SO YOU WANT TO BE IN THE OLYMPICS?Byline: Tom Hoffarth Staff Writer There's the kid with the orange vest in the supermarket parking lot trying to maneuver a wobbly line of shopping carts back through the double- glass doors. Future bobsled pusher pusher Drug slang 1. A person who sells drugs, especially the 'heavies'–eg, heroin 2. A metal hanger or umbrella rod used to scrape residue in crack stems . The mechanic changing the oil rolls out from under the car on the dolly to grab a filter wrench from his tool box. Possible luge luge (l  zh), a type of small sled on which one or two persons, lying face up, slide feet first down snowy hillsides or down steeply banked, curving, iced chutes similar to those used in racer. The fellas at the car wash are working the window squeegees at a frenzied pace. Potential curling champions. Watch enough of Winter Olympics night after night after night on TV the past two weeks, and you can make the connections easily. So the next step is to actually watch it happen. In this can-do culture of instant-gratification thrill-seekers, what's to stop anyone with some crazy dream from climbing up on the medal stand in 2006 somewhere in Italy to accept a gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize ? Plenty, of course. But if the bug to compete bites deep enough, and you've got an imagination to go with a commitment to practice and possibly relocate, the odds are pretty sweet finding one of the 15 Winter Games
Figure skating figure skating Sport in which ice skaters, singly or in pairs, perform various jumps, spins, and footwork. The figure skate blade has a special serrated toe pick, or toe rake, at the front. and hockey have the current glamour appeal, but there are other activities with a faster track to medal success. It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to pick your passion: SPEEDSKATING Apolo Anton Ohno Apolo Anton Ohno (born on May 22, 1982) is an American short track speed skating competitor and a two-time gold medalist in the Winter Olympics. He also competed in and won the reality TV show, Dancing with the Stars in 2007. , Derek Parra Derek Parra (born March 15, 1970) is a Mexican-American speed skater from San Bernardino, California who won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Parra was originally a world champion inline speed skater. and Jennifer Rodriguez Jennifer Rodriguez (born June 8, 1976 in Miami, FL) is a Cuban-American speed skater. She started her career as an artistic roller skater, winning multiple national championships and placing second and third at world championships. all started as inline roller skaters The following is a list of notable roller skaters. The list is sorted by roller skating disciplines (inline speed skating, roller inline hockey, downhill, artistic roller skating), gender and competing nationality. before making the switch. Their multimedal successes, as well as their inspiration for minority involvement, will pay off huge for the sport in the coming years. ``But what a lot of people don't realize is you have to completely leave inline and focus on the ice because of the technique training,'' said four-time U.S. Olympian Eric Flaim Eric Joseph Flaim (born 9 March 1967 in Pembroke, Massachusetts, United States) is a former US speed skater. Biography Eric Flaim started in short track speed skating, but then, like many short track speed skaters before and after him, switched to long track speed skating. , who also began as an inline skater but moved from Boston to Milwaukee at age 14 to train. Crossover from hockey and figure skating also gives the sport willing participants. Flaim, a hockey-player convert as well, estimates 70 to 80 percent of speedskaters started in another sport but liked the appeal of something without judging and that's more individual. Flaim has been involved in recruiting through the U.S. Speed Skating speed skating Sport of racing on ice skates. The blade of the speed skate is longer and thinner than that of the hockey or figure skate. Two types of track are used in international competition. Association, which also has a Web site called tryspeedskating.com to encourage participation with school-aged kids. What Ohno and Parra proved these past two weeks is that you don't have to be tall or necessarily young to succeed in either short- or long-track. And Ohno, a Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. coverboy, has made short-track much more exciting for TV exposure, Flaim agrees. ``But the downside is that it's unpredictable,'' Flaim said. But the upside, if you're the lucky Aussie, is laying back and waiting for everyone to wipe out so you can coast in for a gold. SKELETON The sport that came back to the Games after a 56-year absence is the one everyone predicts will be the most popular winter event by 2010. ``It's the only thing a kid can watch on TV and envision himself doing with a flexible flyer out in the backyard,'' said John Morgan John Morgan is a common name, especially in Wales, UK. Well-known people with this name include: Per profession
