USOC Olympic Coach E-Magazine
Summer 2008

By Doug Ingram August 8, 2008 at 8:08pm, the XXIX Olympic Games will begin. Lifetimes of preparation are now being counted in days and even hours. Preparation time is now converging with competition time. Having been around the Games for a number of years, I can feel the change in energy as the intensity increases for our athletes and teams. Full Article...

2007 COACHES OF THE YEAR Anyone who has ever coached knows the commitment of coaching. Coaches want their athletes to be successful, to appreciate and learn about sport. The great moments in coaching come when an athlete regardless of their age accomplishes a task or a goal for the first time. That moment of child-like pleasure and excitement for the athlete and the coach is “Zen” like. It is that moment that most coaches cherish. Full Article...

2008 BEIJING GAMES - OVERVIEW One word can be used to describe the 2008 Olympic Games—spectacular! These Olympic Games will be unmatched in amazing venues and in a country that is rich with historic culture. U.S. athletes are preparing for a competition on the home soil of a serious competitor. Twenty eight sports will compete for 303 medals during the Olympics with 19 Paralympic sports competing 12 days later. Thirty-one competition venues will be located in Beijing. Sailing will be in Qingdao, equestrian will be in Hong Kong and soccer will have preliminary games in Qinhuangdao and Tianjin. Full Article...

THE ORDER OF IKKOS By Rebecca Sturdy, USOC Media Intern After a nationwide search, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has selected artwork submitted by Professor Jamie Franki (Charlotte, N.C.) as the design that will grace the front of the newly created Order of Ikkos medallion. Full Article...

INTEGRATION OF PARALYMPIC ATHLETES INTO “ABLE-BODIED” HIGH SCHOOL CLUB AND COLLEGIATE PROGRAMS Edited by Julie O’Neill and Lauren Richardson Paralympic athletes, from the local level through the elite international ranks of Paralympic sport, participate in team or individual sport programs for the same reasons as “able-bodied” athletes: they want to have fun, they enjoy the sport, they want to be with friends and make new friends, they want to ‘get in shape’ and stay healthy, they want to improve their skills and performances, they want to be elite competitors at the national and international levels, and they enjoy competition. Full Article...

PRE-EVENT MEALS By Helen DeMarco, M.S., R.D. Updated by Nancy Clark, R.D., FACSM It is well established that exercise performance can be affected by diet and, in order to maintain optimal training, the body must be properly fueled with appropriate nutrients. The pre-event meal is an integral part of the complete training plan. Of course, a single pre-event meal will not compensate for a poor training diet. For this reason, the active person should routinely follow basic nutrition guidelines. It is essential that the diet contain enough calories to cover the active person’s daily energy expenditure. It is also advised that the diet be composed of a wide variety of foods to ensure adequate intake of vitamins and minerals. The training diet should be high in carbohydrates without compromising necessary protein and fat. Full Article...

TRAVEL NUTRITION…MORE THAN JUST A “PLAN B” By Adam Korzun, USOC Sports Dietician A proper eating program is just as important to an elite athlete’s success as their training program. At the Olympic Training Centers, we strive to make sure athletes have the best performance-based foods at their disposal. However, when athletes travel the world for training and competition finding those familiar performance-based foods can often be a challenge. Putting a low quality fuel into the body can lead to decreased performance, compromised health and other complications. Full Article...

RON O'BRIEN - DIVING One of Diving’s finest coaches, Ron O’Brien has an Olympic Coaching career that is hard to imagine. He has served as the Head Olympic Coach for seven straight Olympic Games and an eighth as an Assistant Coach. For 23 consecutive years, an O’Brien coached athlete captured a National Championship. As a collegiate athlete, he competed in gymnastics and diving for The Ohio State University and he served as their diving coach for 15 years. The diving well at OSU has been named as a tribute to the success of Ron O’Brien. Full Article...

WHAT TO DO BEFORE HITTING THE ROAD: THREE KEY TASKS WHILE PREPARING FOR THE “BIG ONE” By Sean McCann, PhD, Performances Services Sport Psychologist (Strength and Power Sportfolio) Before everything else, getting ready is the secret to success. - Henry Ford Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. - Confucius With the Beijing Olympics arriving in less than 100 days, the USOC is in the middle of the Olympic Trials season for our summer sports. In these last few nerve-wracking months for athletes and coaches, our USOC Sport Psychologists are regularly asked “what else should I be doing to get ready?” Although we wish this question had been asked 2 years ago, the reality is that there are some things that are worth doing in these last few months. Since this question is repeated so frequently, this column is a stripped-down list of only three items to be sure to do just prior to any big event. Full Article...

EFFECTS OF TAPERING ON PERFORMANCE: A META-ANALYSIS By Laurent Bosquet, Jonathan Montpetit, Denis Arvisais and Iņigo Mujika Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Volume39, No 8, pp.1358-1365, 2007. This group of researchers selected 27 studies out of 182 to conduct a meta-analysis on tapering. The criteria for selection was that they had to involve competitive athletes; the study had to provide details of how the taper was conducted; and then be based on a competition or other highly regarded performance criteria. A meta-analysis is a statistical technique that can combine the results of several studies into a single result. It allows the researcher to have a larger database and to identify key findings across different studies. Full Article...

"Hot Off The Press" is a regular feature of OLYMPIC COACH. This column provides a reading list on a topic or topics covered in the current issue or information that is of interest to the coaching community. The list will take the form of websites, books or journals. To obtain a copy of the books and journals listed here contact your local library. If they do not own the publication, they may obtain a copy for you through interlibrary loan. Full Article...