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International Capsules: Teens starting to make mark for USA Luge
Comments 0 | Recommend 0World luge champion Erin Hamlin just turned 23 years old, plans to spend at least four more seasons racing for gold medals and probably hasn't even reached her athletic peak.
And get this — she's one of the oldest on the USA Luge women's roster.
"I definitely never consider myself the elder," Hamlin said.
At this rate, she might have no choice.
Kate Hansen is already on the World Cup circuit at 17. Emily Sweeney could be on the top international series by next week, at the ripe old age of 16. Her big sister Megan Sweeney made this season's World Cup team, and she's only 22. Julia Clukey is the oldest in the team room, all of 24.
Some of them can't even vote yet, few of them can rent a car without difficulty, but give them a luge sled and a speed suit and they're among the fastest in the world at the art of getting down an icy mountainside chute at 80 mph. The future is clearly bright — and in this season leading to the Vancouver Olympics, the future might be now, too.
"It is impressive," Hamlin said. "It's a sport where experience plays such a huge role. But at the same time, I think our program has come a long way. And they're good. They're young, but I think sometimes it does help a little too because you still know how to have fun and that's a huge part of it."
The best women in the world have years of experience on most of the upstart Americans.
Germany is the powerhouse in luge, with tens of thousands of schoolkids having access to the nation's tracks. The average age of the top four German women is 26, while the average age of the top four on the U.S. roster is 21 — and that could drop even lower if Emily Sweeney gets added to the World Cup squad next week, possibly at her sister's expense.
But while Hansen and Emily Sweeney are still carrying the "junior" designation, they can compete at the big level. Hansen easily won USA Luge's race-off series this fall to earn her spot on the national team, and Sweeney won one event in that race-off series as well.
"Our women's team is pretty deep," longtime USA Luge doubles racer Mark Grimmette said. "I think during the fall, we had seven or eight women that are competing for a World Cup spot and they were all very close and competing very well. It's fun to watch that. It's kind of funny to think that my first trip to Europe was before most of them were born."
That's actually true.
By the time the Vancouver Games come around, Grimmette will be 39, his doubles teammate Brian Martin 36.
Put it this way: Grimmette's favorite movie is the original "Star Wars," which was released in 1977 and therefore is practically twice as old as some of the current American women.
"This has all happened for me way faster than I expected," Hansen said.
One of the U.S. kids might soon find herself in a very grown-up situation.
Emily Sweeney is on the Nation's Cup circuit right now, one step below the World Cup level. If Hansen, Clukey or Megan Sweeney fail to finish in the top nine of this weekend's World Cup stop at Igls, Austria, they will have to race against Emily Sweeney to keep their spot on the World Cup team.
So that means a sister vs. sister race for a spot on the USA Luge varsity could be a week away. It's not a pleasant situation for either to think about.
"For me, it's a little awkward," Emily Sweeney said. "We talked about it in Park City and it kind of came to we both support each other with where we're at. We've both worked really hard and it's both of our dreams, so whatever is meant to happen will happen."
The more senior members of the team all agree, these kids are serious about the sport.
Hamlin said her younger teammates show a maturity well beyond their years, which will surely help during the pressure-packed times that accompany an Olympic season.
That being said, she doesn't feel like the team's grande dame yet.
"Mark and Brian are still here," Hamlin said. "They keep me young."
Klug and Co. hope to carve unique path to Olympics
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — The money goes where the medals are — one of those Darwinian truths that often undercuts the oft-told Olympic fairy tale about the journey being as important as the result.
Chris Klug and his band of snowboarders know all about it.
Denied funding in part because they participate in the least popular, least medal-producing event on the snowboarding program — the parallel giant slalom — Klug formed his own team, found his own sponsors, hired his own coaches and is seeking his own path to the Vancouver Games.
He and three other snowboarders — Zac Kay, Josh Wylie and Erica Mueller — make up America's Snowboard Team, which is operating on a budget of about $150,000, none of it provided by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, the sport's national governing body.
"I definitely think snowboarding has benefited from being part of the Olympic movement," Klug said. "But perhaps the national team model isn't the best structure for snowboarding."
If Klug is correct, then in many ways, snowboarding might be returning to the root question that accompanied its introduction to the Olympics in 1998: Would burgeoning popularity and increased control from the Olympic governing bodies help the sport or hurt it?
On the PGS side of things, at least, Klug has given his answer by returning to his — and, some say, snowboarding's — roots: the purely independent team. He was a charter member of the World Pro Snowboarding Team that formed in the early 1990s, when snowboarding was still finding the mainstream and there was little in the way of national funding or coaching programs.
When snowboarding went Olympic, a couple of things happened: Organizations like USSA and the International Skiing Federation (FIS) became more involved and freestyle disciplines, most notably halfpipe, emerged while alpine riders were slowly relegated to the background.
"You look at where the industry puts its resources," said USSA's snowboarding program director Jeremy Forster. "They focus on the freestyle part of it. They focused on the magazine and video side of the sport. Alpine didn't fit into those categories."
