New Jersey Olympians Earn Gold At The Summer Games [VIDEO]
The Olympics are over for the more than 10,000 athletes who completed in London, including 20 from here in New Jersey.
Clearly there were highlights for the Garden State contingent but it would be hard to top what the U.S. Women’s Soccer team accomplished with a quartet of Jersey Girls.
Delran’s Carli Lloyd saved her best for when it counted the most as she scored both goals in a thrilling gold medal victory over Japan.
FULL COVERAGE: 2012 Summer Olympics
East Brunswick native Heather O’Reilly came up with huge assist to help the Americans reach the finals and of course there was the steady play of Captain Christie Rampone, a former star at Point Pleasant Borough High School and Monmouth University. At age 37 and the mother of two Rampone’s soccer future is up in the air although she has not ruled out sticking around until the World Cup in 2014.
The fourth member of the New Jersey group was Tobin Heath of Basking Ridge.
From an individual standpoint these were a wonderful couple of weeks for Rebecca Soni and Jordan Burroughs. Plainsboro’s Soni set the world record twice while winning gold in the 200-meter breaststroke. She also won a silver in the 100-meter breaststroke and added a relay gold in the 4x100 medley.
Burroughs, the pride of Sicklerville, won a freestyle wrestling gold medal at 163 pounds and vowed to add another in four years. The former Winslow Township and Nebraska star also pocketed a cool $250,000 from USA Wrestling for his triumph in London.
Browns Mills native Matt Emmons added another shooting medal to ones he had collected in 2004 and 2008, swimmer Cullen Jones of Irvington came away with individual silver and relay silver and Maya Lawrence of Teaneck collected a bronze fencing medal in the women’s team epee
2012 TEAM USA OLYMPIANS FROM NEW JERSEY
Click each name to read each athlete's bio
MEDALS WON | NAME | SPORT | BIRTH PLACE | STATE | HOMETOWN |
Jordan Burroughs | Wrestling | Camden | N.J. | Sicklerville | |
Julie Culley | Distance runner | Harrisburg | Pa. | Lebanon | |
Rachael Dawson | Field Hockey | Camden | NJ | Berlin | |
Nick Delpopolo | Judo | Niksic | Montenegro | Westfield | |
Matt Emmons | Shooting | Mt. Holly | N.J. | Brown Mills | |
Steven Gluckstein | Gymnastics | Red Bank | N.J. | Atlantic Highlands | |
Tobin Heath | Soccer | Morristown | N.J. | Basking Ridge | |
Connor Jaeger | Swimming | Hackensack | N.J. | Fair Haven | |
Ashia Jones | Basketball | Piscataway | N.J. | Piscataway | |
Cullen Jones | Swimming | Bronx | N.Y. | New Brunswick | |
Steve Kasprzyk | Rowing | Willingboro | N.J. | Cinnaminson | |
Maya Lawrence | Fencing | Teaneck | N.J. | Teaneck | |
Carli Lloyd | Soccer | Marlton | N.J. | Delran | |
Christina McHale | Tennis | Teaneck | N.J. | Englewood Cliffs | |
Heather O'Reilly | Soccer | New Brunswick | N.J. | East Brunswick | |
Jeff Porter | Athletics | Summit | N.J. | Somerset | |
Christie Rampone | Soccer | Ft. Lauderdale | Fla. | Pt. Pleasant | |
Rebecca Soni | Swimming | Freehold | N.J. | Plainsboro | |
Michelle Vittese | Field Hockey | Philadelphia | Pa. | Cherry Hill | |
Dagmara Wozniak | Fencing | Wroclaw | Poland | Avenel |