away from the San Fernando Valley, CSUN Athletics carries a strong tradition of participation in the Summer Olympic Games. The Matadors will have several representatives at the games in Brazil while also having Olympic veterans among their coaches and administration.

7593 — Former Matador track standout
Hafsatu Kamara will be representing
Sierra Leone in the 100m.

In 2016, CSUN will have several representatives at the games. Former track standout Hafsatu Kamara will represent Sierra Leone in the 100m. She owns the national record in the event with a career-best time of 11.61 seconds. Kamara has represented Sierra Leone in international competition before at events in Scotland and China.

Kamara will be the only woman representing Sierra Leone in Rio at the 2016 Summer Olympics. As a country, Sierra Leone did not have enough athletes meet IAAF/IOC standards, so the rule stipulates that if a country has no athletes that meet the standard, they are offered wild card entries for one male and one female so that the nation is represented at the games.

At CSUN, Kamara was a part of a 4x100m relay team that advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and placed 10th in 2014. She also advanced to the finals of the 100m at the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Championships in both her outdoor seasons as a Matador and in the 200m in her first year on the squad.

7484 — Former Matador Lynda Morales is a member
of the Puerto Rico Volleyball team competing in Rio.

In volleyball, former Matador Lynda Morales and her teammates from the Puerto Rico National Team will play in the Olympic games for the first time this summer in Rio.

Following a straight-set (25-8, 25-23, 25-15) victory over Kenya on May 22, Puerto Rico earned the 12th and final berth in the Olympic tournament that opens Aug 6. Puerto Rico will join hosts Brazil, China, Serbia, Russia, Argentina, United States, Cameroon, Japan, Italy, Netherlands and South Korea in the 12-team field.

Against Kenya, the former Matador had seven points on four kills and three blocks. Morales, who started all three matches in the tournament at middle blocker, also contributed eight points in a straight-set win over Colombia. Morales was a four-year letterwinner for the Matadors from 2007-10.

1675 — CSUN alum Katie Holloway will be participating
in her third Paralympic Games

Another former standout, Katie Holloway, will be participating in her third Paralympic Games as part of Team USA's Women's Sitting Volleyball Team. In 2008, she claimed a silver medal in Beijing and then repeated the feat in 2012 in London.

Holloway was named USA Volleyball Female Sitting Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012 and is the only women's student-athlete ever to compete in NCAA Division I women's basketball with a prosthetic limb.

On the track, Matador assistant coach Lawrence Johnson is currently training three US Olympians for the 2016 games in Northridge. A hurdle specialist, Johnson is working with Brianna Rollins, the US Champion in the 100-meter hurdles, Kristi Castlin, the US runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles, and Dalilah Muhammed, the US Champion in the 400-meter hurdles, in the San Fernando Valley in the lead-up to the game. Johnson will be attending the games for the first time in his professional career in Rio in support of the athletes he has trained.

3077 — CSUN Softball head coach Tairia Flowers is now a coach for
USA Softball after participating in two Olympic Games.

Historically, the Matador coaches and administration also have deep connections to the Olympic games.

In softball, CSUN head coach Tairia Flowers, volunteer assistant coach Lovie Jung and Director of Operations Natasha Watley were all members of Team USA at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

In Athens, the three were part of a gold-medal winning squad that out-scored its opponents 56-1 and was dubbed "The Real Dream Team" on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Four years later, Team USA came up just short in Beijing, falling to Japan in the Championship game to take home silver.

Flowers and Jung hung up their cleats after the 2008 games but have remained involved with USA Softball. Flowers is the head coach of the USA Junior Women's National Team and also served as the head coach of the USA Elite Team at the 2016 World Cup of Softball. Watley continues to play professionally in Japan, but has retired from the professional leagues in the United States.

"The Olympics hold a special place in my heart and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to represent the United States on the diamond," Flowers said.

In volleyball, CSUN women's head coach Jeff Stork also has Olympic gold in his past. A setter on the 1988, 1992 and 1996 US Olympic men's volleyball teams, Stork and Team USA claimed gold at the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea. Stork returned to the line-up after missing the first two matches to spark the squad to the championship run.

"I follow the US indoor and beach volleyball teams throughout the seasons and see how well they are doing. I think this year in Rio de Janeiro, everyone has a shot at winning medals. There is a lot more parity it seems of late, so they have to show up with their best efforts to get that medal," Stork said.

5705 — A three-time Olympian for USA Volleyball, CSUN women's
volleyball head coach Jeff Stork will be watching Rio closely.

Stork also took home a bronze in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain and had a 10-year run as a member of Team USA. In 2003, Stork was named to the USA Volleyball Men's (1978-2002) 75th Anniversary All-Era Team.

"The excitement of being in a gold medal match is second to none. The most exciting point for me was the end of the fourth set. We were up by four or five points and what was exciting for me was knowing at that point that you are the best in the world," Stork added.

CSUN also has administrators with an Olympic history. As a student-athlete at the University of South Carolina, Associate Athletics Director for Marketing, Branding and Fan Development Dawn Ellerbe Crawford was a 12-time Southeastern Conference Champion, four-time NCAA Champion and six-time All-American for both indoor and outdoor track and field.

After completing her undergraduate career she continued competing, and from 1995-2004 she held the American and world record for hammer throw. She took the gold at the 1999 Pan American Games for the United States and finished seventh at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney.

California State University Northridge Athletics

CSUN and the 2016 Summer Olympics

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