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U.S. SNOWBOARD LEADERSHIP REFLECTS ON OLYMPICS SESTRIERE, Italy (Feb. 26) – U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association athletes left Torino with 10 medals, including a record five gold, highlighted by a dominating seven medals in snowboard and Olympic titles by a pair of 21-year-old alpine ski racers. While the Team failed to hit it’s overall target, USSA President and CEO Bill Marolt expressed pride in the athletes’ accomplishments and was not discouraged for the future. “First and foremost, I am so very proud of what these 10 athletes accomplished, and especially our U.S. Snowboarding program that is clearly Best in the World,” said Marolt. “If you want to accomplish great things in sport, you have to set high goals. “I have absolutely no regrets with the goal we set to be Best in the World. We will continue to work towards that same goal in the future.” Marolt also expressed concern over athlete issues that threatened to overshadow Olympic results. “I’m deeply concerned about issues involving several of our athletes,” said Marolt. “These actions are not acceptable to our organization. And it is even more deeply concerning to me when they impact the entire U.S. Olympic Team. It’s disrespectful for the athletes on this Team who have trained a lifetime for this experience.” U.S. snowboarders took seven medals, including three gold from Hannah Teter (Belmont, Vt.) and Shaun White (Carlsbad, Calif.) in halfpipe, and Seth Wescott (Carrabassett Valley, Me.) in snowboardcross, plus silver for Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, Colo.) and Danny Kass (Hamburg, N.J.) in halfpipe, and Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT.) in snowboardcross, plus bronze in PGS from three-time Olympian Rosey Fletcher (Anchorage). “One of our goals with our U.S. Snowboarding program has been to provide a qualifying process that allows both independent riders like Shaun White, Danny Kass and Gretchen Bleiler with our own U.S. Snowboarding program riders like Hannah Teter, Lindsey Jacobellis, Seth Wecott and Rosey Fletcher,” said Marolt. “It was exciting to see how it came together.” Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, Calif.), both just 21, came home with gold – the first time since 1994 the U.S. Ski Team has picked up double gold. Ligety won the combined on the strength of two near-perfect slalom runs. Mancuso skied through horrible weather conditions to take a dominating win in giant slalom. Toby Dawson (Vail, Colo.) came home with the bronze in freestyle moguls in what was the highest level of competition the sport had ever seen. “The wins by Ted and Julia were tremendous accomplishments,” said Marolt. “Yes, we had greater expectations in both alpine and freestyle. And those expectations were realistic, based on proven athletic results in World Cup and World Championships. It just didn’t happen.” U.S. nordic skiers had especially strong performances in the sprint event, with Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) finishing ninth for the best U.S. women’s cross country performance in Olympic history. Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) qualified second in the men’s sprint. “As a Team, we will leave here with a lot to be proud of,” said Marolt. “We have a tremendous group of athletes who have regularly performed at the highest levels internationally. We’ll take time as a Team after these Games to reflect on how we can better prepare. But we’ll also take pride in what many of our great athletes accomplished in Torino.”
Gold Silver Bronze -- Best in the World! --
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