TABLE TENNIS COACH GETS OLYMPIC MEDAL

Table Tennis Coach Receives Olympic Medal, Team Gets Championship Rings

Head Table Tennis Coach Jasna Rather helped assist President Harold Jeffcoat in presenting Championship rings to those members of the Wesleyan Table Tennis Team who attended the NCTTA Collegiate Nationals this past April. Rings were presented to Mark Hazinski, Chance Friend, Aldis Presley, Oliviu Vasilca, James Segrest, Evan Anderson, Christopher Wellborn, Ines Perhoc, Tina Hung-Yu Chen, Pam Fontaine, and Kristen Thorn. Team manager David Livings, coach Keith Evans, and head coach and player Jasna Rather were also presented with their 2009 Championship rings.

President Jeffcoat then presented Coach Rather with a duplicate of her 1988 Olympic Bronze Medal. Dr. Jeffcoat, a member of the USA Table Tennis board of directors, gained authorization from the International Olympic Committee to have the duplicate made. At the presentation, he related how the Swiss foundry that produces the official medals was able to locate the original 1988 die. A duplicate was cast and delivered to Dr. Jeffcoat. A crowd of Wesleyan supporters and members of the public on hand for the Open Tournament broke into enthusiastic applause and cheered when Rather received the replica of her long lost medal.

Congratulations to Coach Rather and Fort Worth’s Championship DYNASTY, the Texas Wesleyan University Rams Table Tennis Team!

To read more about Rather, check out the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article that was published on Saturday, Oct. 24: http://www.star-telegram.com/college_sports/story/1707558.html. To watch a video of the championship rings and Olympic medal presentations, go to http://www.therambler.org/sports/rather-receives-long-lost-olympic-medal-1.2041627 on The Rambler site. Click here to view photographs from the event.

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