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The United States is sending six skaters, including speed champions Joey Mantia and Brittany Bowe, to the 2007 Pan American Games this month in Rio Janeiro, Brazil. The skaters will compete in the disciplines of speed and artistic skating. The speed skaters will compete on inline skates in six races. Among the events will be a 300-meter time trial, sprints of 500 and 1000 meters, and a marathon. Mantia, 21, of Ocala, FL, will be a favorite in any event he enters. He is the reigning all-around world champion speed skater. Last year, he won the track, road and marathon titles at the World Championships.
However, it is not clear which events he will skate. He said Tuesday in an interview from Waco, Texas, where he is training, that each country may only be allowed to enter one skater per event. Mantia and the other U.S. speed skaters will be heading to Brazil on July 20, after the finish of Indoor Nationals in Omaha, NE. Speed skating is scheduled for July 24 and 25; artistic skating is July 21 and 22. Here is the list of U.S. skaters: Women:
Men:
The U.S. Team consists of 595 athletes comprised of 273 women and 322 men. The XV Pan American Games, July 13-29, will feature approximately 5,500 athletes from 42 nations competing in 37 sports and 332 events. Contested every four years, the Pan American Games historically draws the largest U.S. athlete delegation of any Games operation overseen by the USOC. By comparison, 537 U.S. athletes competed in Athens, Greece, during the 2004 Olympic Games, while 210 competed in Torino, Italy, at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The Pan American Games will showcase all 31 Olympic sports, as well as five additional sports that are on the Pan American Games program: bowling, karate, roller sports, squash and water skiing. This year’s Pan American Games will also feature the sport of futsal, an indoor soccer variation. ...
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