Apolo's Stats

[sintha]

true true Cali.G!!

[sintha]

HEre's another article...

No vacancy
By MERI-JO BORZILLERI - THE GAZETTE

Elite athletes sometimes don’t receive top priority for competition venues or beds at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

On Friday, the nation’s best female wrestlers will use a local high school gym for the world team trials, one of the year’s biggest domestic competitions.

A month later, the under-20 women’s national basketball team, prepping for the world championships in the thin air of Mexico City, will train in California instead of at altitude in Colorado Springs.

Both events were shut out because they made late requests for summer, the busiest time of the year for the training center.

The Olympic Training Center isn’t just for Olympians, who might find playing space — or beds — filled by youths aiming for the 2012 Games, or beyond, rather than Beijing in 2008.

Shouldn’t top teams receive first dibs? They do, under a system that allows Olympians and world teams to reserve spots up to a year in advance. National teams receive six months.

But USA Wrestling was forced to rent gym space from Colorado Springs Christian School after a World Cup event was moved, resulting in a conflict. By the time it requested space, it was given to the women’s U-18 World Championship qualifying tournament.

Basketball didn’t ask until April, a few weeks after the OTC committed to national and junior national volleyball camps.

“It’s unfortunate and a little bit unusual,” said Mike English, managing director of Olympic training centers. “We really make extra effort to try to build the process so things like this don’t happen.”

Summer occupancy rates hover at about 90 percent in the 491-bed facility, compared with an annual rate of 72 percent.

Training centers are the U.S. Olympic Committee’s biggest expense, accounting for $22.9 million of the $116.7 million budget in 2005.

The center in Colorado Springs is one of three nationwide — Lake Placid, N.Y., and Chula Vista, Calif., are the others — that house, feed and provide training facilities for Olympic hopefuls.

The facilities are central to a longrunning debate at the USOC — with many Olympians training on their own or with clubs, are training centers worth the expense?

“There is no debate within our board or within our staff that we wish to get out of the training-center business,” said Jim Scherr, USOC chief executive and former training-center resident. “We are looking and will continue to look for ways to make our centers more efficient.”

The USOC has gotten more openminded when it comes to where its athletes train. The organization has designated training sites in various cities and funded athletes who choose to work out at universities and private facilities.

Short-track speedskater Apolo Ohno, who won five medals in two Olympics, has been the most prominent athlete in residence here. But he’s the exception among approximately 10,000 athletes who will use the training center in 2006.

“We’re seeing more and more use of the training center in general,” English said. “We’re seeing worldwide trends on centralized training.”

Wrestling will pay as much as $3,000 to hold its world team trials off-site. The training center would have been free.

Lots of people still don’t know women’s wrestling, which made its Olympic debut in 2004, is an Olympic sport, said national champion Sally Roberts. A low-profile world team trials doesn’t help.

“When we have it at a high school it’s kind of a bummer deal,” she said. “At the same time, we’ll take what we can get and make the best of it.”

USA U-20 basketball coach Joanne P. McCallie has a similar take.

“It’s not going to mess up our preparation in any way,” she said. “Yes, we’d like to be there, but we’re not disappointed we’re not there. We’ll take whatever we can.”

USA Wrestling’s Mitch Hull isn’t complaining about the extra expense. The OTC will provide meal passes for wrestlers to eat at the center’s popular cafeteria and will help with transportation and set-up.

“You have to recognize they can’t take care of everybody all the time,” he said. “We certainly use that training center extensively. When there are times it doesn’t work exactly the way you want, you work with them.”

Training centers provide little revenue if any, English said. But that’s not the point.

“That’s not the primary reason we have the training center. It’s to train athletes.”

[Krysten]

Thanks for posting the article Sintha!

[sintha]

yup yup! No problem. Hopefully they get this issue solved.

[jay]

www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakerbio/Apolo_Ohno.php

i don't know but i found out this is cool

[peggy]

I WENT TO THE LINK YOU POSTED AND STARTED TO READ ABOUT APOLO THERE. SEEMS THAT
THEY SHOULD TAKE UP "MOTIVATIONAL WRITING/SPELLING". DIDN'T LOOK VERY PROFESSIONAL. AND IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN, THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER SITES WHERE HE
IS LISTED FOR SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS. (PLEASE CHECK ME FOR TYPOS!!!!)

[Krysten]

Thanks for that site Jay.