ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan certainly left its mark on the 2008 Olympics in a variety of sports, with 22 athletes, four coaches and an athletic trainer taking part in the Beijing games?and winning 12 Olympic medals.

Michigan athletes, combined, won more medals than most countries. Wolverine nation would have finished in the Top 10 for gold medals and Top 20 for overall medals among all nations.

Leading headlines worldwide was former U-M volunteer men’s swimming coach, Michael Phelps, who won an unprecedented eight gold medals. He set world records in seven of his eight Olympic events. These medals, combined with the six gold and two bronze he won at the 2004 Athens games, brings his overall medal count to 16, making him the most decorated Olympian of all time.

Former U-M swimmer Peter Vanderkaay ’06 added more hardware to his Olympic collection, swimming the anchor leg for the gold medal-winning, world-record setting 4x200m freestyle relay team. Vanderkaay also took the bronze in the 200m freestyle. Current law student Sada Jacobson brought home two more medals, a silver in the women’s individual sabre and a bronze in the women’s team sabre, to add to the bronze she won in Athens.

Other medalists included Michigan alum and former women’s water polo goalie, Betsey Armstrong ’05, who helped guide the United States to a silver medal, and track standout Nick Willis ’05, who took home a bronze in the 1,500-meter run for his home country of New Zealand.

A number of other current and former U-M athletes took part in the games, but did not win medals in their respective events:

? Alon Mandel (Jr.) set a new Israeli national record in the 200m butterfly the morning after receiving word of his father’s death.

? American Scott Spann (Jr.) competed in the 200m breaststroke.

? Andrew Hurd ’05 competed in the 4x200m relay for Team Canada, which placed fifth.

? Natasha Moodie (Soph.) set a new Jamaican national record while competing in the 50m freestyle.

? Valeria Silva ’08 of Peru swam the 100m breaststroke. She set a new Peruvian record while swimming the 100m breaststroke.

? Ellen Tomek ’06 competed in the women’s double sculls for Team USA, while Brett Sickler was the alternate on the women’s eight-gold-medal-winning team.

? Canadian rowers Heather Mandonli ’04 and Janine Hanson ’06 competed in the quadruple sculls and women’s eight, respectively.

? In U.S. men’s rowing, Matt Hughes ’04 participated in the quadruple sculls, while former men?s rowing assistant coach, Ken Jurkowski, competed in the single sculls.

? Stann Waithe ’08 ran a leg of the 4x400m relay for his native Trinidad and Tobago.

? Canada’s Nate Brannen ’05 and Kevin Sullivan ’98 competed in the 1,500 meters.

? American Anna Willard (graduate student) ran the 3,000m steeplechase, the first time the event has been part of an Olympic games.

? Nicole Forrester ’99 of Canada competed in the high jump.

? U.S. wrestler Andy Hvorat ’02 wrestled in the 85kg division.

In addition to the athletes, U-M swim coaches Bob Bowman and Jon Urbanchek worked with Team USA, as did wrestling coach Steve Fraser and athletic trainer Lisa Haas. Scott MacDonald worked with the Canadian track team.

Another athlete with U-M ties, Jerome Singleton (Jr.), will compete in three track events during the upcoming Paralympic Games Sept. 8-17.

U-M Olympic history