Added skeleton analyst Mary Carillo Mary Carillo (born March 15, 1957 in Queens, New York) is an American writer, sports commentator, and former tennis player. Carillo served as a reporter for CBS Sports' coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games and as a reporter for the network's coverage of NCAA during NBC's coverage: ``Of all the sports kids are watching these Winter Games, skeleton has to be the most easy to imitate. Things occur to children. So mom, dad, granny, if you have any household items that are roughly this shape (of a sled) and have no steering mechanisms, put them away. If you have an hors d'oeuvres tray, they'll have a dream.'' Athletes here come from many areas and backgrounds. Lea Ann Parsley, who won the women's silver, was a basketball and javelin champ who also did high jumping at Marshall University On March 30, 1838, the institution was formally dedicated by the Virginia General Assembly as Marshall Academy, however the majority of its offerings remained below the college level. In 1858, the Virginia General Assembly changed the name to Marshall College. . She actually led the nation with 92 percent free-throw percentage as a senior. She made the conversion here, too. There's even a ready-made Hollywood story that didn't have a Hollywood ending. Yet. Chris Soule Chris Soule (born February 5, 1973) is an American skeleton racer who competed from 1993 to 2006. He won two medals in the men's skeleton event at the FIBT World Championships with a silver in 2003 and a bronze in 1997. , a novice in the sport who volunteered as a stunt man four years ago on the Demi Moore's film ``G.I. Jane,'' asked to fly down an old bobsled track in Lake Placid Lake Placid, village (1990 pop. 2,485), Essex co., NE N.Y.; settled 1850, inc. 1900. In the Adirondack Mts. at an altitude of 1,800 ft (549 m), the village surrounds Mirror Lake. It is a famous resort and sports center. , N.Y. That hooked him to jump right into training. A gold-medal favorite coming to Salt Lake City, he finished seventh in the men's event this past week behind gold medalist Jim Shea Jr. BOBSLED A recent poll on ESPN.com asked: Which Olympic sport would you most like to try? Bobsled was the most popular (37 percent, ahead of ``The one with rifles,'' which got 22 percent). Bobsled drew the most attention several Olympics ago when it openly recruited big-name football and track athletes - remember Herschel Walker Herschel Walker (born March 3, 1962 in Wrightsville, Georgia) is a former professional American football player in the United States Football League and the National Football League. and Willie Gault Willie James Gault (born September 5, 1960 in Griffin, Georgia) is a former American football wide receiver and Olympic athlete. Gault played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders. ? There wasn't an immediate payoff. But it did work. Vonetta Flowers Vonetta Flowers (born Vonetta Jeffery on October 29, 1973 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American bobsledder and athlete. Flowers was a star sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and originally aspired to make the U.S. Summer Olympic Team. , who became the first black to win Winter gold, was an All-American track star at the University of Alabama The University of Alabama (also known as Alabama, UA or colloquially as 'Bama) is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship campus of the University of Alabama System. . She answered a want ad placed by veteran Bonny Warner at the 2000 Olympic Track and Field Trials in Sacramento. ``I had no idea how to do it,'' Flowers admitted then. ``It was like a joke to me.'' After her gold, Flowers has a new outlook. ``I hope this encourages other African-American boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. to give it a try,'' she said. ``We need to make it more of an awareness to inner-city kids because a lot of the (winter sports winter sports: see bobsledding; curling; hockey, ice; ice dancing; ice skating; skiing; snowshoes; tobogganing. ) are not available to them.'' The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation team will help with that. It maintains a Web site that explains everything, starting with a membership application, a $30 fee and proof of health insurance before you're sent to a tryout camp. Everyone has to pass a series of six physical tests proving ability to sprint, jump, push, bench press and shot put. Newcomers all start as sled pushers, which requires explosive strength and speed. ``Decathletes are the athletes of choice because, while most track people are in shape, it's a long season in cold weather and the mental toughness is key,'' said NBC's Morgan, a former U.S. Bobsled executive director. Morgan laments the ``biggest detriment'' to the advancement of the sport - the fact that the 1960 Squaw Valley Games didn't include bobsled. Organizers failed to build a track in time. ``Imagine how we could have had all the wacko Californians from the '60s putting down their surfboards to try the original extreme sport,'' Morgan said. Only three bobsled tracks exist in the U.S. But even without a run - or snow - Southern Californians could follow the example of the Jamaicans, who used second-hand sleds with wheels to train. ``Those guys from Jamaica could pass our trials test,'' Morgan said. ``They aren't just Olympic tourists.'' LUGE You won't be rich or famous here. Most past the age of 15 aren't even considered trainable. And again, there are only three tracks in the U.S. worth using. ``But when you see a kid start without any leashes or safety nets and they feel they're in control, their personality comes out and it's an amazing character builder,'' said Duncan Kennedy, the former Olympian and most decorated luger Lu·ger n. A German semiautomatic pistol introduced before World War I and widely used by German troops in World War II. [Originally a trademark.] Noun 1. in U.S. history with 21 World Cup medals. Kennedy, forced to retire because of injury in 1997, devotes his time to the sport as a development coach. His focus is the traveling recruiting program for kids ages 10 to 14. The clinic was scheduled to come to L.A. last fall before being postponed because of the Sept. 11 tragedy. Kennedy said as many as 1,000 kids become involved every summer with the clinics, and some get in through clubs, too. ``There are all body types, a lot of crossover from other sliding sports,'' he said. ``But kids go through so many changes that