Notre Dame Student Wins First Gold for U.S.

Mariel Zagunis wins gold in the women's individual saber! Mariel was a year behind me and arrived on campus shortly after winning gold at the 2004 games. Her dorm welcomed her with a giant banner - not bad for a freshman.

She took a break to focus on this:

"Zagunis is an anthropology major at the University of Notre Dame. She has put school on hold since the winter of 2006 to focus on defending her Olympic title after feeling she was losing her sharpness because of too much homework.

She will complete her degree after the Games.

“Being at a prestigious, hard university, I wouldn’t be able to do both well and so I think taking the time off was very important for me,” she said. “I just went home to Portland. That was the only way I was going to have a result like this again."