Meet Your Olympians

Meet the local athletes from Missouri who will be competing in the 2012 Olympic Games.

They've put in innumerable hours of sweat, blood and tears to get where they are today. They are among the best of the best and are ready to prove their mettle. 529 athletes from 45 states will represent the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. They are competing in events as diverse as athletics, fencing, track and field, rowing, soccer and basketball. For everyone, from swimmer Katie Ledecky, 15, to 54-year-old equestrian jumper Karen O’Connor, these Games represent the culmination of all the hard work and dedication they've put in to win the coveted medal. It's time to meet the Olympians from Missouri! Here are a few quick facts about your Olympians! Spenser Mango Sex : Male Competing in Wrestling Event / position / class…

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The Baer Facts

An Olympic Preview: From My Living Room

This Patch editor is flipped out over the Olympic movement.

As of Friday night, please don’t ring my phone. That’s because I’ll be glued to the tube (as in television), not London subway to watch the march of the athletes in the 2012 Olympics and the well crafted opening ceremonies. There are just places where the Olympics ought to be, and others, not so. Los Angeles is a natural setting. So too is Paris, Melbourne and now London again. But I don’t know about Rio, Moscow, Mexico City or other places that it has been before. The Olympics are my passion. If I had my life to do over, that’s the one thing I’d want to do--be some kind of Olympic athlete. But 90 pound high schoolers who ran slowly in cross country don’t get a spot on the Olympic team. Lucky for me, I got to cover the 1984 Olympics in LA…

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Ladue Cheerleader Headed to London to Perform on New Years Day

Breanna Smith, a sophomore at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, is looking for donors to make this extensive trip.

Breanna Smith, sophomore at Ladue Horton Watkins High School was recently selected by the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) and the National Dance Alliance (NDA) to peform in London on January 1, 2013. This 15-year-old student recently attended the National Cheerleaders Association camp at the Lake of the Ozarks. She will be required to learn a series of programs and routines that will be performed live in London. She will have the opportunity to tour London including visiting museums, castles and other historic landmarks throughout the country. In order to get there, she has to raise some $3,500 and is open to donations from the local community. Her email is breannajenellesmith@gmail.com and she can be reached by phone at 618-304-…

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Burroughs Peter Tasker: Jack of All Trades, Master of All

51-year-old teaches, coaches and runs the school's athletic program.

John Burroughs’ Athletic Director Peter Tasker estimates during the school year, he puts in a 75-80 hour work week. By any measure, JBS is getting their money’s worth and more. Tasker brings many talents to the table at this high-performing private school in Ladue. His career path has had more zigs and zags than star running back Ezekiel Elliott, sailing for yet another opponent’s goal line. Sign up for the Ladue-Frontenac Patch Facebook Page. Tasker has a busy day each day on campus. He teaches math and an introductory 9th grade Spanish class. In addition to that, he coaches middle school lacrosse and is athletic director the rest of the week. Why athletics? “Athletics is a classroom without walls. This is where we teach students lessons …

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The Baer Facts

Rams, Let Me Help You Load The Moving Vans

I think the St. Louis Rams have blackmailed the City of St. Louis enough already.

A letter to the editor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch definitely caught my eye. This letter stuck it into the eye of ownership of the St. Louis Rams. The author stated if the Rams are going to demand that St. Louis provides a top tier stadium, then the Rams ought to sign an agreement to provide St. Louis with a top tier football team by 2015. Like fellow fans, I have grown weary of the Rams putting a substandard football team on the field. It seems like ages ago that they brought to town a Super Bowl championship. Back to LA-LA land? This team is no better off (and perhaps substandard) than the Bill Bidwell teams of the 1980s. They draft no better prospects than when George Boone was making a mess of things with the St. Louis Cardinals. …

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