UMBC Graduate Borel-Brown to Compete in Shot Put at Olympic Games

UMBC Graduate Borel-Brown to Compete in Shot Put at Olympic Games

Bookmark and Share

Courtesy: UMBC Athletic Media Relations

 

BEIJING, China?Former UMBC track and field athlete Cleopatra Borel-Brown is set to represent the island country of Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, Aug. 17 in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, China. Borel-Brown will begin her quest for an Olympic medal in the shot put at 9:10 a.m. Beijing time on Sunday, 9:10 p.m. eastern time on Saturday (Aug. 16). With an appearance at the 2008 Games, Borel-Brown will become the first athlete from UMBC to complete in two Olympics.

 

Borel-Brown graduated from UMBC in 2002 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies/health psychology as the most decorated female athlete. While competing for the Retrievers, Borel was a seven-time Northeast Conference champion, three-time ECAC champion, three-time All-American, and is to date the only UMBC athlete that has won a Division I National Championship.

 

Borel-Brown claimed NCAA gold at the 2002 Indoor Track and Field National Championships in the shot put one year after becoming the first female All-American at UMBC, when she placed eighth at the 2001 NCAA meet. The 29-year-old holds the school records for the indoor shot put and weight throw, as well as the outdoor shot put and hammer throw and still holds the NEC marks for the indoor and outdoor shot put. Her ECAC record in the indoor shot put still stands, while her outdoor shot put record stood until 2005.

 

A two-time recipient of the NEC Most Outstanding Female Field Performer award, Borel-Brown competed for her native country of T&T in the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she finished 10th overall in the shot put. Since those games, she has finished eighth at the 2006 World Indoor Championships, and taken bronze at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2007 Pan-American Games in addition to being named the 2007 Sports Woman of the Year for T&T.

 

In 2008, Borel-Brown has repeated as the T&T national shot put champion at the Sagicor Open in June and has also added a Central American and Caribbean Championship title in the beginning of July. Going into the Games at Beijing, she is ranked 17th in the world for shot put in 2008 with a mark of 18.87m, which she achieved in July at a meet in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

Borel-Brown is married to former UMBC athlete and current shot put and discus throw record-holder Balvin Brown and resides in Blacksburg, Va. where she just completed her sixth season as a member of the track and field coaching staff.