Pepperdine Athletes Ready to Make Waves at London Olympics

Eight Pepperdine University student-athletes will compete for gold in a number of sports when the 2012 Olympics start in London Friday.

The eight current and former Waves is the third-most that Pepperdine has sent to one Olympic Games.

A number of other Waves will take part in the Summer Games as coaches, including current men’s volleyball coach Marv Dunphy.

Dunphy will be coaching in his sixth Olympics serving as a consultant coach for the U.S. women’s volleyball team.

Since 1956, Pepperdine athletes have won a total of seven gold, eight silver and three bronze medals.

Here’s who to watch for as the games begin:

Yakhouba Diawara, France – Men’s Basketball
Diawara ('05) is making his first Olympic appearance. He played two seasons for the Waves and was named to the All-WCC first team in 2004.

Miranda Ayim, Canada – Women’s Basketball
Ayim ('10) is making her first Olympic appearance. She was a three-time All-WCC first teamer. She is the first Pepperdine athlete to compete in the sport of women's basketball.

Roxanne Barker, South Africa – Women’s Soccer
Barker, a current senior at Pepperdine, is making her first Olympic appearance. She is the first Pepperdine athlete to compete in the sport of women's soccer.

Robert Lindstedt, Sweden – Men’s Tennis
Lindstedt ('98) is making his first Olympic appearance. He will compete in men's doubles and possibly mixed doubles. Lindstedt has reached the final at Wimbledon in men's doubles in each of the last three years.

Sarah Attar, Saudi Arabia – Women’s Track
Attar, a current junior at Pepperdine, is making her first Olympic appearance. She is one of the first two female athletes ever to compete at the Olympics for Saudi Arabia. Attar will run the 800 meters.

Sean Rooney, United States – Men’s Volleyball
Rooney ('05) is appearing in his second Olympics. He and the U.S. are the defending gold medalists.

Merrill Moses and Jesse Smith, United States – Men’s Water Polo
Smith ('06) is appearing in his third Olympics and Moses ('98) will be in his second. Both won silver medals with the 2008 team.

Other Coaches

Future Pepperdine men's water polo coach Terry Schroeder ('81) is the head coach of the United States men's water polo team again in 2012. He led the U.S. to a silver medal in 2008. Schroeder was a four-time Olympian as a player and won silver medals in 1984 and 1988.

Gary Sato ('78) is serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. men's volleyball team for the third time. He was a coach on teams that won gold in 1988 and bronze in 1992.

Marcio Sicoli, an assistant coach for the Pepperdine women's volleyball team, is also the beach coach for the duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. The pair won gold medals in 2004 and 2008.