Head women’s soccer coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak won an Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer in 1996. Head women’s track and field coach Jeanette Bolden was a member of the gold-medal winning 4×100-meter relay team in 1984. Assistant track and field/cross country coach Johnny Gray won a bronze medal in the 800 meters in 1992. Bolden was also the U.S. Olympic team’s head women’s track and field coach in 2008.

They are looking forward to watching the competition over the next few weeks. There’s a good chance that seeing the competition in Rio de Janeiro, the medal presentations and the opening and closing ceremonies will bring a flood of great memories back for each of these Olympic Knights.

“It’s an experience that is so hard to put into words,” Bolden said. “It’s a feeling of ultimate accomplishment because you’ve dreamed about it, you’ve sacrificed for it. It finally came true. You’re in the opening ceremonies and you’re just in awe. That’s all you can do is say ‘Wow!’ and be in awe of walking with the USA [gear] on.”

After winning her gold medal, Sahaydak and her teammates were sent back to the locker room to change into their medal presentation uniforms. She said returning into the stadium was surreal.

“I remember coming back out on to the field, I will never forget that moment,” she said. “With all the fans in the stadium and all the cameras flickering, it looked like stars shining in the night. It’s something you dream of. It was pretty intense.”

Gray had a rather pragmatic view on the experience.

“You see all of these other countries and you’re actually representing the U.S. of A,” he said. “We go out and we have friendly competition with other parts of the country in a sport that is giving to the world. We’re sharing with the world that we don’t have to fight like we see on television. It’s about just trying to perform at the best of your abilities, and then afterwards, everybody shakes hands…at the end, we’re still human. We’re still one as a people, and we can still love and exist together. Love one another and exist together. That is the feeling that I got from the Olympics.”

While Bolden, Gray and Sahaydak all competed in the Olympics more than 20 years ago, those experiences certainly help their respective ��AV programs in a number of ways.

“The culture that we have here at UCF, a lot of that has been developed through my experiences with the national team,” Sahaydak said. “We had unbelievable leadership, not just from the coaches but also from my teammates. That is where I learned my leadership skills. I rely on those experiences every day in order to be the best coach I can be.”

Gray doesn’t bring up his Olympic experience, but focuses his recruiting pitch on what UCF offers a prospective student-athlete. But that’s not to say it doesn’t come up in conversation. Gray has also coached Olympians, which can resonate with recruits.

“These kids weren’t born when I was running,” he said. “Once they find out that I’m from the Olympics, it definitely helps. That’s definitely something good to have on your resume. I say ‘Not only am I a coach, but I’ve been where you are as an athlete. I know what you’re feeling; I know what you’re going through. I know what it takes to try to win.’”

Bolden said when she talks to a student-athlete who has the ability to be an Olympian, her experience competing and coaching in the Games makes an impact.

“When I talk to them, I tell them ‘I didn’t read about the Olympics; I experienced it firsthand. That’s something that I can tell you that some of the other coaches can’t tell you,’” she said. “Being a coach in the 2008 Olympics, I can tell them what goes on from the coaching side. So yes, I definitely use that.”

On Wednesday, long-time UCLA women’s head coach Jeanette Bolden was appointed as the next head coach of the UCF track and field program.

“I’m extremely excited and also honored that Todd Stansbury has the faith in me to lead the track and field program,” Bolden said. “Ů��AV is a fresh and vibrant university and has a lot of opportunities for young people. I plan to continue the upward arc of the program. Coach Caryl (Smith Gilbert) invested a lot in the team, and I just want to continue the successful path that she started to pave.

“I have been at UCLA all my life and I am grateful for the opportunities I had there. I will always be indebted to them, and I thank the athletic department, especially (athletic director) Dan Guerrero, for all they have done for me.”

Bolden, who comes to Orlando after spending the last 20 years at her alma mater, will fill the void left by Caryl Smith Gilbert, who accepted the position of director of men’s and women’s track and field at USC in early June. Bolden inherits a program that has skyrocketed to the top of collegiate track and field in recent years. The Knights have won six Conference USA titles (4 outdoor, 2 indoor), recorded two top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships and racked up more than 50 All-America honors.

“We’re very excited to have a coach the caliber of Jeanette Bolden join the UCF family,” said Todd Stansbury, Vice President and Director of . “To hire a Hall of Fame coach, who has won an Olympic gold medal, coached Olympic champions and led teams to multiple NCAA Championships shows the level of commitment we have to women’s track and field here at UCF. We currently have one of the top teams in the nation. With Coach Bolden leading our efforts, I believe we can become a long-term powerhouse track and field program.”

Bolden’s accomplishments as a collegiate head coach, U. S. Olympic head coach and gold-medal winning U. S. Olympic athlete are unmatched in the world of track and field. As the Bruins’ head coach from 1994-2013, she led UCLA to three NCAA team championships — the 2004 outdoor and the 2000 and 2001 indoor titles. They were the first national indoor track and field crowns – men’s or women’s – in school history.

A specialist with sprinters and hurdlers, Bolden also mentored four Bruins to six NCAA outdoor individual championships: Nicole Leach (2007/2009, 400H), Monique Henderson (2005, 400M), Sheena Johnson (2003/2004, 400H) and Joanna Hayes (1999, 400H). Since 1994, Bolden has coached more than 50 UCLA All-Americans in the sprints, hurdles and relays.

Under her direction, the Bruins won 10 Pac-10 Conference titles, including eight consecutive from 1997-2004. She is a 10-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year and nine-time United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) West Region Coach of the Year.

In 2006, Bolden earned one of the highest honors of her distinguished coaching career when she was named head coach of the U.S. women’s track and field team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. She was the first head coach in U.S. Olympic history to have won an Olympic medal as an athlete. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Bolden earned a gold medal on the U.S. women’s 4×100 relay and placed fourth in the 100 meters.

In Beijing, Bolden led the American women to, at the time, their third-highest medal count (23) in U.S. Olympic history and the most since the 1992 Barcelona Games. Bolden helped coach Dawn Harper (gold, 100H), Johnson (bronze, 400H) and Henderson (gold, 4×400 Relay) to Olympic glory.

On Feb. 13, 2004, Bolden was presented the prestigious C. Vivian Stringer Award, an accolade which is presented to a woman who has experienced outstanding achievement as a coach – exhibiting a high standard of propriety, imagination and innovation as a character builder in the tradition of great teacher-coaches.

Six years later, she was inducted to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame.

Bolden has served on a number of NCAA and track and field boards and has been an assistant coach for the World Indoor and Outdoor Championships. In 1998, she was named the USOC Track & Field Developmental Coach of the Year. In 1994, Bolden served as an assistant coach for the West squad at the Olympic Festival in St. Louis, Mo. and in 2006, she served as the head coach for the 2006 World Cup, which was held in Greece.

As an athlete at UCLA from 1981-83, Bolden was a five-time All-America performer. In 1982, she helped lead the Bruins to their first NCAA Outdoor championship. She graduated in 1983 with a degree in sociology. She served as an assistant for two years before taking over the program in 1994.

Bolden and her family own the famous 27th Street Bakery in Los Angeles. She and her husband of 25 years, Al, have two children, twins Anthony and Kimberly, age 13.

The Jeanette Bolden File