USOC submits final Olympic roster

By Published On: January 31st, 2006Comments Off on USOC submits final Olympic roster

USOC submits final Olympic roster{mosimage}COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado The U.S. Olympic Committee submitted its final roster for the Torino Olympics on Tuesday, a list of 211 athletes including Bode Miller, Jeremy Bloom, Michelle Kwan and Apolo Anton Ohno.

Of the 211, 85 competed in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and 40 of those helped the United States set a record with 34 medals.

One of the athletes, Sarah Konrad, is competing in two sports — biathlon and cross country. She is the first American woman to qualify for two sports at a Winter Olympics.

The Olympics begin next Friday with opening ceremonies.

USOC chief executive Jim Scherr said based on history and the quality of his team, he’ll feel good if the Americans can get into the low 20s in the medal count. Teams that host Winter Olympics historically experience a 41 percent drop when they head overseas four years later, although given the success and experience of the U.S. team, Scherr concedes there’s reason to believe the Americans could do better than that.

“We think there’s an opportunity for a performance that could come close to or match what the athletes achieved in Salt Lake City,” Scherr said in a December interview “We hope they’ll be able to achieve at that level. We’ll tell you after the games how we did.”

Over the past few weeks, national governing bodies of the individual sports have been submitting their rosters to the USOC for final approval. There were no surprises on the roster the USOC submitted.

Last week, two of the final spots were decided when Kwan skated and was determined fit for competition and when snowboarder Tyler Jewell kept his spot after an appeal by rider Chris Klug was rejected by arbitrators.

“This is America’s Team and we are confident this outstanding group of athletes will make our country proud,” USOC chair Peter Ueberroth said.

Associated Press

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