With the Winter Olympics starting tomorrow in Vancouver, it is interesting to note that there will be three attendees –– both past and present –– of Cornell competing. Former student athletes, Douglas Murray ’03 and Jamie Moriarty ’03, as well as current undergraduate Rebecca Johnston ’12, will take part in the games this year.
Murray is a former defenseman (1999-2003) for the hockey team, and will be the fifth Cornell men’s hockey player to go to the Olympics. Unlike his four predecessors, however, Murray will play for a team that is not Canada; he will be playing for his home country of Sweden. Team Sweden won gold in hockey in the 2006 Winter Olympics, and is also the team that Murray’s grandfather helped win a bronze medal for back in 1952. Currently, Murray is a defenseman for the San Jose Sharks after being drafted early in 1999 as an eighth-round pick.
Moriarty played defensive back for the Red football team, leaving the university with 152 tackles and six interceptions, and is now planning on bobsledding in the 2010 Games. He won two four-man gold medals during America’s Cup this season, both of which were won alongside driver Mike Kohn, who will be with him during the four-man event he will compete in. He will be in the USA III sled.
The current undergraduate student is, like Murray, accustomed to the ice rink as she too is on the hockey team. Johnston was a sophomore forward for the Red last year and was the first Cornell player to be named an All-American en route to receiving numerous other accolades. Johnston will be only the second representative of Cornell women’s hockey to make it to the Olympics; the first, Dana Antal, competed in 2002 and took home the gold with Team Canada. Johnston will be following in Antal’s footsteps and representing her home country of Canada –– a country with a team that has a very realistic chance of winning after notching back-to-back gold medals the past two Winter Olympics.
Johnston and the Canadian women’s hockey team will be the first of the three Cornell affiliates to play in the 2010 Games, as Team Canada first takes on opponent Slovakia on Feb. 13. Murray will follow with the first Sweden hockey matchup on Feb. 17 against Germany; finally, Moriarty can first be seen bobsledding on Feb. 26.
Original Author: Reena Gilani