January 31, 2014 – Welcome back to you all… had to take a break to take care of some things but glad to be back as I missed writing. Here are the latest topics of interest in the all-important countdown to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games.

Strange One – the last Nordic Combined event before the Olympics was unattended by the US Olympic NC Team, which I would have thought would have been a for sure event to be at, as the two bottom members of the team have not been up to snuff in previous events. I’m sure Todd Lodwick would have competed if they thought he was ready following his shoulder injury sustained a four short weeks ago. It would have been a good test and racing is also the best re-hab program and use of his time to his shoulder ready for competition. I am worried for him – he is the key element in the team event. Hope this strategy works out for them and also, their first event isn’t until Feb 12th – so more days to help him be ready.

Another Strange One – Chandra Crawford is in Sweden for her final camp (by herself) before the Olympics and is to join the rest of the team for the WC in Toblach, Italy. Every other Olympic athlete from all the Olympic Teams are at altitude and were involved in all kinds of different competitions in these past weeks. Chandra has raced only once in the last month as far as I know. I hope she knows something I don’t know, as this seems hardly the formula for success. I wish her the best and can’t wait to see her in the WC free style sprint event (her favorite) in Toblach on Feb 2nd – the last race before the Olympics. Should be a good field!
Bon chance!

Olympic Team Selection – the following is stuff I posted on SkiTrax and other sites after the US and Canadian teams were named as I felt a number of skiers were short-changed not having been selected. To me the thinking behind the selection in both countries was not up to speed on the criteria (Canada) and how the process in the US and Canada, is now so international.

I’m hearing rumours that two women in Canada appealed to be put on the team, but it wasn’t really necessary as they were excluded from the initial  selection… yet when the criteria was reviewed it turns out they should have been part of the initial selection. I hope that Brittany Webster is ready to have a better team experience at these Olympics than she did at Vancouver in 2010.

The US Team and Canadians, as you will read, have now found themselves in a new situation, with their selection process – the focus has become very international. All of the women and three men were in place for selection to the US Olympic Team without ever having raced in the US. This team had picked itself as early as half way thru last winter based on races in Europe. It was the same for three of the men – they only needed help from the points list to be able to fill all their starting positions available on the men’s team.

I see two types of a selection process being used to pick these two teams with in the same program. Yes, very strange? The Canadians did a reversal here – 4 men and 3 ladies all picked from the WC in Europe.

Here’s what I have written to this point. These comments regarding the the selection process of the teams appeared on both SkiTrax and Faster Skier under the Olympic team announcements – there was big time commenting with well over 100 comments between the the articles!

Time to chime in, as I see some of this whole process in a very different light than most of you – I’m a big points believer as my wife, Kathy and I designed the first points list back in the early to mid-70s in the US and then again in Canada in the early 80s. Big reason in the US, was because of the size of the country and trying to pick teams more objectively. It took a while to get enough cross pollination from one end of the country to the other so the lists that came out were more valid then just the coaches or some committee naming a team.

Canada was a different reason, yes, it was a big country with the same problems, but when I went there in my 1st meeting with the athletes, their biggest complaint about the selection process for teams and trips was that there was too much politics and to many personalities in the selection process.

The points now are a good selection criteria after all these years (very valid), especially given that the international team spends its winters in Europe. The domestics only get a shot at them in the spring or if you’re the Continental Cup winner of trip to the World Cup for one period – that’s one guy and one lady each period – a very small cross section. History says that this process is not working – not for the US Team, anyway – but it is free as FIS pays the bill or the organizers do.

So, onward – I see the selection in a different light. For me 57% of the men were picked by points and 0% of the women had that option. Essentially that tells the women at home your international future is very limited. I’ve always been keen to fill the quota and still am as it has profound affects on the future of the program encouraging fringe skiers that there is a chance for them. Just think, not more than 2-3 years ago all of the US team’s young ladies including Noah Hoffman were on the fringe. It encourages all of the programs at home to row harder as you never know when and where that next skier is going to pop up.

I’ve always believed that the Olympics is also a development program – I’m sure I’ll get some back lash on that statement. Any time you can introduce a skier to the “big show” with the potential that they will make it again in four years, you’ve knocked down a ton of barriers they will not even see the next time. Also, there are two WSC in those 4 years – mini-Olympics!! The USOC is paying the bill, so you might as well spend their money.

With this in mind, I bring forward that there are 6 events with 4 starters each meaning 24 potential starting spots and with the addition of extra days and the potential for some skiers to ski all the events – altho there will be a few that will try – they will compromise medals doing this, and every skier has their specialties.

