USVI Olympic Team

They had a couple of articles in the News. I know we have Boxers and a Rifleman, I think we have a Sailor also. Hope to see more in the local media about these Great Athletes.

You might find some info here:

http://www.virginislandsolympics.com/

There was an article on the front page of the Avis about a week ago about a "skeleton" something team?

Thanks.

I looked at this site previously and could not find a list of athletes sent to China.

I Also checked the sailing entries, since that is the only sport the VI has medaled in and could not find a VI entry.

Jim

PS Skelton is a winter sport.

Here is the roster: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=17627392

Now, can someone explain to me how the USVI can have an Olympic team separate from the US Team?

Hey EE!

The USVI can send athletes to China because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognized the island's National Olympic Committee (NOC). NOCs are the official representatives of each Olympic delegation and are approved only after meeting criteria established by the IOC. But while the standards national committees must meet are clear, the rules governing who can form them are considerably murkier. The Olympic Charter states, "the expression 'country' means an independent State recognized by the international community," and the IOC interprets insular areas as sufficiently independent to participate in the games. Thus, the IOC recognized the USVI NOC in 1967.

PS Skelton is a winter sport.

Oh, thank you Jim, well the VI has a team of 4 going over for that event, if I'm correct.

Thank you very much for the link to the roster.

One small factual discrepancy. According to the official Olympic site the USVI only has one medal. That was a silver medal in 1988 games for sailing FINN. The newspaper talks about three medals.

Jim

Cruz: The skelton is a sledding event that occurs during the winter Olympics. Not too much sledding in 90 degree heat! 😉 I think the article was referring to the last Winter Olympics- and I have already forgotten where it was- two years ago??

dnt: Thanks for the explanation! Those stogies are making you real smart! 😎

I skimmed the skeleton article also. I believe it said the team is trying to raise funds for training for the winter olympics coming up in 2 years. I have images from 'Cool Runnings' in my head now...

Jim: Peter Holmberg won a silver sailing FOR the USVI. I believe the other two were Virgin islanders competing for the USA.

Someone correct me if I am wrong...
(Yeah, I know you guys will even without the invitation!:P)

Thanks you guys, you learn something new everyday.

cruz: Jim Dandy has really got me researching now. (Gotta get some of the stogies, dnt ) The Friday 8/8/08 Daily News dead tree edition has a list of all the Olympics teams- winter and summer- since 1968. I knew that Ronald Russell was an Olympics supporter, but I see he participated in track and field on the 76 & 84 teams. There was no skelton team in Turino in 06, so they must be looking forward to 10.

There are two athletes competing for the BVI in track and field.

I enjoyed seeing the parade (is that what you call it?). I even caught a glimpse of the USVI team.

We got two milliseconds, it seems... and I found the announcer to be rather snarky. Of course, he certainly did not consciously mean to be. So I guess that it means he actually was not.

OK, let me re-phrase. He used sentences that I found insensitive, like referring to how since the countries were not in alphabetical order, but appeared according to the number of strokes in the Chinese characters, would be found "nonsensical" by those tuning in. I did not like that word, and don't think it was necessary. All he had to do was to announce the format in which the list was compiled without putting thoughts into our heads.

He joked that the ruler of one African country (cannot remember which) had promised medal winners dream homes while pronouncing him "wily", because never in the history of that country had anyone brought home a medal. Ah, those Third World countries, headed by leaders who underestimate the intelligence of their citizens. Hmmmm.... sounds like the U.S. of A. I can say this, so I have much for which to be grateful... but: "Pot, Kettle... Kettle, Pot!"

I turned the sound down, but continued to enjoy the spectacle. NBC owes us one, we deserved more than that brief flash. They should have had cameras placed so that no matter where they were coming back from sponsors, there could have been a few seconds of coverage for every country. They gave big props to the larger countries, and smaller ones were lumped into strings that you missed if you breathed.

At least we made Wikipedia respectably: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Islands_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics

I think the Wikipedia entry has left a few VI athletes out -- maybe a track athlete or two and a swimmer?