Photo Courtesy: CUBuffs.com01/26/2011 Curtis Snyder, Associate SID
ERZURUM, Turkey - Seven University of Colorado skiers along with head coach Richard Rokos arrived in Erzurum, Turkey, Wednesday ahead of the 25th World University Games.
The equivalent of the Olympic Games for athletes enrolled in colleges and universities around the world held every other year, the games officially start Thursday and end on February 6. A total of 1,880 athletes and 850 officials from 22 sports are participating in the games from a record 57 countries.
"The World University Games gives athletes an opportunity for global competition in an Olympic or Pan-Am Games-type situation," Rokos said. "It's the perfect opportunity for all involved to measure mutual strengths and weaknesses. We will continue to train for our ultimate goal of the NCAA Championships while we are here, but this is both an athletic and social event on the level of the Pan-Am Games or the Olympic Games."
Rokos is serving as team leader for the United States and will coach four of his athletes, Kirsten Cooper, Erika Ghent and Katie Hartman on the women's side and Taggart Spenst on the men's side. Additionally, CU's Gabriel Rivas will be competing for France while Sara Hjertman and Carolina Nordh will compete for Sweden.
"I'm really excited, we all are," Ghent said. "Nobody knows what exactly to expect and none of us has ever been to Turkey. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we all feel fortunate to be able to go and compete. Some of us will represent the United States and others France and Sweden. But we are all going as CU skiers. We will be wearing CU gear."
Rokos has led the U.S. alpine team six times previously; in 1995 (Jaca, Spain), 1997 (Mugo, Korea), 1999 (Zakopane, Poland), 2003 (Tarvisio, Italy), 2005 (Innsbruck, Austria) and 2007 (Tariviso). His athletes have brought home three gold medals, along with four silver and several bronze including one by a former Buffalo, Erika Hogan, in 2003. Rokos is the United States' collegiate representative for the International Ski Federation and it is basically part of his job in that role to lead Team USA at the World University Games.
"I don't think we've ever had such a strong team traveling, both from the perspective of the U.S. and for CU," Rokos said. "Gabriel, Carolina and Sara are the top skiers for their countries. It's kind of a two-way street. We want to do well as the United States, but we also want our athletes to do well overall even if they're competing for a different nation."
Each country fields a team of six skiers for each discipline. So the three CU women competing for the U.S. comprise half of the team.
The Buffs will all be competing in four events, the Super G, super combined, giant slalom and slalom races. The opening ceremonies take place at 7:30 p.m. local time on Thursday with races starting Saturday with the women's Super G, followed by the men's Super G on Sunday. On Monday, the super combined will be held for the women with the Super G races in the morning and the slalom races in the afternoon, followed Tuesday for the men's super combined on a similar schedule.
For the full article go to: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205084395&DB_OEM_ID=600
The equivalent of the Olympic Games for athletes enrolled in colleges and universities around the world held every other year, the games officially start Thursday and end on February 6. A total of 1,880 athletes and 850 officials from 22 sports are participating in the games from a record 57 countries.
"The World University Games gives athletes an opportunity for global competition in an Olympic or Pan-Am Games-type situation," Rokos said. "It's the perfect opportunity for all involved to measure mutual strengths and weaknesses. We will continue to train for our ultimate goal of the NCAA Championships while we are here, but this is both an athletic and social event on the level of the Pan-Am Games or the Olympic Games."
Rokos is serving as team leader for the United States and will coach four of his athletes, Kirsten Cooper, Erika Ghent and Katie Hartman on the women's side and Taggart Spenst on the men's side. Additionally, CU's Gabriel Rivas will be competing for France while Sara Hjertman and Carolina Nordh will compete for Sweden.
"I'm really excited, we all are," Ghent said. "Nobody knows what exactly to expect and none of us has ever been to Turkey. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we all feel fortunate to be able to go and compete. Some of us will represent the United States and others France and Sweden. But we are all going as CU skiers. We will be wearing CU gear."
Rokos has led the U.S. alpine team six times previously; in 1995 (Jaca, Spain), 1997 (Mugo, Korea), 1999 (Zakopane, Poland), 2003 (Tarvisio, Italy), 2005 (Innsbruck, Austria) and 2007 (Tariviso). His athletes have brought home three gold medals, along with four silver and several bronze including one by a former Buffalo, Erika Hogan, in 2003. Rokos is the United States' collegiate representative for the International Ski Federation and it is basically part of his job in that role to lead Team USA at the World University Games.
"I don't think we've ever had such a strong team traveling, both from the perspective of the U.S. and for CU," Rokos said. "Gabriel, Carolina and Sara are the top skiers for their countries. It's kind of a two-way street. We want to do well as the United States, but we also want our athletes to do well overall even if they're competing for a different nation."
Each country fields a team of six skiers for each discipline. So the three CU women competing for the U.S. comprise half of the team.
The Buffs will all be competing in four events, the Super G, super combined, giant slalom and slalom races. The opening ceremonies take place at 7:30 p.m. local time on Thursday with races starting Saturday with the women's Super G, followed by the men's Super G on Sunday. On Monday, the super combined will be held for the women with the Super G races in the morning and the slalom races in the afternoon, followed Tuesday for the men's super combined on a similar schedule.
For the full article go to: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205084395&DB_OEM_ID=600
Wishing the Buffs and all the other US athletes a safe, fun, fast skiing trip!
Much Love!