Dental student hopes to see wife on the medal stand in Beijing

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, the wife of third-year dental student Bronsen Schliep, will compete next month in the Olympics in Beijing. The former Nebraska All-American will run the 100 meter hurdles for Canada. (Photo by Raelene Schliep)

Third-year dentistry student Bronsen Schliep played Division I college basketball and yet he’s only the second-best athlete in his own home.

But that’s what you get when you’re married to Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, a former All-American hurdler at Nebraska who will run for her native Canada in next month’s Olympics.

Lopes-Schliep was the NCAA champion in 2004 in the 60-meter indoor hurdles and once ran 12.60 in the 100-meters to break a record held by track great Gail Devers. Lopes-Schliep will run in the 100-meter hurdles for Canada next month in Beijing.

“I don’t win many races to the fridge,” said Bronsen Schliep, who started five games for the Cornhusker men’s basketball team during the 2005-2006 season. “I do train with her sometimes but only on the straight-away work.”

Later next month, Schliep will travel to Beijing to see his wife compete in the games. It will be the second time Lopes-Schliep has run in the Olympics. She placed 20th in the first round of the 100-meter hurdles in Athens in 2004.

This year, she’s Canada’s best hope for a medal in the event after winning at the Olympic trials earlier this summer.

Schliep said on that day, it will be OK for UNMC Olympic fans to lend their allegiances to the Canadians — if only for 12.60 seconds.

“We really hope she can medal,” Schliep said. “When you get to that level, the competition is so equal that it really is anyone’s guess as to who can win.”

A good start, a bad start, a foot catching a hurdle or a slight slip on the track can make all the difference, he said.

The couple met while both were students at UNL. After a three-year courtship, they were married in 2007 in Priscilla’s hometown of Whitby, Ontario, Canada.

Schliep, who is from Fairfield, Neb., said he’s excited about heading to Beijing to see his wife compete.

Lopes-Schliep will run her first race on Aug. 17 and Schliep said on that day, it will be OK for UNMC Olympic fans to lend their allegiances to the Canadians — if only for 12.60 seconds.

“It would be really special to see her on the medal stand,” Schliep said.