Jim Scherr
Jim Scherr
considered few highest olympic powers prior salt winter won
Prior to Salt Lake, we were an afterthought as a winter sport nation. We had won a few medals, the highest being 13. But we really weren't considered one of the powers in the Winter Olympic Games.
city clearly competing difficult environment expect friendly front great group home lake salt time
In Salt Lake City we were on our home soil, very friendly environment, same time zone, home-cooked meals, competing in front of friends and family. We expect a more difficult time here, but we clearly have a great group of athletes.
athletes crowd eating friendly helped home lake meals opportunity salt similar time venues wonderful zone
In Salt Lake City, we had a wonderful opportunity to participate on our home soil. We had a home crowd and a friendly environment. We were in the same time zone or similar time zone to where the athletes trained. You're eating home-cooked meals with friends and family. And I think familiarity with the venues helped as well.
achieve athletes coming efforts high lake level quality salt throughout
Clearly, we didn't achieve to the level of our expectations coming to the Games, which were very high coming out of Salt Lake and were high because of the quality efforts of the athletes throughout this four-year period.
achieved athletes close games hope lake match opportunity performance salt
We think there's an opportunity for a performance that could come close to or match what the athletes achieved in Salt Lake City. We hope they'll be able to achieve at that level. We'll tell you after the games how we did.
city expect finishes lake medals might predict salt team win
We had 34 podium finishes in Salt Lake City and 75 top-eight finishes. We expect this team to do very well. We're not going to predict how many medals we might win in these games.
again athletes both governing lake national performance power prove salt sports surprise view winter
I think we're going to again surprise the world with how the U.S. does. They view our performance in Salt Lake as an aberration. I think our athletes and our national governing bodies, both individually and collectively, are out to prove that their performance wasn't an aberration that we are collectively a winter sports power in the world.
behavior conduct country delegation experience opportunity public themselves
In Beijing, China's public will have the opportunity to experience firsthand our country through the conduct of our delegation at those Games. So their behavior and how they conduct themselves will be exceptionally important.
came games ourselves
I'm disappointed in ourselves and our own expectations that we came into the games with, which may not have been realistic.
certainly challenge faced movement olympic time united
It's certainly the most significant challenge we've faced in a very long time as an Olympic movement in the United States.
competition history largest olympic sports
It will be the largest Olympic sports competition in the history of the world.
case happened next number point present react themselves
We will use a number of things that happened here to point out specifically to our next teams, case studies, if you will, how to react and how to present themselves in the games' environment.
bit hit taken team
This team has taken a bit of a hit because of their comportment.
bit case few great hit hope incidents performance taken team view
This team has taken a bit of a hit because of the expectations of some high-profile athletes. It was a case of mismanaged expectations and some unforeseen circumstances. But we'd hope a few incidents would not overshadow what we view as a great performance by our team.