Native Athletes Competing in the 2012 London Olympics

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LONDON – With just a few days away to the 2012 London Olympic, thousands of athletes from across the world will begin competition in their respective sports in hopes of winning a medal and become a part of Olympic history. A few of those athletes that will be competing will not only be representing their country but they will also be representing their tribal affiliation as well.

Mary Killman -Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Mary Killman, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma, will be one of those tribal members competing at the Olympics. She will be competing in the Synchronized Duet Technical swimming event, Killman qualified with her performing partner Mariya Korolvea with a 7th place finish at the Federation Internationale de (FINA) Olympic Games Qualification tournament. Synchronized swimming (often abbreviated to Synchro) is a hybrid form of swimming, dance and gymnastics, consisting of swimmers (either solos, duets, trios, combos, or teams) performing a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music. Synchronized swimming demands advanced water skills, and requires great strength, endurance, flexibility, grace, artistry and precise timing, as well as exceptional breath control when upside down underwater. Olympic teams will be required to performed one technical routine and one freestyle routine.

Mary Spencer - First Nation Ojibway

Mary Spencer, a First Nation Ojibway, will be competing in the 75-kilogram middleweight boxing event at the London Olympics for Team Canada. She's considered one of Canada's top hopes for a medal in London, where women's boxing is making its Olympic debut. In her career, Mary has won three World Championships, five Pan American Games gold medals, and eight Canadian Championships. Despite having an outstanding boxing career, getting to London wasn't without incident. Mary had the opportunity to easily qualify for the Olympics at the 2012 World Boxing championships but was upset in the first round of the championships. The three-time world champion's hopes remained alive because of the provision to award one wild card Olympic spot to a fighter from the Americas, one of five global regions determined by the AIBA, amateur boxing's international governing body. The decision, which took longer than expected to be announced, was made by a committee that included representatives of the AIBA and the International Olympic Committee.

Tumua Anae - Native Hawaiian

Tumua Anae, a Native Hawaiian, will be competing at the Olympics as the goalie for the US National Water Polo team. In college at USC, Anae was a finalist for 2010 Peter J. Cutino Award and a member of the 2010 NCAA Championship team and was also named 1st Team All American team, where she was also named to before on the 2008 and 2009. After graduation, Anae joined the National Team and has performed phenomenal as a goalie. She had recorded sixteen saves at the 2012 FINA World League Super final and tallied seven saves in a backup role, helping Team USA to a Gold Medal and Olympic berth at the 2011 Pan American Games. Tumua logged eight saves as backup goalie en route to a sixth place finish at the 2011 FINA World Championships and also recorded eight saves as backup goalie during Gold Medal run at 2011 FINA World League Super Final in Tianjin, China.

Republished with Permission from NDN Sports
updated 9:20 am edt; posted July 23, 2012 8:30 am edt