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news. NOTE: This information is designed to provide general background on Olympic selection for news media. It is not designed as a comprehensive outline of selection criteria. Complete details of official selection criteria, which will be used for Olympic selection, are available at www.ussa.org. Choose the desired sport and then click on “Eligibility/Criteria” for specific criteria in that sport. PARK CITY, Utah (Nov. 14, 2005) – With the 2006 Winter Olympics nearing, a common question is “How does one make the U.S. Olympic Ski or Snowboard Team?” Full details of the selection criteria are available from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, the century-old organization that serves as the national governing body for Olympic skiing and snowboarding, on its membership Web site at www.ussa.org. USSA, together with the U.S. Olympic Committee, will name teams for six different Olympic sports accounting for nearly 50 percent of the events Feb. 10-26 at the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. Primary selection of most teams will come from results at World Cup events where athletes are tested against comparable Olympic-like fields of competitors. “Our general philosophy is to select as many athletes as possible against a competitive field that is similar to what they will face during the Olympics,” said Alan Ashley, USSA vice president of athletics. “Our goal is to be best in the world, which translates into winning more medals than any other nation at the Olympics in skiing and snowboarding. We reached our goal of 10 medals in 2002 at Salt Lake City and we’re confident – the coaches, the athletes, our staff – that we’ll have the most skiing and snowboarding medals next February,” he said. “Historically, we’ve found the best way to select athletes who will have the best opportunity for Olympic success is from head-to-head competition against essentially the same field they will face in the Olympics, at Torino. It’s a very objective process, based on results; coaches have a bit of discretion if they need it in rare cases.” U.S. Freestyle Team athletes will have an additional opportunity to qualify for the Games with the U.S. Ski Team Olympic Trials Dec. 30 in Steamboat Springs, Colo., in aerials and moguls. Winners of the Olympic Trials will earn a wild-card spot and will be the first USSA athletes to qualify for the 2006 Olympics. U.S. Snowboard Team selection will come from a defined set of results and events. The halfpipe selection events, for instance, are exclusively contests in U.S. Snowboarding’s Chevrolet U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix, the premier snowboard series in the country. “Our selection process allows us to select those athletes who are skiing or riding the best as we head into the Olympics,” Ashley said. U.S. ski and snowboard athletes will account for the largest single contingent on the U.S. Olympic Team, as many as 78 athletes. USSA and USOC will jointly name the teams starting Jan. 8, 2006. Following is the tentative listing of announcements and Olympic Team sizes: Jan. 8 – Ski
jumping (up to six athletes) For more details,
go to: www.ussa.org, click on specific sport, and then “Eligibility/Criteria.” NOTE: This information is designed solely as an overview of – not an in-depth look at – the Olympic Team selection criteria by sport. More detailed information is available by sport at www.ussa.org, then click up-top on Eligibility/Criteria. Up to four athletes may start in each event; results are from the 2006 season. ALPINE CROSS COUNTRY FREESTYLE NORDIC COMBINED SKI JUMPING *Total team size in nordic sports is 28 between nordic combined, jumping and cross country SNOWBOARD Halfpipe Criteria: Snowboardcross Criteria:
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