In 2002, while Americans were sweeping the medals on the halfpipe, Klug won a bronze in parallel giant slalom and served up one of the most inspirational stories of the Salt Lake City Games. He was 19 months removed from a lifesaving liver transplant and his victory in the third-place race, after having to use duct tape to keep his boot on, served notice to the thousands waiting for transplants that they could not only survive, but thrive if they received a second chance.
Since then, however, Americans have been infrequent guests on the international PGS podiums. And when the bad economy forced the U.S. snowboarding to make a 14 percent budget cut earlier this year, those riders were the first to feel the hurt.
Neither Klug nor his teammates qualified for the "A'' team this year, which left them without funding and forced to go on their own.
They looked outside the sport and found sponsors in Hooters and the communications firm BCF. They also hired two coaches, former World Cup rider Ian Price and longtime ski and snowboard coach Rob Roy, who coached the 1998 U.S. Olympic team.
Roy was with Klug back in the World Pro Snowboard Team days, and says the independent model of athletes and teams is probably a better fit for all of snowboarding. For instance, 2006 Olympic halfpipe champion Shaun White has basically created a personal video, endorsement and celebrity industry all on his own. If things go as expected, he'll qualify for Vancouver and temporarily fold his largesse into Team USA next year.
"The governing body should play a role, but it shouldn't be the final arbiter of where you're going to end up in the program," Roy said. "If you look at the history of sports in this nation, generally, the ones where we excel are the ones where free enterprise rules. It's golf, tennis, baseball, basketball, football. They don't have national teams."
There is an under-the-surface tension between the haves and have-nots in snowboarding. Klug and Co. feel somewhat abandoned by governing bodies — USSA, FIS, the U.S. Olympic Committee — that embraced them at first, but eventually pushed his type to the side.
He acknowledges the raw numbers are hard to ignore: Over three Olympics, Americans have produced 10 medals in halfpipe and two in parallel giant slalom. And the undeniable fact is that had Klug and his teammates performed better last year, they would be receiving more funding from the U.S. team and might not have been forced to form their own.
"That's one of the strengths of snowboarding," Forster said. "There are a lot of different ways to get to the Olympic podium. It's not just through U.S. Snowboarding and the coach and team we put together. We've always supported different channels for athletes to be successful."
With their Olympic qualifying season beginning next week at a World Cup event in Italy, members of America's Snowboard Team know they are in for an uphill climb. But in the end, they say, maybe it really is as much about the journey as the result.
"We do this for the passion of the sport," Mueller said. "We're not doing it for the millions of dollars, or the hundreds of dollars. We're out here doing what we love and people see that and they want to help. And hopefully, down the road, that will help other people who have the same dream, too."
-- Eddie Pells
U.S. skier Schleper tries to make 4th Olympic team
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — Sarah Schleper closely consults her checklist to make sure she leaves nothing behind before taking off for a ski competition.
The three-time U.S. Olympian tosses goggles and gloves into her overflowing travel bag, along with some extra diapers, pacifiers and a security blanket.
All necessary equipment for a skier traveling with a toddler.
Schleper and her husband, Federico Gaxiola, are schlepping around the world to ski events on their own dime this season, with their young son, Lasse, in tow. One last pursuit of an Olympic medal for the 30-year-old Schleper has become a family ambition.
"That's really what I'm stoked about, having that opportunity again," said Schleper, who will compete at Aspen Winternational over the weekend, the first women's World Cup stop in North America this season. "I couldn't do this without my family."
Not even 2 years old yet, Lasse has already been to 17 different countries, speaks words in three different languages — including fairly fluent Spanish — and can charge down a slope on his own pair of skis.
He can thank mom later for all of that.
Leaving Lasse and her husband behind to go racing simply wasn't an option. If Schleper was going to try for one more Olympic team, they all had to be on board.
"If they weren't here, I'd be so heartbroken," she said. "It would be too hard emotionally. They don't come to all the training, but they come to all the races."
It's been a pricey proposition. Given her ranking, Schleper's not on the "A'' squad and her expenses aren't totally covered by the U.S. Ski Team this season. That means travel, food and lodging comes out of her own pocket.
"It's been hard on us financially, especially in this economy," said Schleper, who still receives other amenities from the U.S. team, such as coaching and technical support. "We're getting by."
Losing her spot on the "A'' team has been a humbling experience for Schleper, but it's also rekindled her passion for the slopes.
"It makes you a better person, better athlete, fight harder and want it more," she said. "I like the struggle and I think that's what it's all about."
Still, the doubt sometimes tugged at her. Is this worth it? Does she really want to drain the family's finances for one last shot at the Olympics? Should they really be doing this?
Her husband, though, would always be quick to quell those concerns.
"We knew this wasn't going to be easy," said Gaxiola, who married Schleper in October 2007. "In my mind, there was never any doubt that she was going to continue. She was skiing too well not to try."
