Olympics

[cstone]

Does the US Olympic team compete as a team? I know we have a training facility in the Springs. For all I know we have several training facilities. I thought most US athletes are individuals who have their own coaches and train independently. Sure some of them are college athletes and now many are professional athletes, but they compete to make the team, usually a year or so before the games. I thought most US Olympians compete as individuals unless they are competing in a team sport and I see US teams in the Olympics as being more like an All-Star team.

Now countries like Russia or China where Olympic athletes are selected, trained, and coached from very early ages in national training facilities; I can see why they are concerned about national medal counts. Those programs actually are competing as a national team.

[Gman]

I'm not sure how they expect conscripted athletes in China to outperform free people who do well in athletics because that's what they want to do.

There will probably be some dead coaches open coaching positions in China after their performance this year.

[Aloha_Shooter]

In all fairness with the Russian bans it's a little skewed.

In all fairness, it was a little skewed with the Russians doping nearly their entire team and conducting "Mission: Impossible"-type operations to substitute clean samples.

Does the US Olympic team compete as a team? I know we have a training facility in the Springs. For all I know we have several training facilities. I thought most US athletes are individuals who have their own coaches and train independently. Sure some of them are college athletes and now many are professional athletes, but they compete to make the team, usually a year or so before the games. I thought most US Olympians compete as individuals unless they are competing in a team sport and I see US teams in the Olympics as being more like an All-Star team.

Team events compete as a team -- except, apparently, the basketball team. Athletes over 16 who qualify are offered the equivalent of scholarships to reside and train at one of 3 training centers (there are more training facilities but only three that have all-in-one centers with dormitories, chow halls, training facilities, medical facilities, etc.). This is what the sponsorship money goes toward since it costs the US Olympic Committee and/or the individual sport committees about $50K per year to feed and train the athletes. The athletes who make it get food, housing, training, and travel to competitions but have to pick up their own expenses for other things (like entertainment, personal travel, etc.).

The US OTC now offers tours -- $12 per person, $2 off for military or senior citizens, another $2 for groups of 10 or more but the groups have to enter and pay as one.

[cstone]

Team events compete as a team -- except, apparently, the basketball team. Athletes over 16 who qualify are offered the equivalent of scholarships to reside and train at one of 3 training centers (there are more training facilities but only three that have all-in-one centers with dormitories, chow halls, training facilities, medical facilities, etc.). This is what the sponsorship money goes toward since it costs the US Olympic Committee and/or the individual sport committees about $50K per year to feed and train the athletes. The athletes who make it get food, housing, training, and travel to competitions but have to pick up their own expenses for other things (like entertainment, personal travel, etc.).

Interesting. Thanks for the information. I wonder what percentage of athletes take advantage of the full scholarship or whether partial assistance is available if they would rather stay near home and utilize the coaches and medical they are already are familiar with. For track and field and swimming, it seems like the US athletes are mostly college athletes who remain members of their college team. Also, it seems like more and more of the teams are getting like the basketball team. I just don't see another US hockey team like the 1980 team; amateurs coming together to take on national teams.

Its been a while, but I know when I attended the 1976 games in Montreal I learned how many sports there were in an Olympic games that most people in the US will never see or hear about because they aren't televised. It gave me a great taste in learning how much information we get and don't get when we only consume what the television networks feed us. Same for most news outlets. If I don't check other foreign new agency feeds published in the english language, I miss a great deal on not only what is happening in the world but how it is perceived by other people. Bias is natural and pervasive, so I like to know about it so that I can take that into account when I weigh information for myself.

[Gman]

Americans are often trying to get Olympics coverage from the BBC and CBC. They show you all of the competitions on a multitude of channels, not just the packaged for TV pabulum that we get from NBC.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Interesting. Thanks for the information. I wonder what percentage of athletes take advantage of the full scholarship or whether partial assistance is available if they would rather stay near home and utilize the coaches and medical they are already are familiar with. For track and field and swimming, it seems like the US athletes are mostly college athletes who remain members of their college team. Also, it seems like more and more of the teams are getting like the basketball team. I just don't see another US hockey team like the 1980 team; amateurs coming together to take on national teams.

