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The United States Olympic Training Centres

Gayle Plant

V/7/,v arlicle on the Olympic Training Centre In Colorado Springs, one of the three OTCs in ihe United States, continues the series of reporis ou insiiiuiions that provide a service for coaches, alhletes and sport scienllsls. This cenire is principally a training centre for athletes selected hy the various Naiional Governing Bodies: bolh lop class alhletes and young people who are likely to become the world class competitors of the future. %•

Gayle Plani is Senior Coordinator of the ÜSOC Public Information and Media Relations.

"To become an Olympian requires total commiiment of mind, body and spirit, and it requires it over a long period of lime. There are many youngsters I know in the United Stales who do have that commitment. All they need is someone to nourish il", says United States Olympic Com­mittee Secretary General George Miller.

Nourishing athletes' dreams of someday being and competing among the best in a particular sport is what the U.S. Olympic Committee and its three Olympic Training Centres are all about. The USOC and its main iraining centre are headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the foot of majesdc Pikes Peak in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

The USOC Complex, located on the 34-acre former site of the Ent Air Force Base and the North American Air Defense Command headquarters. is also home for 17 amateur sport na­tional governing bodies. These NGBs utilize offlce space and services at the USOC Complex at no charge. Archery and cycling were Ihe flrsi governing bodies to set up offices at the complex in 197S after Ihe USOC moved its headquarters from New York City in July of Ihal year. 29

The USOC's additional training centres are located in Lake Placid, N.Y.. the site of Ihe 19S0 Winter Olympic Games, and in Marquette. Michigan, on the campus of Northern Michigan University. All three OTCs are sponsored and supported by Miller High Life, which pledged $3 million through the 19S4 Olympic Games and is now continuing its backing through 1988.

The Colorado Springs training centre includes living accommodations for f)00. a dining and recreational area for the athletes, a 400-meter track with electronic testing devices and a Super Turf infield, a sports medicine and science complex, a 59,(K)n square foot spt>rts cenire which has five gynmasia and a fully equipped weight and exercise room. The Sports Centre can accommodate 11 of the sports on the

Olympic and Pan American Games programmes.

A newly completed indoor shooting range, the second largest in the world and the largest in the Western hemis­phere, is located just across from the USOC's Sports Centre. The $2.6 million facility houses 29 firing points at 50 melers for rifle and pistol shooting, four rapid-flre pistol bays, four running game target air rifle ranges and one 50-meter running game target range.

"The training centre here in Colo­rado Springs conducts a wide variety of activities". Miller stales. "It's princi­pally a training centre for young, bur­geoning athleles from our national governing bodies. Each national gov­erning body selects its own athletes to come here and to take advantage of not onlv the facilities that we have, but also

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our sports medicine and science pro­grammes", he adds.

The training cenire concept was an offshoot of the I97S Amateur Sports Act which put the USOC in charge of developing and funding the entire amateur sports structure in the LInitetl States. The training centre's goals then and now are to alleviate the financial burden placed on each individual alhlete who is in iraining and to provide more adequate facilities for Ihosc alhletes.

The respective NGBs design their own training programmes for the coaches and athleles. select those indi­viduals and are responsible for trans­porting them to the OTC. However. once al the OTC. the USOC prov­ides meals, housing, transportaiicm. training and competiticui sites, medical care, including dental and visual sc­reening, and sports medicine tesling and analysis - all at no cost to the indi­vidual alhlete or the national gov­erning body.

In addition to the immediate fa­cilities available on the USOC Com­plex, athletes in training have access to other magnificent facilities in Colorado Springs, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Department and neighbouring school districts.

One such facility is the SI.25 million 7-Eleven/U.S. Olympic Training Centre Velodrome, an international caliber eemenl track, funded by the Southland Corporation and located in a nearby city park, for use by Ihe USOC and its member organizations. The 1986 World Cycling Champion­ships, held August 27 - September 7. attracted the world's best cyclists from more Ihan 50 nations. The facility also contains a roller skating track. The

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U.S. Confederation of Roller Skating, the amateur sport's national governing body, contributed SI25.000 towards the irack and hosted the 1985 Worid Banked Track Championships there in 1985.

"We often bring in 50. 75 or 100 athleles to train", says U.S. Cycling Federation Executive Director Dave Prouty. "These can be young people that we're trying to identify as future world class competitors or they can be people thai are already on that level.

"This is one of the three best velo-drt)mes in the United States. We know that when we train on this velodrome and then we go to Europe to compete or lo the Soviet Unit)n to compete that we've prepared on the best surface av­ailable".

Another NGB member who has en­joyed the USOC's main training centre is United States Table Tennis Associ­ation National Program Director Bob Trctheway. The USTTA is one of the 17 NGBs who have set up their head­quarters at the USOC Complex for belter ctminuinicalion and services, something especially important to the sport of table tennis since il has been 31

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added to the Olympic programme for the 1988 Games in Seoul. Korea.

"The support that the USOC gives us by allowing us lo utilize the Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs has allowed us to pursue training that we would otherwise not be able to do". Tretheway notes. "Tt simply would not be possible with our own resources".

"The training centres provide an ex­cellent opportunity and resource f<»r the Natltnial Governing Bodies and their athletes", says Larry McCollum. overall director of the three Olympic Training Centres. "With the wide range of services that Ihe OTCs pro­vide, there'splcnty of flexibility for the NGBs to utilize the training, con­ference or sports medicine research facilities. The opportunities really abound", he adds.

