USOC head optimistic about Turin Games
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-30 09:25

History shows that 20 medals would be a realistic goal for the United States in the upcoming Winter Olympics. The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee is optimistic, but doesn't want to play the numbers game.

"It's unpredictable," USOC chief executive officer Jim Scherr said Tuesday. "They compete on snow and ice and anything can happen. But we feel good about it."

Jim Scherr, executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, is shown during a news conference in Atlanta, in this March 4, 2004 photo.[AP]

Speaking to a group of business leaders in the USOC's hometown of Colorado Springs, Scherr acknowledged that "the opportunity to match or surpass our performance in Salt Lake City exists." But he refused to cornered into setting a specific goal, preferring to talk instead about Winter Olympic history.

American athletes set a national record with 34 medals at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Over history, though, countries that have competed on their own turf have experienced a 41 percent drop in medals at the next Olympics on foreign soil. Taking 41 percent from 34 would mean 20 medals for the Americans, who before 2002, had never won more than 13.

Scherr, while spouting those numbers, doesn't want to play the guessing game the way some of his predecessors have.

He brought up NBC, which has a massive financial stake in the games and will televise up to 1,000 hours on its conglomerate of networks, as having hyped the 2006 squad as the best-ever group of Americans.

"We don't know if that's true or not, and we won't know until after the games are over," Scherr said. "But we do know, on paper, this is our most accomplished team."

Indeed, there are plenty of well-known names with very good resumes traveling to Turin.

Among those who won medals in 2002 and are expected to return are speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, bobsledders Todd Hays and Vonetta Flowers, figure skater Michelle Kwan, the men's and women's hockey teams and, of course, skier Bode Miller.

"I'll give you the Al Davis line: Just win, baby," Scherr said of Miller, who has stirred things up with his campaign for loosening doping rules in skiing, then found himself the target of increased testing.

"I know Bode," Scherr said. "He's a good kid. He's a great athlete and we're just excited to see what he does."

Others who have established themselves as favorites during successful seasons in 2004 and '05 include freestyle skier Jeremy Bloom, alpine skiers Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso and Daron Rahlves, speedskater Shani Davis and figure skater Sasha Cohen.

Also at the luncheon was David Raith, the new executive director of U.S. Figure Skating, who said the Americans, led by Cohen and Kwan on the women's side, were going into the games as rare underdogs.

"Winning a gold medal will be a challenge for us," Raith said.

Dave Ogrean, the head of USA Hockey, said the women's team is trying to close a big gap with Canada. The United States lost games by scores of 5-0 and 7-0 to the Canadians earlier this month at a tournament in Turin.

But with Chanda Gunn in goal last weekend at an exhibition in Ohio, the Americans won 2-1 in a shootout.

The men, meanwhile, will get to skate as a team for only a day, maybe two, before taking to the ice in their Olympic opener against Latvia. The NHL, which will supply most of the players in the games, plays its last game before the Olympic break on Feb. 12. The first puck in Turin is dropped Feb. 15.

"We've got to be careful we don't get ambushed in that first game," Ogrean said of the men's team, which will be chosen Jan. 19.

Still, both American hockey teams will be favored to win some kind of medal, as will more than a dozen others from the United States.

If the haul approached 30, many would deem the Olympics a success for the Americans. Scherr, however, doesn't want to put a number out there and create extra pressure.