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2008 Paralympic Hopefuls Take up Residence at the U.S. Olympic Training Center
// U.S. Paralympics
// January 25, 2007
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| Photo by Donna Chiarelli (www.dhcstudio.com) |
Greta Neimanas will be one of the new resident athletes at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center trying to make her first Paralympic Team.
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The U.S. Olympic Committee’s Paralympic division is pleased to announce a new athlete residence program at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center (OTC). The program consists of seven athletes who are currently on National Teams in the sports of cycling, judo and swimming. All seven athletes will be living and training full-time at the OTC in preparation for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.
U.S. Paralympics has not had an official residence program in Colorado Springs since 2004, when the Women’s Goalball Team trained in preparation for the 2004 Paralympic Games. The team was the first disabled athletic program ever in residency at an OTC.
In the fall of 2005, the Chula Vista OTC introduced a Paralympic Athlete Resident Program for Track & Field athletes. There are currently eight athletes training full-time at the facility in preparation for 2008.
Resident athletes live in housing provided by the OTC and receive support from Sport Medicine and Sport Science, including biomechanics, physiology and psychology. The Athlete Dining Hall fulfills the athletes caloric needs and provides adequate nutrition and variety for the various diets of elite athletes.
The Olympic Training Center offers a one-stop shop for athletes attempting to bring their skills to the next level, to compete and be successful upon the world’s stage. The athletes are nominated by their National Governing Body (U.S. Paralympics) based on their competition achievements, goals and performance profile.
The athletes taking up residence at the Colorado Springs OTC include the following:
Cycling:
Scott Gadberry (Sylmar, Calif.)
Greta Neimanas (Chicago, Ill.)
Judo:
Myles Porter (Toledo, Ohio)
Swimming:
*Cody Bureau (Latrobe, Pa.)
*Justin Fleming (Redmond, Wash.)
*Rudy Garcia-Tolson (Bloomington, Calif.)
*Jarrett Perry (Wichita, Kan.)
*denotes Paralympian
The cycling athletes will be led by Craig Griffin (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Head Coach of the U.S. Paralympics Cycling National Team. Judo instruction will be provided by Eddie Liddie (Colorado Springs, Colo.), United States Judo National Coach, and the swimmers will receive instruction from Julie O’Neill (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Head Coach of the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Team.
The new resident program will be under the direction of U.S. Paralympics Sports Programs Coordinator Stacy Miller.
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