Schleper hasn't spent all that much time on the snow in recent seasons, injuries and the birth of her child keeping her sidelined. She had back surgery for a ruptured disk a few months before the 2006 Turin Olympics, only to return and finish 10th in the slalom.
Soon after, she tore the ACL in her left knee, which forced her to spend the entire 2006-07 season in rehab. Then Schleper took off the following season while pregnant with Lasse, who was born Jan. 30, 2008.
Given the rash of injuries — and new son — why not call it a career? What more was there left to prove for the longtime veteran?
"A lot," said Schleper, a four-time U.S. slalom champion. "(Stepping away) doesn't really go through any ski racer's mind."
Schleper used last season as an opportunity to launch her comeback. As the year progressed, she gradually got stronger even if the results weren't always showing.
"Federico was like, 'We're going to take each race as a step toward the Olympics. Don't get down on yourself if you have a bad result,'" Schleper said. "It's nice to have somebody there to encourage me, because I think if I didn't have that I'd put so much pressure on myself."
Lasse has helped in that regard as well. He doesn't care what place his mom finishes, just wants to hang out with her. And showering him with attention gives her mind a much-needed distraction from racing.
"Now, coming back from the hill, it's like, 'Let's give Lasse some quality time,'" said Schleper, who named her son in part after one of her idols, Norwegian skier Lasse Kjus. "I've just tried to find the balance of giving Lasse a good experience and being able to be a good mother to him and show him a good path."
To keep expenses down, the family lives just outside of Innsbruck, Austria, in the winter so that it's cheaper to get to the largely European-based skiing events. Some of her sponsors, like Rossignol, contribute but it's not nearly enough.
That's why Schleper scours the Internet for discounted plane tickets months in advance, and since Lasse is still young enough to sit in a lap, they only have to buy two seats — and hope there's an empty seat next to them.
Schleper's not sure how much longer she'll ski, possibly even drawing the curtain down on her long career as soon as the end of this season.
As for life after skiing, well, she's still slaloming through her options. Her father owns a ski shop in Vail, and they've talked about opening another. She also might organize a ski camp.
For now, it's about traveling around the world and enjoying the time with her husband and young son as she tries to secure a spot on the Olympic team.
Recently, Lasse received his own pair of skis and is obsessed with mastering the mountain.
"He has it in his blood to ski, to be in the mountains," Schleper said.
That comes as no surprise.
-- Pat Graham
Olympics
Two sports close to venue change for London Olympics
LONDON — London Olympic organizers will avoid building a $66 million temporary arena after reaching an "agreement in principle" with two sports to move to an existing venue for the 2012 Games.
Local organizing committee LOCOG proposed switching badminton and rhythmic gymnastics to Wembley Arena — adjacent to Wembley Stadium in northwest London — rather than construct the planned facility near the Olympic Village in east London.
The move was taken to save money in the wake of the global economic crisis.
Denis Oswald, head of the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission for the London Games, said Thursday that the badminton and gymnastics federations had agreed in principle to the move despite their concerns over the added travel time for their athletes.
"It still has to be formalized," Oswald said. "There is no doubt this question will be resolved in coming weeks. The two federations have been very cooperative and understand it was wise to look for a cheaper solution."
Organizers are offering to put the athletes up in hotels within walking distance of Wembley to avoid the cross-town trips from the Olympic Village in Stratford.
The two sports federations must still get the approval of their governing boards, and the deal must then get final ratification from the IOC.
The IOC had previously hoped to approve the change at its Dec. 8-9 executive board meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Oswald said he now expects final authorization in the first two months of 2010.
Oswald said the venue change was the result of "exceptional circumstances" brought on by the economic downturn.
"I don't think we can say London went back on their promise," he said. "The two venues are exceptions and we should not forget that training facilities are all very close (to the Village) and athletes spend 90-95 percent of the time training rather than competing."
London organizers have said the trip from the village to Wembley takes about 42 minutes.
"If in two sports the athletes have to travel a little further than expected and can walk from a hotel to the venue I don't think it can be an issue," Oswald said. "We just hope we won't have a world financial crisis every four years."
The preliminary agreement was welcomed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, who has supported the move to Wembley.
"I am pleased and thank the two federations for understanding our concerns to save money wherever we can in these tough economic times," Johnson said in a statement.
Oswald spoke at a news conference at the close of a two-day visit to London, the fifth by his commission since the city was awarded the Olympics in 2005 and the first since last April.
With less than 1,000 days to go until the opening ceremony in 2012, the external structure of the main 85,000-seat Olympic Stadium is complete, the roof has been lowered into place on the aquatics center, and work is well under way on the three other main Olympic Park venues — the velodrome, athletes' village and main media center.
"We realize a lot has been done since our last visit," Oswald said. "It's very positive. It starts feeling like the games are taking shape. We are confident about the delivery of excellent Olympic Games in 2012."
-- Stephen Wilson
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