SOLDIERS AND ARMY FAMILY MEMBERS HIT OLYMPIC HEIGHTS DOWN UNDER.

When the 700-member U.S. Olympic Team marched into the stadium for the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 15, two Army wives and 15 soldiers were among them.

They carried with them the hopes and cheers of their families, friends, coaches, and the entire United States Army 

Of the 77 active duty soldiers who spent two years training under the auspices of the Army's World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson, Colo., 56 qualified for the Olympic Trials, a new record after the program reorganized in 1994. Paulette Freese, chief of WCAP in the U.S. Army's Community and Family Support Center's Soldier and Family Support Directorate, was excited about that increase.

"It's fantastic, not only because the numbers are higher than they were in 1996, but also because it is much more difficult to get soldiers onto the Olympic team now," she said.

She explained that with more countries wanting to compete there was not enough time or space for all, qualifying for some sports, like boxing, was done by hemisphere. Those tougher standards and fewer berths on the team means the WCAP soldiers who became part of the U.S. team heading to the Olympics were the best of the best, but that's no surprise to those who know the program.

"The program is the epitome of all the Army Sports programs. It gives soldiers in the field something to aspire to. Sports directors operating programs and facilities Army-wide identify many of the WCAP members," said Col. Jeanne Picariello, director of CFSC's Soldier and Family Support Directorate, under which WCAP falls.

Even though WCAP members train year round, they are still soldiers first, Picariello said. They are always ready to revert to their tactical mission, remaining current in their military occupations and pursuing academic goals along with athletic training.

Those athletes who did not qualify for the Olympics returned to their Army duties. Some may reapply for the program in two years to prepare for 2004.

"They're fantastic soldiers. You want every single soldier in the program to make the U.S. Olympic Team. But unfortunately, it just doesn't happen that way," said Freese.

It was Army spouses who brought home gold -- the first and last medals of the games. On Sept. 16, Nancy Johnson, wife of Staff Sgt. Kenneth Johnson, Army Marksmanship Unit, won gold in the 10-meter air rifle; and on Sept. 30, La Tasha Colander Richardson, wife of Army 2nd Lt. Roderick Richardson, Fort Bragg, N.C. anchored the women's 4 X 400 relay to bring home the last of the United States' 39 gold medals. (The spouses train on their own and are not members of WCAP.)

After the Games and before returning to their military units, soldiers who qualified for the Olympic trials and the three Army athletes and two Olympic team staff members who made the U.S. team took time to help the Army recruit future soldiers, traveling on behalf of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, talking to elementary, middle and high school students, and giving clinics.

During their visits the three Army World Class Athletes shared exciting stories from Sydney, using their achievements to convey messages about hard work, goals, and values such as courage, honor, duty, loyalty, and integrity.

[The 10 Olympic shooters who are stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., belong to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Sgt. 1st Class James "Todd" Graves won a bronze medal in skeet shooting. Members of the Army Marksmanship Unit also visit schools and Reserve Officer Training Corps units, holding safety clinics and giving demonstrations.]

Despite years of training and drawers full of medals from countless national, international and world championships, the chance for Olympic gold always comes down to one brief moment. For the three WCAP athletes who made it to Olympic heights this year, those moments were shining but not golden. The stories from Sydney follow.

STAFF SGT. OLANDA ANDERSON BOXING

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. That's all that was left to reflect on after the Czech Republic's Rudolf Kraj burst Staff Sgt. Olanda Anderson's Olympic bubble Sept. 24 with a 13-12 squeaker of an upset.

Anderson, who drew a first-round bye, never got comfortable in the ring and never round his rhythm. A 6-foot-2-inch, 178-pounder with a 72-inch reach, the Sumter, S.C., native was taller and stronger, but never delivered that final flurry of punches as the clock wound down.

The 27-year-old five-time Armed Forces champion was miffed at letting his biggest day slip away.

`I'm very disappointed," he said. "I can't believe that I lost in the second round. I'm much better than that. What can I say?"

Despite his disappointment with his Olympic performance, Anderson had still thanked his lucky stars he got that opportunity. The four-rime Army and Armed Forces champion thought his Olympic time had come and gone after losing a spot on the U.S. boxing team at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Connecticut in February. Anderson, 178 pounds, lost in back-to-back defeats at the hands of Michael Simms.

