Zone athletes sparkle in the Olympics

By:
Dr. Barry Sears

Several Zone athletes have had great success at the 2008 Olympics Most notable is Valentina Vezzali, one of our top Italian Zoners, who at age 38 won her fourth Gold Metal in Olympic fencing. Fencing is essentially a young person’s sport as it is primarily based on reaction times; therefore, to compete in Olympic fencing at age 38 is equivalent to playing NBA basketball at age 65. To win an Olympic Goal Medal is the equivalent of being MVP of NBA basketball.

Lindsay Berg was the substitute setter for the Sliver Medal U.S. Olympic volleyball team. Lindsay was one of our Zone athletes to come out of the University of Minnesota volleyball program, which is one of our Zone Centers of Excellence in Sports. Coming off the bench, she sparked the Americans to an upset victory over the Italians in the quarterfinals and was then called upon in the finals to give the Americans the needed setting to compete with the Brazilian Olympic team. The Americans were the only team to take a game from the Brazilian volleyball team.