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Local Stars: Basketball star and marathon runner prepare for the Olympics
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Published: July 3, 2008
Two athletes with local ties should probably start to brush up on their Chinese.
They are Chris Paul, who played basketball at West Forsyth and later at Wake Forest before becoming a member of the New Orleans Hornets, and Blake Russell, a former runner on the track and cross-country teams at Forsyth Country Day School and All-America at North Carolina. Both will participate in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, next month.
Paul was named to the U.S. men's basketball team last week. He played for USA Basketball in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, where the team won a bronze medal.
Russell will represent the United States in the women's marathon run after a third-place finish at the qualifying trials held in Boston in April. She will be vying to become the first American female to win the marathon since 1984, when Joan Benoit won it at the Los Angeles games.
Finishing in third place was especially satisfying for Russell after a disappointing fourth-place finish during her attempt to qualify for the 2004 games in Athens. Despite finishing with a personal best time of 2:30.32 and leading for most of the race, she faltered in the end and was passed in the final half-mile and had to settle for being the first alternate for the 2004 team.
This year she wasn't about to let the opportunity slip out of her grasp again. The Olympic Trials was the first marathon she had run in competition since 2006. She struggled with a broken foot and some torn ligaments after dropping a suitcase on her foot.
Russell lives in Marina, Calif., with her husband, Jonathan, who was a standout steeplechase runner for the Wake Forest track team.
Russell will join teammates Deena Castor and Magdalena Lowy Boulez in the quest for the gold medal in the race, which will be held Aug. 17.
Paul wrapped up a breakout season in the NBA in which he finished second to Kobe Bryant in the MVP voting. He led the Hornets to a semifinal appearance in the NBA playoffs before losing to the 2007 NBA champions, the San Antonio Spurs, in seven games. Paul missed playing with the U.S. team last summer in the FIBA Americas Tournament, an Olympic qualifying event where the team finished in first place, because of foot surgery he had performed in April of 2007.
Paul will join a star-studded group of NBA greats as they try to bring home the first Olympic gold medal for the United States in men's basketball since 2000. Other members of the team include Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Dwyane Wade. Coach Mike Krzyzweski of Duke is the head coach. He became familiar with Paul during some memorable ACC matchups when Paul was at Wake Forest.
In an interview on the USA Basketball Web site, Paul expressed his sentiment about playing for his country and possibly bringing home the gold.
"This is a dream come true," he said. "It's a select few guys who get this opportunity… There are so many guys in the NBA who never get this opportunity.
"Don't get me wrong, I would love to win the NBA Finals, but this right here is about representing your country."
The U.S. team will attend training camp in Las Vegas July 21-25 and then head over to China in late July for practice and some tune-up games before the Olympic competition will begin Aug 10.
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