But USA boxing coach Tom Mustin told Anderson to report to the Olympic Training Center as Simms' alternate anyway because, as Mustin said: "It ain't over 'til it's over."

Even though he felt discouraged, Anderson was soon to discover returning to the OTC was the best thing that could have happened. When the Team USA door slammed on Simms in early April because of disciplinary problems, it opened for Anderson. At the America's Olympic Boxing Qualifier III in Tijuana, Mexico, just a few days later, Anderson's Olympic dream was resurrected when he won three straight matches.

When if finally sunk in that he was really an Olympian at last, Anderson said, "I feel blessed. If feels good being an Olympian. I think it was meant for me to be on the team."

SPC. DAWN BURRELL TRACK AND FIELD/LONG JUMP

Spc. Dawn Burrell's four grueling years of leaping into sandpits ended in a pool of tears at Olympic Stadium in September.

After recording the fourth-longest qualifying jump during the first round of the Olympic women's long jump finals, Burrell failed to reach the second round, fouling her first two attempts and unable to make the needed distance in her final jump.

"The wind was terrible, and I just didn't do what if took," Burrell, the 1999 USA Outdoor champion, explained as tears poured down her cheeks. "I tried to regroup, but if just didn't work. Physically, I ... felt great. It was just a matter of the wind and me not being able to handle the wind. This was my fault today. I wasn't focused enough on the wind conditions, and I made a mistake. I made a mistake."

Still under the emotional strain, perhaps the last thing Burrell wanted to address was U.S. Army support. Yet, she did.

"The World Class Athlete Program is a very good program for athletes. They've taken a lot of the financial stress and burden off of my training and tried to help me become an Olympic-caliber athlete. I'm really appreciative of everything they've done for me."

That included helping her train to join the likes of long jumpers Marion Jones and Jackie Joyner-Kersee at the 2000 Olympic Track and Field Trials in Sacramento, Calif. July 14-23.

Burrell became the fourth WCAP soldier to qualify for the 2000 U.S. Olympic team at those trials. Her final 22'10.50" long jump clinched her second place finish at the trials and a berth on the U.S. Olympic track and field team. Jones jumped just two inches farther at 23'00.50.

Burrell is the sister of world-class sprinter Leroy Burrell, a former Olympian and 100-meter world record holder (1990).

"The WCAP [gave] her the opportunity to make the team. Dawn learned discipline while in the military," he said. "I hope the [WCAP] program stays and grows, and I hope what happened to my sister can happen for others."

The 27-year-old Pennsylvania native, who enlisted in 1997, said: "I know I've been blessed with a talent and I should be the best I can be. The WCAP has allowed me to be independent; it has made a difference. I was an athlete before the military. You can serve your country and athletics at the same time."

SPC. CHAD SENIOR MODERN PENTATHLON 

"For want of a horse, the rider is lost." That old saying held true Sept. 30 when a horse named Riverina refused to clear three jumps with Spc. Chad Senior aboard in the fourth of the rive disciplines that make up modern pentathlon: shooting, fencing, running, swimming and riding.

"The horse killed my day -- killed my last four years," said Senior, after he finished an emotionally-draining 3,000-meter cross country run during which he felt gold dissolving into a crushing sixth-place finish. He entered the event ranked third in the world and led the 23 pentathletes by 39 points after the shooting, fencing and swimming events.

Both American male modern pentathletes finished in the top 10, and an American won silver in the first-ever women's modern pentathlon.

"It's never good enough unless we win everything; that's how we have to think as athletes, coaches and team leaders, but I am extremely proud of the team and the way they all performed," said Capt. Jim Gregory team leader and first alternate.

Senior had entered the Olympics ranked third in the world in the modern pentathlon.

A swim champion at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Senior looked at his options after graduating in 1997: "I thought I could either [train for the Olympics] on my own, or for the Army," he said when asked why he tried out for WCAP. "If I did if on my own, all I'd have left after the Olympics is four years of training as an athlete. Being in the Army helps your future."

In the 18 months of training and competition leading up to the Olympics, Senior earned four individual and two team gold medals in a sport that requires consistently high scores in all rive events.

