Ivygate wants you to meet Doug Lennox. He's Princeton '09 and competing on the Puerto Rican Olympic swim team. He's also part of a new feature called "Your Olympic Hero," in which I interview our brave men and women over in Beijing. According to Iviesinchina.com, a website that offers more information than you really need about the history of Ivy League Olympic achievement, 42 students or graduates of the Ancient Eight are competing in the Summer Games. This is slightly worse than four years ago when there were 54 of us running around Athens. But 42 Olympic athletes is nothing to scoff at: it's more than most countries have in the Games. In fact, if the Ivy League were a country (god forbid), it would have the eighth most medals of any country in the world. But enough about Ivy superiority. Onto Doug Lennox and his accomplishments!

Name: Doug Lennox

Ivy Affiliation: Princeton '09

Major: Anthropology, with certificates in Latin American Studies and American Studies

Sport: Swimming (Men's 100 and 200m butterfly)

1. Are you going to win?

Maybe my preliminary heat...or if Mikey (Phelps) busts a knee.

2. Where did you grow up?

I grew up on the North side of Chicago, most of my years in Lake Forest and a couple in Evanston.

3. Is this your first Olympics?

I competed in several Illinois Junior Olympic Games....do those count?

4. What's on your ipod when you're working out?

Depends on what mood I am in. When I wear an Ipod working out it means I am spinning or running, and I use that time to do a lot of thinking...If you talk to anyone who knows me, I am pretty in touch with my emotions -- not to be confused with "being emo" -- but if it's a really intense/focused work out (often times to get away from thinking about things that suck in the real world) it will include a lot of Metallica, Linkin Park, Godsmack, Lamb of God, Disturbed, etc. Also on this playlist are inspirational songs from movies, like the Rocky series, Space Jam, etc. I am pretty eclectic with my music.

All the fun questions after the jump.

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Joey Cheek, 2006 Winter Olympic speedskating gold medalist and Princeton '11, was ready to troop off to Beijing to raise awareness about the genocide in Darfur when he got a call from China. China had bad news: Cheek would not be joining his Olympic buddies in Beijing because his visa had been revoked.

When Cheek asked why he was being denied entrance, Chinese officials told him they were "not required to give a reason." Cheek, president and founder of Team Darfur, a group of over 70 Olympic athletes dedicated to raising awareness about the genocide, quickly realized China's decision to revoke his visa had something to do with his political affiliations. A little background knowledge: China has military, economic and diplomatic ties to Sudan.

Still, Cheek was stunned by the decision. In an AP interview, he said:

I didn't see it coming. I figured once they gave me a visa, I wouldn't imagine they wouldn't allow me to come in later. That was a big shock. I wasn't expecting to get a call the evening before I was leaving for Beijing.

Really? China doesn't want to let you come over and protest her policies while not competing in the Olympics? That doesn't sound like the China I know.

I should mention that Joey Cheek is the real deal: after winning the gold at the Torino Games Cheek donated his $25,000 Olympic bonus to Darfur and asked his fellow athletes to do the same. In Beijing, he planned to petition Sudan to respect the tradition of Olympic truce.

Wish you could have made it, Joey.

Cheek's reaction to the revoking of his visa after the jump.

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