By BFS
The400-meter trackand artificial turf infield are used by athletes from all sports in their training at the Olympic Training Center.
About the U.S. Olympic Training Center An almost pure athletic environment is nestled at the base of Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs ilnd Lake Placid. There is a spirit to excel, to push harder than the day before, propels athletes from across the country In their quest to become Olympic contenders. Sprinters, swimmers, gymnasts, wrestlersathletes in more than 30 different sports - now hilve a chilnce to receive some of the best training of their athletic CMeers. For milny, the United States Olympic Trilining Center represents a dreilm fimlly fulfilled: an excellent set of training filcilities in the country for amateur athletes.
The training center approach provides the best possible training for international-class athletes as well as those at other levels of ability. The concept emerged following the 1976 OlympiCS, when it became ilpparent that new advances were needed if U.S. athletes were to remain competitive with ilthletes from other niltions Simply, its purpose is to provide the most modern concepts in athletic training and development for any athlete who has the drive, ilrnbition and ability to strive for iln Olympic gold medal. This approach il Iso helps identify ilthletes with the potentiill to become world-class performers.
Athletes Me sent to train at the excellent but spartiln OTC facilities after being selected by their Niltional Governing Bodies (NGBs) on il basis of potential performilnce. Training programs range from developmental to elite. Each athlete can be examined, monitored, and evaluMed to determine peak levels of performance. Hard work, determination and natural ability designate how far an athlete will go. Less thiln 10 percent of 20,000 athletes who will train ilnnuilily at the Olympic Training Centers will be considered world-clilss competitors.
What is important is that all the athletes will have been recognized and given access to the niltion's top coaches and trilining facilities to test their full ilbilities.
Bob Mathais, past Olympic Decathlon winner who now directs the Olympic Training Center, gave Coach Greg Shepard the Grand Tour Bob Mathais states "The OTC here in Colorado Springs has 620 beds on-site As many as 1,000 athletes have been registered at a single time using other housing facilities during peak summer months." He further explained, "It costs a n a verage of $15.50 per day to house and feed one athlete." The training center in Colorado Springs opened in 1977 at the site of the former Ent Air Force Base and has since been expanded. At the present time, the 34acre Olympic Complex has 20 buildings, most of which are named after the sites of former Olympic Games.
The Olympic Training Center includes six dormitories, one dining hall, recreation center and several meeting rooms. The athletic facilities include a 400-meter track, the Melbourne Training Building, Berlin GymnaSium, Munich Sports Medicine Building and the well-appointed Sports Center.
The Olympic Track The 400-meter synthetic all-weather Chevron track meets the specifications of the International Amateur Athletic Federation necessary to \/alidate world record performances. Although designed for soccer and field hockey, the "Super Tu rf' svnthetic, all-weather infield is used by all athletes. Athletes from all sports use both the track and infield for running, stretching and calisthenics. The track area also has special facilities for long jumpers, high jumpers, triple jumpers, and vaulters. Runways for the three jumping events are constructed for both eastwa rd and westwa rd approaches to counterbalance the prevailing wind conditions.
Additional Facilities in Colorado Springs The community of Colorado Springs has several excellent facilities that also are used by athletes from the OlympiC Training Center. These facilities are located at the United States Air Force Academy, Fort Carson (a major US. Army installation), five local high schools, the well-established areas set aside by the community's Department of Parks and Recreiltion, ilnd the Country Club of Colorado.
Director Bob Mathais in a pensive mood contemplating all the things that should be done to help athletes.
The $4 million Sports Center contains six separate gyms Sports Center The US. Olympic Committee opened its $4 million Sports Center in July 1982. It contains six separate gymnasia and is designed to accommodate the 12 sports on the programs of the Olympic and Pan American Garnes. The 59,000 square-foot building is designed for quick change to accommodate a wide variety of sports simultaneously. The main hall, which seats 2,700 spectators, is used for special events and compditions <1t the Olympic Training Center. It consists of three gymnasia which have 118-by 58-fll()t maple floors and can be separated by curtains to providl' practice areas.
The other three gymnasia have resilient material floors and vary in SiLl'. One is 100 by 58 feet, a second measu res 100 by 42 feet a nd the th ird is 120 by 45 feet. For internationill volleyball competitions, the exhibition court ceiling in one gymnasium is 41 feet, mel'ting the international requirements The mai n floor of the Sports Center has two locker rooms, two athletic trainers' rooms, a first-aid room, a control room, as well as a conference room.
Thl' Sports Center has been designed to provide training/competitive facilities meeting all requirements for the following sports: archery, basketball, boxing, fencing, gymnastics, judo, tabk tennis, team handball, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling. Prepoured concrete panels were used in the construction of the building. The foundation consists of 75 individual caissons sunk to depths of 30 to 45 feet and spanned by poured concrete grade beams. The facility has "natural lighting" provided by 55 skylights.
Director - Bob Mathais Bob Mathais, the only two-time Olympic decathlon gold medalist, was appointed director of the US OlympiC Training Center in 1977. [n 1948, at the age of 17, Mathais gained worldwide acclaim by winning the Olympic decathlon gold medal in London. He repeated his victory in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, establishing a yet unbeaten record as the world's only two-time Olympic decathlon champion. Mathais was elected to the US. Congress in 1966 as a representative from California and served until 1975 While a U.S. Representative, Mathais was a member of the Agriculture Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee (now the International Relations Committee).
He also served asa delegate to the House NATO Conferences As a representative of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and on five trips abroad for the US. State Department, Mathais organized and encouraged sports and youth programs in America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Mathais was elected to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and was recently elected to the San Francisco Bay Area Hall of Fame. He received the AAU's Sullivan Award as the Outstanding Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1948 and was named as one of America's 10 most outstanding young men by the US Junior Chamber of Commerce. Mathais graduated from Stanford in 1953 with a B.A degree in Education.
A sports physiologist measures the heart rate of an athlete. Continued on Page 7
From BFS Magazine — May/June 1984. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