When he won at the World Cup #1 Olympic Qualifier in Mexico City March 12, he was the first American to take an individual Modern Pentathlon World cup gold medal since 1979.

Now that his Olympic competition is over for the time being, Senior's future includes Airborne Ranger training and acceptance to the Army's Officer Candidate School.

SGT. KEITH SIERACKI WRESTLING

Greco-Roman wrestler Sgt. Keith Sieracki had earned a berth on the U.S. Olympic wrestling team during the June Olympic trials by defeating four-time world champion Matt Lindland. By Sydney never happened for Sieracki. He watched from home as Lindland won silver in the 167.5-pound weight class. Lindland protested his defeat in June, disputing the outcome and eventually sending the issue to the federal courts, resulting in a heart-breaking off-mat defeat for the Wisconsin native.

The 27-year-old military policeman began wrestling in grade school and competed in middle school through high school, joining the Army right after graduation. He loves the sport because: "you get credit for winning, and you have no one else to blame but yourself when you lose."

Sieracki, whose brother, Aaron, wrestles for the Air Force, can credit himself with many wins including several consecutive All-Army and Armed Forces championships, a 1996 national championship and selection as a 1996 Olympic alternate.

"Regardless of the outcomes, these World Class Athletes represented the United States Army and their country at the highest level in their individual sport," said Freese. "They did everything they were trained to do, and for the rest of their lives, they can say proudly, `I was an Olympian.'"

Army World Class Athlete Program

SOLDIERS WHO QUALIFIED FOR THE 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES (AND TRAVELED TO SYDNEY)

Boxing

Staff Sgt. Olanda Anderson, light heavy-weight 178 lbs.

Staff Sgt. Basheer Abdullah, Team USA staff: High Performance Coordinator

Modern Pentathlon

Spc. Chad Senior

Capt. Jim Gregory, first alternate and Team USA team leader

Track and Field

Spc. Dawn Burrell, Women's Long Jump

Wrestling (alternates)

Spc. Michael VanArsdale, Freestyle, 85kg

Spc. Mujaahd Maynard, Greco-Roman, 58kg

SOLDIERS ON THE U.S. OLYMPIC SHOOTING TEAM (NOT WCAP MEMBERS)

Army Marksmanship Unit (Fort Benning, Ga.)

1. Sgt. Jason A. Parker, 26; Air Rifle

2. Staff Sgt. Kenneth A. Johnson, 31; Air Rifle

3. Sgt. 1st Class Thomas A. Tamas, 35; Free Rifle Prone

4. Maj. Michael E. Anti, 35; Free Rifle Three Position

5. Sgt. 1st Class James T. Graves, 37; Skeet 

6. Sgt. Michael E. Schmidt Jr., 42; Skeet

7. Spc. William H. Keever, 24; Double Trap

8. Sgt. 1st Class Lance D. Dement; Running Target

9. Sgt. 1st Class Daryl L. Szarenski, 32; Free Pistol

10-11. Capt. Glenn A. Dubis, 41; Free Rifle Prone & Free Rifle Three Position

SOLDIERS WHO QUALIFIED FOR U.S. NATIONAL TEAMS [BUT DID NOT TRAVEL TO SYDNEY]

Boxing

Sgt. Deandry Abron, 2nd alternate, 178 lbs.

Sgt. James Webb, 2nd alternate, 147 lbs.

Modern Pentathlon

Spc. Brett Weatherbie, 2nd alternate

Wrestling

Staff Sgt. Shon Lewis, 2nd alternate, 63kg, Greco-Roman

Spc. Rex Holman, 2nd alternate, 97kg, Freestyle

About the Army World Class Athlete Program

* The Army's World Class Athlete Program is an Army morale, welfare, recreation program that identifies exceptional soldier-athletes, (including members of the Reserve Component) and provides them the opportunity to compete in national and international events that lead to qualifying for the United States Olympic team.

* A soldier selected for the WCAP has attained a national ranking from the governing body of his chosen sport and has been certified world class level by the United States Olympic Committee.

* Participants in the WCAP balance their athletic training with their military career requirements; they must maintain military occupational skills, attend collage or university, and are expected to represent the Army in an exemplary manner.