it's tough to hang onto them with so many other things going on.'' A perfect sunny-weather training complement would seem to be the street luge (also known as the road luge or land luge). One of sport's pioneers is Northridge's Bob Pereyra, who was part of the first Extreme Games in 1995. Not so, says Kennedy. ``A lot of people try to draw parallels, but they're completely different, just from sheer physics,'' Kennedy said. SKI JUMPING Two U.S. men are on the World Cup circuit and both made the five-man Olympic team for the Americans. But the problem again is finding a place to train. There are only three large hills in the country for this sport - Utah, Lake Placid and Steamboat Springs, Colo., plus a smaller jumping hill in Iron Mountain, Mich. Brendan Doran, born in Long Beach, got his family to move from Big Bear Lake to Steamboat Springs in 1990 so he could pursue a career. ``If you're not from one of those regions, or if your parents aren't willing to move to those areas, there's little chance you'll excel at ski jumping,'' U.S. jumper Alan Alborn told the Miami Herald. ``And you can't even buy equipment here. I have to order everything from Europe.'' Women's ski jumping exists but not on the Olympic level, so there's another door waiting to be pushed wide open. OTHER EVENTS X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. athletes in snowboard and freestyle skiing are producing the newest obvious wave of Olympic hopefuls. For some, a medal at the X Games is even more meaningful. Kelly Clark, the first American to win gold at Salt Lake City, also won the gold at the Winter X Games VI in snowboarding superpipe in Aspen, Colo., just a few weeks earlier. Consider that the X Games bronze medalist, Fabienne Reuteler of Switzerland, was only sixth at the Winter Games. In the biathlon biathlon (bīăth`lŏn), sport in which cross-country skiers race across hilly terrain, occasionally stopping to shoot with rifles at sets of fixed targets. The biathlon features the 10-km (6. , the shooting aspect does have an appeal, aside from the freeway road-rage angle. But there's also the skiing element that might discourage a local from trying. ``We don't discriminate if there's a truly great athlete in great cardio shape who's in the 18-to-24 age range,'' said Jerry Kokesh, the U.S. Biathlon Association's director of development. ``The warmer climates do have the summer biathlon programs available - and we've had races in Southern California - but we're in Vermont, and most of the athletes reside in the area because of the coaching.'' And then there's bridge. Yes, the game with cards. They're talking about making that a Winter Olympic medal event. Is the deck stacked against you? FOR MORE INFORMATION U.S. Olympic Committee Based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Phone: (719) 632-5551 Web site: www.usolympicteam.com Information: Media(at)usoc.org Also: Lake Placid Olympic Training Center: (518) 523-2600 U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation Based in Lake Placid, N.Y. Executive director: Matthew Roy Phone: (518) 523-1842 Web sites: www.usabobsled.org and www.usbsf.com E-mail: info(at)usbsf.com U.S. Luge Association Based in Lake Placid, N.Y. Executive director: Ron Rossi Phone: (518) 523-2071 Web site: www.usaluge.org E-mail: info(at)usaluge.org U.S. Curling Association Based in Stevens Point, Wis. Executive director: David Garber Phone: (715) 344-1199 Web site: www.usacurl.org E-mail: curling(at)kodiaks.net Also: U.S. Women's Curling Association (www.uswca.org) U.S. Skiing Association Based in Park City, Utah Park City is a city located in Summit County, Utah, United States. It is one of two major resort towns in Utah, the other being Moab. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back and a part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Includes Alpine skiing, freestyle, snowboarding, cross country and ski jumping Executive director: Bill Marlot Phone: (435) 649-9090 Web site: www.usskiteam.com E-mail: special2(at)ussa.org U.S. Speed Skating Association Based in Westlake, Ohio Executive director: Katie Marquard Phone: (440) 899-0128 Web site: www.usspeedskating.org Also: www.tryspeedskating.com U.S. Biathlon Association Based in Colchester, Vt. Executive director: Stephen R. Sands Phone: (800) 242-8456, (802) 654-7833 Web site: www.usbiathlon.org E-mail: usbiathlon(at)aol.com U.S. Figure Skating U.S. Figure Skating (USFS), officially called the United States Figure Skating Association or USFSA, is the national sport governing body for figure skating in the United States. Association Based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Executive director: John LeFevre Phone: (719) 655-5200 Web site: www.usfsa.org E-mail: usfsa(at)usfsa.org USA Hockey Based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Executive director: Doug Palazzari Phone: (719) 576-8724 Web site: www.usahockey.com E-mail: usah(at)usahockey.org ALSO: The U.S. Olympic Education Center, co-funded by the USOC, is at Northern Michigan University This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. in Marquette, Mich. It offers training and educational opportunities for athletes in biathlon, natural luge, short-track speedskating and ski jumping. Contact: pmjanksowski(at)aol.com. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) SPEEDSKATING: Many of the U.S. speedskaters started out as inline roller skaters, not too much different from cruising down the boardwalk at Venice Beach. Doug Mills/Associated Press (2) SKELETON: Lea Ann Parsley, who won the silver in women's skeleton in Salt Lake City, formerly was a college basketball and track standout. Elise Amendola/Associated Press Box: FOR MORE INFORMATION (see text) |
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