Otterbein might not have sent athletes to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, but two Otterbein faculty members were still in Paris for the action. Associate Professor of Equine Science Bruce Mandeville is a former Olympian and current chair of the selection committee for the Canadian Equestrian Team. Mandeville competed in the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games, two World Championships (1994 and 2002), and two Pan American Games (1999 and 2003) as a member of the Canadian Equestrian Team. At Otterbein, he teaches equine business management courses, including sustainable practices, equine center design, and equine law, among others.
Faculty Emerita Denise Shively has been a longtime Communication, First Year Experience, Integrative Studies, and Senior Year Experience instructor. Her term as president of USA Artistic Swimming (formerly synchronized swimming) ended in September, but before then she traveled to Paris as the current president to cheer on Team USA. In previous roles as vice president of the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Board of Directors and as an international team manager, she traveled with Team USA to many World Championships, three Pan American Games, and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
While he didn’t go to Paris, Otterbein Athletics Director Greg Lott was watching the gymnastics competitions from home, cheering for some athletes he knew personally – the British gymnasts. Lott spent summer 2023 in the United Kingdom working with British Gymnastics, where he led a coach development program and partnered with the True Athlete Project on work with British Gymnastics’ leadership and gymnastic team members.