* WCAP soldiers support the U.S. Army Recruiting Command mission by conducting clinics and making appearances at high schools and colleges. By doing so, they also provide positive role models for peer groups and youth while enhancing soldiers' and public's pride in America's armed forces.

* Through Army funding, WCAP soldier-athletes receive the best possible coaching, access to training venues, and state-of-the-art sports medicine, as well as opportunities to participate in top national and international competitions including the Goodwill Games, the Pan American Games, and national governing body amateur championships.

* The WCAP benefits the Army by

-- reinforcing a image of the Army

-- providing Army athletes with national visibility

-- recognizing outstanding soldier-athletes

-- establishing a standard of excellence all soldiers can strive for.

* Soldiers are accepted into the WCAP for a period of 2-3 years leading up to the Olympic Games (summer or winter). After the Olympics, the majority of soldiers return to normal duties in their military occupation.

* The WCAP originated in 1978 as a part of the Army Sports program. In 1994, the WCAP program was formally established, and the WCAP detachment was activated in 1997 as a permanent unit housed at Fort Carson, Colo.

* Soldiers have competed in the Olympics since before World War I (in 1912, 2nd Lt. George S. Patton competed in the modern pentathlon and placed fifth). In 1948, Congress enacted Public Law 11, which set forth the principle that no outstanding athlete should be denied the opportunity to represent the United States in the Olympic games and other major international sports events simply because he was in the military service. The law also stated that every qualified individual be given the opportunity to try out for national teams, and, if selected, be permitted to participate in competition.

* Since 1948, 362 Army Olympians captured 102 medals in a variety of sports from hockey to track and field, rowing and shooting to boxing.

* Since 1948, 155 soldiers have been selected to U.S. Winter Olympic teams. The only medals won have been in ice hockey. In 1956, the U.S. team took silver with rive soldiers. In 1960, two soldiers were on the team that took gold, and in 1972 there were rive soldiers on the team that took silver.

* In 1994, rive soldiers were on the men's and women's biathlon teams that competed at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

* In 1996, 14 World Class Athletes were selected for the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. They competed in wrestling, team handball, shooting, and basketball. [Basketball gold medalist Ruthie Bolton was an Army Reservist at the time.]

* At the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, eight Army World Class Athletes competed: three bobsledders and rive biathletes.

* At the 1999 Pan American Games, WCAP athletes medaled in wrestling, boxing, modern pentathlon, and decathlon.

* Since 1995, WCAP soldiers have won 604 medals in national and international competitions -- 168 of them in 2000 alone (to date).

* Seventy seven soldiers trained for the 2000 Summer Olympic games. Of those, 56 (73 percent) qualified for Olympic Trials. Three made the team; eight were alternates. The Army's boxing coach Staff. Sgt. Basheer Abdullah served on the U.S. Olympic Boxing team as high performance coordinator and Capt. Jim Gregory served as the U.S. Olympic Modern Pentathlon team leader.

* Eighty two percent of funding for the World Class Athlete Program is from sources other than taxpayer dollars. Annual taxpayer expense is less than $300,000 for this program.

The Sport of Modern Pentathlon

BY H. E. RICE

The most perfect sportsmen, therefore, are the pentathletes, because their body strength and speed are combined in perfect harmony. -- Artistotle

As early as 1850 BC, ancient civilizations were the first to perfect physical activities such as swimming, archery, hand-to-hand fighting, and arms drills. The "Pentathlete" was introduced at the 18th Games in 708 BC when the sport consisted of running, jumping, discus throw, javelin throw, and wrestling. The event represented the climax of the Games, and the winner, who received the title of "victor ludorum," had to declaim a poem in front of the spectators.

Today's sport of modern pentathlon was conceived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics movement. In the spirit of the ancient sport, but also capturing the military skills required of a Napoleonic soldier-messenger, the contemporary sport consists of pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding, and running. All five events are held on the same day, requiring athletes to demonstrate great mental endurance and physical stamina.

Modern pentathlon made its Olympic debut in 1912 at the 5th Olympiad, Stockholm, Sweden, where 26-year-old Army Lieutenant George S. Patton placed fifth behind gold medalist Gosta Lillienhook of Sweden. It was Patton's poor marksmanship that cost him a trip to podium -- he was 21st out of 32 in the shooting event. The first American to medal in the sport was Richard Mayo, who took a bronze in the 1932 Games.

