Tuesday, February 4, 2003
FIU Swimming Coach Noemi Zaharia to speak before National Girls and Women in Sports Day audience
 Noemi Zaharia |
IU
swimming coach Noemi Zaharia will be among the guest
speakers at today’s National Girls and Women in Sport Day celebration
hosted by the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami.
She is expected to speak to hundreds of girls from Miami-Dade and Broward County schools encouraging them to participate regularly in sporting activities, as well as the pursuit of sports career opportunities.
“This is the second year in a row I’ve been asked to speak at this celebration and I’m just as excited as I was the first time,” Zaharia said. “This is a great opportunity for the university and me to expose our programs to the youth of our community.”
Zaharia competed in both the 1988 and '92 Olympic games, taking the silver medal in the 400 individual medley and bronze in the 200 IM in 1988. Before that, she swam in the 1987 World Championship Games where she won five gold and two bronze medals and received the Most Valuable Athlete award.
While attending Florida Atlantic University, Zaharia earned All-America honors in 1991 and '92. She took eight Division II individual championships while swimming for the Owls and still holds NCAA Championship records in the women's 200 IM (2:03.25) and 400 IM (4:20.68). Zaharia was named the NCAA's 1992 Female Athlete of the Year and received the Honda Award for excellence in sports.
National Girls and Women in Sports Day has evolved into a day to recognize female achievements in sports, the positive influence of sports participation and the continuing efforts for equality and access for women in sports.
The Women’s Sports Foundation organized the first official National Women in Sports Day celebration in 1987 in Washington, D.C., to remember and honor Flo Hyman, an Olympic volleyball great and renowned leader in the pursuit of equality for women in sports. Representative Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Senator Robert Packwood (R-Ore.) introduced the commemorative bills declaring Feb. 4, 1977, as the first National Women in Sports Day (“Girls” was added to the title of the day in 1988).
Other invited speakers to today’s event include Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Henrietta Onodi, boxer Ada “Ace” Velez and female sports figures in the fields of journalism, broadcasting and the front office of professional sports.
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