 |
 |
your site linked, with LinkAlert! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
URLwire
for Thursday, April 1, 2004
Distinguished Members of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and gold medalists Bob Beamon (1968 Track & Field), Bart Conner (1984 Gymnastics) and Debbie Meyer (1968 Swimming) were on hand in Chicago to help announce the event. The awards show-style induction ceremony will be held July 1 in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre and will air in a nationally-televised special on USA Network (if and when the NBC-Universal merger closes). Envisioned as a lasting tribute to the pursuit of excellence and the Olympic ideals, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame was established to celebrate the achievements of America's premier athletes in the modern Olympic Games. The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame returns to its roots in Chicago where the charter class was enshrined in 1983, with such Olympic legends as Beamon, Cassius Clay, Peggy Fleming, Al Oerter, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Mark Spitz, Jim Thorpe and the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Hockey Team. Annual additions continued through 1992, adding Olympic legends such as Conner, Donna de Varona, Dorothy Hamill, “Sugar Ray” Leonard, Carl Lewis, Greg Louganis, Phil Mahre, Meyer, John Naber and Mary Lou Retton. The Hall of Fame consists of 151 Distinguished Members, including 68 athletes from individual sports, five teams and 11 special contributors. Corporate support from presenting sponsor Allstate sparked the Hall’s revitalization, along with additional support from Kleenex® Brand Tissue. “The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is a celebration of the unique spirit and heritage of the Olympic movement in America,” said USOC Chief Executive and Chief of Sport Performance Jim Scherr. “We appreciate the support of Allstate Insurance Company, which has taken a lead role in reviving the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, as well as Kleenex for their commitment to honoring the accomplishments of America’s Olympic greats and, in doing so, preserving the Olympic ideals.” Many well-known names are among the list of finalists for the Class of 2004, including 19 individuals, six teams and five Paralympians. The complete list of 2004 finalists is below, while the list of existing Distinguished Members of the Hall of Fame is available at usolympicteam.com From today through April 14, fans are invited to log onto usolympicteam.com, the official site of the U.S. Olympic Team, to vote for the athletes they feel are deserving of Hall of Fame induction. Participating online voters will be automatically entered to win one of three VIP trips to Chicago to attend the 2004 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Earlier this year, a 10-person nominating committee consisting of athletes, distinguished members of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, media, historians and USOC representatives selected the finalists for the 2004 ballot. Voting weight will be divided among U.S. Olympians, select U.S. Olympic family/media and fans. The Hall of Fame is comprised of five categories, each with different qualifications and processes for induction: >> Individual Sport/Event -- Finalist must be retired from Olympic competition for at least four years following the last Olympic competition to qualify. Nineteen finalists were selected by the nominating committee and six (6) will be inducted. >> Team -- U.S. team must have participated in Olympic competition at least four years prior to the induction ceremony and must consist of two or more athletes competing in an event. Six finalists were selected and one (1) will be inducted. >> Paralympian -- U.S. athlete must be retired from competition for at least four years following the last Paralympic Games. A Paralympic nominating committee selected five (5) finalists in this first-time category and one (1) will be inducted. Veteran -- An Olympian who competed 12 Olympiads (48 years) prior to the ceremony. The nominating committee selected the one (1) inductee to be announced in May. >> Special Contributor -- An individual who has demonstrated extraordinary service to enhancing the Olympic Movement in the United States. The nominating committee selected the one (1) inductee to be announced in May. “Allstate proudly maintains a relationship with its customers characterized by ‘protection’ and ‘preparation,’ and the company sees its U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame sponsorship as a way to extend those very concepts,” said Allstate senior vice president and chief marketing officer Joe Tripodi. “By contributing to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame revitalization, Allstate is helping to protect the Olympic ideal and prepare America’s blossoming athletes for the same commitment to excellence on which the Hall of Fame was built and will be reborn.” Allstate’s role as Presenting Sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame completes the company’s strategic Olympic involvement this year, including its recent sponsorship of USA Basketball. Allstate also supports youth basketball clinics at Boys & Girls Clubs in select cities. In 2002, Allstate began its Olympic sponsorship support, reuniting the celebrated 1980 gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team. “The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will pay tribute to some of the most emotional U.S. victories in Olympic Games history, where we find athletes at their most human of moments. As an Associate Sponsor of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the Kleenex Brand is proud to help revive this important Olympic Games tradition,” said Mary Goggans, associate marketing director of Kleenex Brand Tissue. U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
Individual Finalists -- Six (6) to
be inducted
Team Finalists -- One (1) to be inducted
Paralympian Finalists -- One (1)
to be inducted
Cast
your vote for the Hall right now!
News linking
services and news search engines are welcome to index/link this story
Complimentary advertisements below (URLwire does not accept paid ads or affiliate links)
|
. | What
is the URLwire Network?
URLwire is an email and web based alert service for people who write about and review web sites, like Yahoo Picks of the Week or USA Today Hot Sites or WDFM. Learn more . Who uses URLwire? Two key groups: 1). Editors and site reviewers looking for great sites to write about and link to. 2). Online news search engines and news syndicates like Moreover.com and Newshub syndicate the URLwire headline links. . How do sites get on URLwire? I only announce useful, unique, or educational web content on URLwire. I send the announcement to online site reviewers and journalists who are looking for new web content to write about and link to, and I post an online version of the site announcement here. I've announced thousands of sites on URLwire since it debuted in 1994. If you think
your site should be announced, request URLwire service details/fees via
. You can also learn more about
URLwire here.
Want to
receive URLwire?
•••••••••••••••••••
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![[ Yahooligans! ]](ykd4.gif){kind=small}
|
|