Add yet another Olympic medal to Auburn's total. Kerron Stewart won a silver medal Sunday, tying for second in the 100-meter dash as part of a Jamaican sweep.
Former Tiger Kerron Stewart tied for second in the finals of the 100
meters as part of a Jamaican sweep of the top three spots Sunday,
earning the first track and field medal for former Auburn track athletes.
Swimmers from Auburn won 13 Olympic medals.
Stewart overcame a slow start to post a time of 10.98, tying for second
with Sherone Simpson. Shelly-Ann Fraser won the gold with a
time of 10.78.
Stewart, who reached the finals earlier Sunday by winning her semifinal heat with a time of 11.05, became the first Auburn woman ever to win a medal in track and field at the Olympics.
Gangloff wins gold medal in relay
Mark Gangloff earned a gold medal with the United States 400-meter relay team, and former Auburn swimmers closed out a history-making performance on Saturday.
Gangloff won gold and Margaret Hoelzer and Matt Targett won silver to give former Auburn swimmers 13 medals, more than doubling the school record. Auburn had the most swimming medals among colleges in the Games. California was second with 10.
Auburn swimmers won three golds, seven silvers and three bronzes.
Hoelzer, from Huntsville, and Gangloff won medals for the United States. Targett swam for his native Australia. All three won their relay medals by virtue of swimming in the preliminary heats.
The United States’ women took second in the 400m medley relay with a time of 3:53.30, finishing behind Australia and its world record time of 3:52.69.
Hoelzer swam the leadoff backstroke leg on the U.S. relay in the preliminary. She clocked a split time of 59.29, the fastest backstroke split in the preliminary, to lead the Americans to the third seed in the final. She was replaced by 100m backstroke gold medalist Natalie Coughlin in the final.
In the men’s 400m medley relay final, the United States took the gold with a world record time of 3:29.34, followed by Australia in second with a time of 3:30.04.
Gangloff swam the breaststroke leg on the U.S. relay in the preliminary. He swam a 1:00.35 split to help the Americans to the top overall seed in the final. He was replaced by former 100m breaststroke world record holder Brendan Hansen in the final.
Targett, who will be a senior at Auburn in the fall, swam the freestyle leg on the on the Australian relay in the preliminary. He swam a 47.41 split to give the Aussies the second seed in the final. He was replaced
by 100m freestyle world record holder Eamon Sullivan in the final.