In looking at the US women’s team, they are not as strong right now as you might think. Holly Brooks and Sadie Bjornsen are big question marks. Holly has not skied to her potential since mid-winter last year and Sadie has been away from racing for close to six weeks – it has been a struggle for her (read her blog –Jan 9th entry “16 Days with 6 French Frogs”) and Holly hasn’t raced in four weeks. In listening to the press conference on SkiTrax for the naming of the team, a lot of the evaluation of who is skiing what event will come next week Feb1-2 in Toblach, Italy.

Oh, discretion – after a few mishaps of using it on the marginal selectees, I changed my thinking and only used it on the top guys in case of injury or sickness , especially during tryout periods. It might be good if it went the way of the dodo bird – extinct – with all the different ways now that there is to make a team. There were 10 athletes on this team that knew they had made two of the criteria to be named to the Olympic team last spring – it just had to be made official.

We can sit here and try to guesstimate who is going to ski what events – good luck. So, as not to look too dumb, at least wait until after Toblach.

I hope you’re getting the gist of what I think should be done here – stick to the points list and add Kate Fitzgerald and Caitlin Gregg. No more boys – they’ve gone deep enough.

Wishing the best to these athletes, the coaches, the technicians and all the other support people it takes to pull off the big show this next month. For you guys and gals that didn’t make it – it’s only 12 months to the World Ski Championships in Falun – don’t let go all of what you have gained and learned these past years!!

Second Article
Well, we’ve pummeled the nail enough times – some misses and a lot of hits – the technicians whom are in short supply really do work their butts off. But they have only one day where they have two races (8 skiers) to deal with, otherwise it’s one race per day – 4 skiers – in any given WC day they could be dealing with up to 10-12 skiers. So that excuse just flew out the window

Also have any of you really looked at the schedule – the day-off breaks in the Olympic cross-country schedule in Sochi are two days, then three days, and then another 2-day break. A total of one week off – very nicely spread out – plus the skiers get another day off when the other sex is skiing, so that really lightens the load. So that excuse continues to get diluted – come on GUYS!! The coaches haven’t figured this out as well as they should have – or is there a bit of a protection thing going on here.

I HATE IT WHEN STARTING SPOTS ARE UNUSED…WHAT A WASTE. THAT EXPERIENCE MAY SERVE ANOTHER SKIER DOWN THE ROAD – REMEMBER, WE HAVE THE NEXT WORLD CHAMPS JUST 12 MONTHS AWAY. THE USOC FUNDS THIS PROGRAM AT THE OLYMPICS AND THEY WILL HELP YOU GET NEXT YEAR’S TEAM READY. PLUS USSA DOESN’T GET TO CHERRY PICK ANY OF THOSE DOLLARS OFF.

One other thing, the tryouts are getting to be TOO INTERNATIONAL. All US XC Team members must be required to attend the Nats and Spring Series, as part of their team contract. This cross pollination is almost dead in the US – the kids at home NEED TO GET access to their points (and the Euros, as they are becoming, have great points to give). But more important is that they get to see these people and interact with them. WHAT A WAY TO GET THE NEXT YEAR STARTED – GOOD POINTS – GOOD RELATIONSHIPS RE-BUILT… OH, YES, THERE HAS TO BE A PARTY TO REMEMBER!!!! BEEN THERE—DONE THAT!!!

FORGOT MY BIG POINT WITH ONE WEEK TO GO… CAITLIN IS IN EUROPE — ADD HER AND GET KATE AND SYLVAN OVER THERE ASAP.

The Same Goes for Canada – this is Canada’s 3rd year of being in Europe for the full 5-month ride and by the end of last winter they had 4 men and 3 women that had made the qualifying criteria for selection to the Olympic Team. Then they went to their domestic criteria to pick additional skiers and finally added two men and four ladies.

BUT THE CANADIAN INTERNATIONALS HARDLY SHOWED UP FOR THE SPRING HAYWOOD CUP RACES THIS PAST YEAR

A Closing Statement – I support adding skiers whole heartily as you have gathered from what I have written and the same is true for many others when you pour thru the comments written by the many writers – now it is time for all you guys that were late picks to step up and show us what you really got. Go dig that extra 10% out of your selves, that I know is in there. You just haven’t found it yet. Become a Hoffman… go up front and try skiing with the big guys. Go early…he’s done it the past two years and now it seems like he’s got it figured out. Worked for him, now make it work for you – take a chance.

Talk To You Soon!