Its been a while, but I know when I attended the 1976 games in Montreal I learned how many sports there were in an Olympic games that most people in the US will never see or hear about because they aren't televised. It gave me a great taste in learning how much information we get and don't get when we only consume what the television networks feed us. Same for most news outlets. If I don't check other foreign new agency feeds published in the english language, I miss a great deal on not only what is happening in the world but how it is perceived by other people. Bias is natural and pervasive, so I like to know about it so that I can take that into account when I weigh information for myself.

From the tour I took last week, most of the swimming team is coached over in Indianapolis as the University of Indiana appears to be the central point for USA Swimming. Michael Phelps was at the US OTC in CS for a couple of weeks for high altitude conditioning but otherwise he trains elsewhere. Winter sports tends to train at the OTC at Lake Placid although it sounded like they often spend portions of the summer in CS because there's no snow in NY either and they also like to get the high altitude conditioning. The women's gymnastic team trains elsewhere since most of the team doesn't meet the minimum age of 16. It looked to me like Shooting, Archery, Men's Gymnastics, and Wrestling train primarily at CS and it sounded like a number of the Track and Field athletes do too because of the advantage gained from high altitude training.

I think you're right in that a number of other sports are so individual that the athletes could train elsewhere but the level of training and support offered by the US OTC for $50K a head would probably cost them a LOT more (like over $100K each) due to the efficiencies of the testing equipment and having top-level sports medicine and physical conditioning experts on staff at the OTC. The indoor track they just built (courtesy of 24 Hour Fitness) not only meets Olympic standards for design and surface but has sensors underneath that allow the coaches and conditioners to not only see how fast the athlete is running but even how their weight displacement and foot-to-foot stride varies. Uneven strides or weight displacement between left and right feet show inefficiency and give them pointers on where to shave fractions of a second off.

The swimming pool (used mainly by the paralympic athletes except when the Olympic athletes are looking for altitude training) has cameras above and below water so the coaches cna see how the swimmers are breathing and stroking. They also have a pulley system so the swimmer can feel what the water and his/her stroke ought to feel like at their target speed. It's quite an amazing complex for the top 10-15% of athletes in their given sports and not one penny comes from the US Government.

[hurley842002]

From the tour I took last week, most of the swimming team is coached over in Indianapolis as the University of Indiana appears to be the central point for USA Swimming. Michael Phelps was at the US OTC in CS for a couple of weeks for high altitude conditioning but otherwise he trains elsewhere. Winter sports tends to train at the OTC at Lake Placid although it sounded like they often spend portions of the summer in CS because there's no snow in NY either and they also like to get the high altitude conditioning. The women's gymnastic team trains elsewhere since most of the team doesn't meet the minimum age of 16. It looked to me like Shooting, Archery, Men's Gymnastics, and Wrestling train primarily at CS and it sounded like a number of the Track and Field athletes do too because of the advantage gained from high altitude training.

I think you're right in that a number of other sports are so individual that the athletes could train elsewhere but the level of training and support offered by the US OTC for $50K a head would probably cost them a LOT more (like over $100K each) due to the efficiencies of the testing equipment and having top-level sports medicine and physical conditioning experts on staff at the OTC. The indoor track they just built (courtesy of 24 Hour Fitness) not only meets Olympic standards for design and surface but has sensors underneath that allow the coaches and conditioners to not only see how fast the athlete is running but even how their weight displacement and foot-to-foot stride varies. Uneven strides or weight displacement between left and right feet show inefficiency and give them pointers on where to shave fractions of a second off.

The swimming pool (used mainly by the paralympic athletes except when the Olympic athletes are looking for altitude training) has cameras above and below water so the coaches cna see how the swimmers are breathing and stroking. They also have a pulley system so the swimmer can feel what the water and his/her stroke ought to feel like at their target speed. It's quite an amazing complex for the top 10-15% of athletes in their given sports and not one penny comes from the US Government.

Thanks a lot for all the info! Being into strength training and conditioning myself (merely at the hobby/health level), I've always wanted to check out the training center, maybe someday i'll make it happen.

[Gman]

Winter Olympics athletes often go to Mount Hood, OR to train during the summers.