
Updated: Monday, 30 Jul 2012, 4:01 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 30 Jul 2012, 1:14 AM EDT
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) -
Team USA will play Argentina on Tuesday.
In the pool, two ODU teammates will race the 50 freestyle: Arni Arnason for Iceland and Sidni Hoxha for Albania . ODU swimming coach Carol Withus says qualifications to make the team are a little different than in the U.S.
Of the five ODU Olympians at the London games, Anna Tunnicliffe is the only defending gold medalist. The lifelong sailor won gold in Laser Radial at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
During a 2004 interview, Tunnicliffe told WAVY.com, "My parents put me in a boat and pushed me off and told me not to come back until I'd stopped crying. I stopped crying and came back; still hated sailing for a long time, but then started liking it," she recounted.
Anna was a champion every year she raced for ODU and was named women's college sailor of the year as a senior. She's competing with ODU teammate Debbie Capozzi . The two went 1-1 in the Elliott 6 meter match race during day one of racing in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
NBC Olympics: Sailing schedule
ODU Head Coach Mitch Brindley coached Anna to gold in Beijing.
"It was a great opportunity and a lot of fun and it's hard to describe how powerful the Olympic games are," said Brindley.
This year he is going as a fan, but he will still be rooting for Anna and the rest of the Monarchs.
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