Pentathletes score points in each event based on a standard performance rating of 1,000 points. The winner is the individual who amasses the most points during the day. Shooting is the first event of the day, when the resting heart rate is slower and the hand is steadier. Air pistols are used to tire 20 consecutive shots at a target measuring 155mm in diameter 10 meters away. The shooters have 40 seconds in which to tire each shot; a bullseye is worth 10 points.

Next, competitors put on the white fencing uniform to fence every other competitor using an epee. The objective is to score a hit in one minute; the first person to score at hit wins. The scoring is electronic; a hit from the "loaded" epee anywhere on the opponent's uniform causes a light to come on.

The swim is a 300-meter freestyle race against the clock.

In the riding event, the competitors draw lots for their horses, then have 20 minutes to warm up with rive practice jumps allowed.

The athletes ride the unfamiliar horses over a 350-meter course with 12 show-jump obstacles including a double and a triple fence. The objective is a perfect score: the fastest run with no time penalties and no faults.

Finally, the run is a 4,000-meter race with a staggered start. The provisionally ranked number one competitor starts first, followed several seconds later by the second ranked competitor, and so on.

[Source: International Modern Pentathlon and Biathlon Union, U.S. Modern Pentathlon Association]

Celebrating 225 Years of Boosting Troop Morale

When I think about the Army's 225th birthday, I am reminded how far back the roots of morale, welfare and recreation go. I think about those cold, hungry, ragged soldiers at Valley Forge and what "morale" must have meant to them. There were no fitness centers or theme restaurants. There weren't even enough boots or blankets. Most of them hadn't eaten a good meal or drunk a tankard of ale in weeks. But there was the fife and drum corps for morale.

And elsewhere behind the lines, history tells us Revolutionary War soldiers found the energy to sing, gamble, stage skits and play practical jokes. Anything to get their minds off the horrors of battle and the boredom of waiting.

Then I think about the blue and gray soldiers in the Civil War. There was a lot of suffering and death, but there were also a few more distractions to sustain morale: minstrel shows, chess, woodcarving, foot and horse races, dice, poetry, books and newspapers, cards, sports, the Sutler's store, and even teas and balls hosted by local citizens.

In the 20th century, when it came time to train thousands and thousands of young man for service in World War I, Dr. Raymond Fosdick, commissioner of Training Camp Activities for Secretary of War Newton Baker under President Woodrow Wilson, wrote: "Morale is as important as ammunition and is just as legitimate a charge against the public treasury." That was 1919.

Then I think about the doughboys across the pond on the front lines in France, where Salvation Army sisters responded to a homesick, wet, cold Arkansas soldier's wish for a fresh doughnut to go with his hot coffee. Yes, those Salvation Army sisters, who baked fresh donuts using scrounged ingredients and a jerry-rigged stove, were the original "Doughnut Dollies."

This caring for and responding to the morale needs of soldiers was formally institutionalized in 1940, and in 1941, President Roosevelt instructed the War Department to employ 100 Army hostesses to staff allied leave centers in the Caribbean and Europe.

When troops went into action in Korea, Army Service Clubs staffed by young women were authorized to operate in a combat zone for the first time. In Vietnam, a full complement of programs staffed by several hundred collage graduates (coed) as well as active-duty soldiers in Special Services military occupational specialties supported our troops.

Then I think about the 6,000 or so soldiers keeping the peace downrange and the MWR specialists carrying on that proud tradition, not just in Hungary, Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo, but here at home and all over the world wherever there are soldiers and families.

Morale -- the Army's secret ingredient for 225 years -- and our mission. Now that's something to celebrate! -- Harriet Rice

Harriet Rice, the public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Community & Family Support Center at Fort Belvoir, Va., began her 33-year Army morale, welfare, and recreation career as a recreation specialist for Special Services Service Clubs in Germany. She, along with Tim Hipps, an award-winning sports and staff writer for the Fort Belvoir Eagle, were contracted to report on Army athletes at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Their article, "Soldiers and Army Family Members Hit Olympic Heights Down Under," begins on page 48.