 About the USA is a digital collection of background resources on American society, culture, and political processes. In addition to featuring selected websites, it provides access to documents in full text format (E-Texts) on topics ranging from the history of German-American relations, government and politics to travel, holidays and sports. About the USA is maintained by the Information Resource Centers/U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany. usa.usembassy.de
In Focus: 2006 Winter Olympics - The Most Diverse U.S. Olympic Team Ever The 211-member team representing the United States at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, is made up of 89 women and 122 men, and reflects a wide geographic and racial diversity, representing 33 out of the 50 U.S. states. The number of African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic-American athletes is double their representation from the team’s participation at the 2002 games held in Salt Lake City. The U.S. team was described as "the most racially and ethnically diverse" in the history of the Olympic Winter Games, in a February 9 article by the Washington Post.
"It will include a Cuban American from Miami, a Puerto Rican American from Chicago, a Japanese American from Seattle and African Americans from Chicago, Alabama and North Carolina, all among the country's strongest medal hopes. At least 23 of the 211-member U.S. team have Hispanic or non-white backgrounds, and the team includes natives of Florida, Georgia and Texas, as well as South Korea, Russia and Japan," the Post said. The same article quoted short track speed skater Allison Baver, an American Indian from Pennsylvania: “We're the only team that has coaches from three other countries and athletes that are all different in terms of our diversity. Look at our team as a whole. It is the United States. ... It's a melting pot."
The team ranges in age from 16-year-old figure skater Kimmie Meissner from Maryland to Minnesotan Scott Baird, a 54-year-old curler, the oldest athlete ever to compete in the Winter Games.
There is a large number of athletes on the 2006 U.S. Olympic team who have relatively little experience in winter sports events. These team members, known as "crossover athletes," have been drawn from other sports such as inline skating and track and field.
 One of the crossover athletes, Chad Hedrick, who won 50 major inline skating titles before switching to speed skating, comes from the warm climate of southeastern Texas. Hedrick has received much attention from the American press because many hope he will win five gold medals, a feat unmatched by an American athlete in the Winter Olympics since speed skater Eric Heiden at the 1980 games in Lake Placid, New York.
In the 2002 games, the U.S. team won an unprecedented 34 medals, marking the emergence of the United States as a top contender in winter sports. The result is all the more impressive when compared to the team’s relatively poor showing at the 1988 games in Calgary, Canada, in which it won only six medals. U.S. athletes will be competing in 10 events -- biathlon, bobsled, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, luge, skeleton, skiing, snowboarding and speed skating -- and facing tough competition from Germany, which has won the most medals in the past two Winter Games, as well as Austria’s skiers, Russia’s figure skaters and the Canadian hockey team led by Wayne Gretzky.
February 2006
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