GOVERNING Bodies

Slalom Canoe/Kayak Olympic Team Trials In April

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—USA Canoe/Kayak (USACK) will host the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for slalom canoe/kayak April 25-27 at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. The Olympic Team Trials are the second of three competitions that allow participants to earn points toward selection to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.

The Olympic Team Trials are expected to include 30 of the top slalom paddlers in the country, including 2004 Olympians Scott Parsons and Brett Heyl.

Other international paddling events held the same weekend will include the 2008 Canadian Olympic Team Trials, the COPAC Pan-American Championships, an International Canoe Federation race and the Americas Olympic Continental Qualifier. The Americas Olympic Continental Qualifier will determine the remaining slalom canoe and kayak competition slots for North, Central and South American nations for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Medals To 1980 Olympians Designated Official Congressional Gold Medals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has announced that the medals awarded to the 461 athletes of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games have officially been recognized as Congressional Gold Medals.

Following the United States’ boycott of the 1980 Games held in Moscow, in protest of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, Congress enacted Public Law 96-306 that authorized President Jimmy Carter to present gold medals to the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympic Team to “record the historical sacrifice the Olympians made to preserve freedom and to record the patriotic role of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team in the Cold War with the Soviet Union,” according to a USOC press release. To reduce the costs of producing so many medals, the medals were gold-plated rather than solid gold, and, therefore, could not be included in the official listing of Congressional Gold Medals. Last September, USOC CEO Jim Scherr and Rep. Todd Tiahrt (Kansas) requested in writing that the Clerk of the House of Representatives designate the medals as official Congressional Gold Medals and add the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympic Team to the official list of Congressional Gold Medal recipients. The official Congressional Gold Medal designation was announced by the USOC in December.

USAT Selects Avia As Official Running Shoe

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—USA Triathlon (USAT) has designated Avia as its official running shoe. The partnership gives Avia title sponsorship of the USAT Collegiate National Championship in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Avia will also outfit some of the elite-level triathletes on the USAT Trade Team, who are training for the Olympic Team Trials and hoping to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.