August (Web-only) 2004

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As the Olympics gets started this week, we wondered what Christian are competing, and who to look out for. So we asked Dave Branon, managing editor of Sports Spectrum magazine, which athletes in what events we could pay attention to.

Who is Sports Spectrum watching this Olympics?

We have a section on the Olympics in our July/August edition. One of the people in that piece is Hunter Kemper, who is the top American triathlete. He's our best hope for a gold in the triathlon, on the men's side.

All three members of the U.S. Marathon Team are Christians: Allan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi, and Dan Brown, plus Ruth Riley on the basketball team. The number one triathlete in the world, for the women's side of things, is Barb Lindquist, and she's a strong Christian. And her teammate, Sheila Taormina, was at the last Olympics in the triathlon and eight years ago as a swimmer. They're two of the three on the women's triathelete team.

We had an article on Shane Hamman, who was a weightlifter in the 2000 Olympics as well. Those are the Olympians we had in the magazine.

Could you tell us more about each of those athletes, starting with the marathon team?

Dan Browne, Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi are on the team. Meb was born and grew up in Eritrea. The family immigrated to the United States, so he's an American citizen now. Browne went to West Point and he's an Army guy. He's from Oregon, and I think this is his first Olympics. The interesting thing about Alan Culpepper is that his wife is also on the Olympic team. Her name is Shayne, and she runs in one of the long running events.

They are trying to use this as a platform to talk about their faith. We try to emphasize that athletes aren't using their faith as a crutch. However they perform, whether ...