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USA-China Sports Summit for 2005 to open
The US Olympic Committee announced the creation of the USA-China Sports Summit, a multi-sport competition to be launched next year in Seattle as part of the build-up to the 2008 Beijing Games.
USOC chief executive Jim Scherr, noting that the USOC's "primary goal" at the moment is the fast-approaching Athens Olympics, said it wasn't too soon to look toward 2008.
"This is an opportunity for our athletes to prepare for 2008 and for new rivals like China," Scherr said.
The mini-sports festival, to be held June 8-12, 2005 and again in 2006 and/or 2007, will be a world-class invitational with competition expected, but not yet confirmed, in athletics, indoor volleyball, diving, archery and other sports still in negotiation.
Top-level US and Chinese athletes as well as a host of other invited countries will participate.
The agreement also has the option for the Chinese Olympic Committee to host the event in 2006.
The USA-China Sports Summit will be the second international, multi-sport competition created in recent years by the USOC, joining the Titan Games, which will be contested in Atlanta for the third time in late summer 2005.
"With the creation of the USA-China Sports Summit and the Titan Games, we've developed sporting events that will intensify and maximize competitive opportunities for US athletes and will increase fan interest in Olympic sports.
The event, expected to cost some US$12 million, will be staged at venues in Seattle and surrounding cities.
The area is no stranger to such events, having hosted the Goodwill Games in 1990. |
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