Michigan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Twenty-two athletes with ties to the University of Michigan competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, led by former U-M volunteer men's swimming coach Michael Phelps, who completed his remarkable quest for eight gold medals in the pool while setting four individual world records and contributing to three more records in relays.
Also collecting multiple medals were swimmer Peter Vanderkaay and fencer Sada Jacobson. Vanderkaay earned his first individual medal with a bronze in the 200-meter freestyle and joined Phelps on Team USA's victorious 4x200-meter freestyle relay squad. Jacobson, a Yale graduate who enrolled in the U-M Law School in fall 2008, won silver in the women's individual sabre event and bronze in the team sabre competition.
Completing the U-M medal haul with silvers were Betsey Armstrong, who was the starting goalie for the United States women's water polo team that was runner-up to the Netherlands, and distance runner Nick Willis, who finished third in the men's 1,500-meter run in Beijing but had his medal upgraded to silver more than 15 months later after the winner was disqualified for a positive drug test.
Adding to the U-M contingent on official delegations were four coaches, three Olympic team staff members, an alternate and an athletic trainer. Together they represented 10 countries across six sports. The United States boasted the largest collection of Wolverines with 16, including 10 athletes, while Canada also took a sizable U-M representation to the Games with six athletes and one official. Michigan had one athlete each on the teams of Guyana, Israel, Jamaica, New Zealand, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as a coach each with China and Croatia.
In addition, U-M student Jerome Singleton won two medals in the 2008 Paralympics, capturing a silver in the 100-meter dash (T44), just three-hundredths of a second behind South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, and a gold in the 4x100-meter relay (T42-46) with a world-record time of 42.75.
Medal Winners
| MICHIGAN MEDAL WINNERS | |
| Men's Swimming | |
| Michael Phelps (USA) |  Gold - 400m Individual Medley |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 4x100m Freestyle Relay |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 200m Freestyle |
| Peter Vanderkaay (USA) | Gold - 4x200m Freestyle Relay |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 4x200m Freestyle Relay |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 200m Butterfly |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 200m Individual Medley |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 100m Butterfly |
| Michael Phelps (USA) | Gold - 4x100m Medley Relay |
| Peter Vanderkaay (USA) |  Bronze - 200m Freestyle |
| Men's Track and Field | |
| Nick Willis (New Zealand) |  Silver - 1,500m Run |
| Women's Water Polo | |
| Betsey Armstrong (USA) | Silver - Women's Water Polo |
| Women's Fencing | |
| Sada Jacobson (USA) | Silver - Team Sabre |
| Sada Jacobson (USA) | Bronze - Sabre |
Swimmers Michael Phelps (center) and Peter Vanderkaay (right) medaled in the men's 200-meter freestyle (Getty Images)
Features
Five Questions
U-M Olympics Fact of the Week
Ralph Craig Carries the Flag -- A double gold medalist in Stockholm at the 1912 Olympics, Ralph Craig was an alternate in yachting at the 1948 London Games and had the honor of carrying the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies.
First Wolverine Medal in the Pool -- Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy became the first Olympian with U-M ties to win a medal in the pool at an Olympics, capturing bronze in the 440-yard breaststroke at the 1904 St. Louis Games.
Michigan's First Gold Medals -- Archie Hahn (60-, 100- and 200-meter events), Charles Dvorak (pole vault), Ralph Rose (shot put) and Fred Schule (110-meter hurdles) were the first Olympians with U-M ties to capture gold when they proved they were the leaders and best at the 1904 St. Louis Games.
Michigan's First Olympics -- With no organized United States team in 1900, U-M professor Albert Pattengill led a fundraising effort to send some of the University's best to Paris. Four Wolverines made the trip to "The City of Lights" and brought home three medals.
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