Aug. 7, 2016
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Now three-time Olympian Gerek Meinhardt takes to the strips today as the individual men’s foil competition gets underway, beginning at 8:00 a.m.
Meinhardt will open the contest in the Round of 32 at 9:00 a.m. against an opponent who advances from the Round of 64. The medal round is slated to begin at 5:15 p.m.
Meinhardt also appeared in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In 2008 as a 17-year old, he made history as the youngest U.S. Olympic fencer of all time. In January of 2014, he made history again as the first active collegiate fencer to reach No. 1 in the world rankings.
Read | On Gerek Meinhardt: Some Athletes Balance Work and Olympic Goals (Wall Street Journal)
Now THIS is a @NotreDame #4for40 tweet!
🇺🇸@NDFencing‘s Gerek Meinhardt works for Deloitte & is fencing in #Olympics https://t.co/M3mlTQBJcZ
– The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) August 6, 2016
Today | August 7
— Gerek Meinhardt will open his third consecutive Olympics as the men’s foil individual competition gets underway at 8:00 a.m. (online streaming), while the medal round is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. (MSNBC).
— Assistant coach Angie Akers and the Netherlands’ beach volleyball tandem of J. van der Vlist and S. van Gestel opens play at 2:30 p.m. against Canada (online streaming).
Tomorrow | August 8
— Mariel Zagunis will open her fourth Olympics as the women’s sabre individual competition gets underway at 8:00 a.m. (online streaming), while the medal round is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. (NBCSN). Zagunis will become the first former Notre Dame student-athlete to appear in four Olympic Games. If she wins a medal, she would tie former Fighting Irish track & field All-American/head coach Alex Wilson (’32) for the most medals won by a Notre Dame athlete in Olympic competition (four).
— Natalie Achonwa and Team Canada play Serbia at 1:15 p.m. (online streaming).
— Amanda Polk and the USA women’s eight boat begins the pursuit of history with preliminary heats beginning at 7:30 a.m. Polk, who is making her Olympic debut, and the USA women’s eight boat is looking to capture an 11th consecutive World/Olympic title.
— Angie Akers and the Netherlands beach volleyball team of M. van Iersel and M. Meppelink will take on a team from Costa Rica at 4:30 p.m. (online streaming).
— Monty Williams and the U.S. Men’s Basketball team will play Venezuela at 6:00 p.m. (NBCSN).
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Complete schedules for when the athletes with Notre Dame ties will be competing can be found at UND.com/Rio. Join the conversation on social media and support the Irish using #OlympicND.
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— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).