"The training centres usage con­tinues to increase", McCollum says. "We've already had and will continue to have national and international competitions, which is another way the USOC is able to assist the NGBs', be­cause it's much more feasible finan­cially for them lo host these competi­tions here".

In 1985. a record 15.000 alhletes utilized ihe facilities at the main OTC in Colorado Springs and. since its opening in 1977, more than 85,0(H) athletes, coaches and officials have laken advantage of the complex. The training centre's facilities and staff also played a key role in the success that the American team enjoyed at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Of the 597 members on the 1984 Summer Olympic Team. 50 percent had partici­pated in programmes at the OTC at least once, with 47 percent of the record-high 83 gold medallists. 46 percent of the 61 silver medallists and

63 percent of the bronze inedallists having spent time at the facilities.

Some of the athletes who have fre­quented the Olympic Training Centres are considered "permanent" residents. Leading up to the 1984 Olympic Games, some of the permanent resi­dents at the Colorado Springs OTC in­cluded judo athletes, cyclists, team handball players, weightlifters and race walkers. Many of the Olympic boxers also trained at the OTC. The women's national volleyball team was one of the first teams to live and train at the Colorado Springs complex when Ihey moved here to prepare for the 198(1 Olympic Games.

"The Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs is Olympic Village oriented now and it has helped", says McCollum. "There's Anally a sense of that and it's easy for the athleles who come here to catch the Olympic spirit and we'll continue to improve on thai,

"Part of it's the geographical lo­cation and the mountain, and part of it's the fact Ihal this is Olympic Com-TTiillee's headquarters". McCollum adds. "All of it lends towards the ex­perience of the athletes coming here, whether they're here for a day or are permanent residents. It's much easier for them to visualize and sense the Olympic spirit here than it would be at home".

The USOC opened its second training centre on November 15. 1982. in Lake Placid. N.Y. at the site of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The Lake Placid OTC has living space for 40(1 athletes and the facihties include an indoor ice arena, an addilional hockey rink, bobsled and luge runs, an alpine ski run and lift, a ski jumping complex and a speedskating o\al.

There are also several gymnasia, swimining pools, a 400-meter running track, a soccerfield and nearby lakes.

Athletes at Lake Placid have access to dining, medical and weight iraining facilities as well, The administrative offices are located in the six-story headquarters at the former Hotel Marcy. The USOC works through an agreement with the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which was es­tablished by the New York legislature in 1981 and through other local school and municipal agencies for the athletes Ihat are housed, fed and medically treated al the former hotel in Lake Placid.

In February 1985. the United States Olympic Committee's House of Dele­gates voted to add a third training centre in Marquette. Michigan. That iraining cenire officially opened on July 1. and uses many of the facilities

on lhc campus of Northern Michigan University and in the Marquette com­munity. Funded in part by NMU, the Marquette Olympic Training Centre has the facilities for training and com­petition for 30 Olympic and Pan American Games sports.

Northern Michigan University pro­vided room and board for 80 athletes per day in 1985 and will provide accom­modations for 100 athletes per dav in 1986-88. The USOC picks up the costs for any athletes over the base amount which NMU provides.

The USOC makes millions of dollars available through deveiopmeni and training grants, performance en­hancement funds and other financial and facility programmes for thousands of American alhletes each year leading up to the Olympic, Pan American and World LIniversity Games. The USOC is also the only National Olympic Com-

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mittee among the 160 world members in the International Olympic Com­mittee that does not receive continuing financial assistance from its federal government.

In the 1985-88 quadrennium. the USOC will make more than $65 million available to athleles in the form of cash and resources, including the elite athlete programme, deveiopmeni programmes. National Governing Body grants, travel expenses, and three Olympic Training Centres and the sports medicine and science prog­ramme.

An integral part of all three Olympic training centres, but especially the Col­orado Springs OTC. is the Sports Medicine and Science programme, which strives to promote and protect the health and performance potential of the aspiring athlete. The USOC maintains an expert staff which pro­vides these services wilh the coordi­nated help of many concerned col­leagues in the field. Not only does the staff treat injured athletes, but it also provides a comprehensive programme that helps prevent future injuries and evaluates the training status of the alhlete. including in-depth analysis and direction.

As the facilities at the Olympic Training Centres continue to be ex­panded and upgraded, the USOC ex­pects more and more NGBs and their athletes, coaches and officials to utilize and incorporate the services and re­sources available to Ihem, Halfway through the quadrennial period

leading up to the 1988 Olympic Games, the United States Olympic Committee and its member organizations are con­stantly striving for bigger and better things.

As relatively unknown athletes work out at the OTC complexes, they dream of winning an Olympic medal one day or, for some, even being included in the Olympic programme at all. With the help of generous sponsors like Miller High Life and its other cor­porate sponsors also providing sup­port, the U.S. Olympic Committee and its 38 national governing bodies are setting their sights high and hoping Ihat the percentage of 1988 Olympians who have graced the three Olympic training centres will increase as well as the number of U.S. Olympic medallists that the OTCs have helped along the way.

From ihe athletes who spend just one day to the athletes who spend weeks, months and even years of their lives working out and competing at the Olympic training centres, their one common goal might best be summed up by the official Olympic motto itself: '"Citius. Altius. Fortius". which means: "Even faster, higher, stronger".

With the help of the USOC. its sponsors and numerous support ser­vices staff, each Olympic hopeful who comes to the training centres will have a much better chance of reaching his highest potential in his sport, at na­tional and international levels.

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