Minutes of the April 26, 2015 Meeting of the Board of Directors made telephonically.
All board members present.
Meeting Purpose was to provide update information – no votes or action items presented.
Barry Matchett served as chair of the meeting.
USAP Board Update - State of the Sport
April 26, 2015
In the two months since we last met, the USA Pentathlon athletes, organizers and community
have been hard at work, “fighting the good fight” while participating, promoting and presenting
Pentathlon.
Immediately following the success of Sarasota, many in the Pentathlon family joined some 3000
guests in honoring Lori Norwood, 1989 World Champion, ‘86 Goodwill Games gold medalist and
1990 world silver medalist, and welcoming her into the San Antonio sports hall of fame. The
SASHF is a prestigious institution which includes sports legends such as David Robinson and
Pentathlon members Bob Nieman,
Vanessa Richey and Col. John
Russell.
Norwood was honored as much
for her accomplishments as an
artist and sculptor as for her
athleticism. Lori has two pieces on
display at the IOC Museum in
Lausanne, one in the office of the
IOC President and many at
museums and galleries around the
world. She has graciously donated
the medals for the US World Cup
since 2011. She is married to Dr.
Doug Stull, a member of numerous
Pentathlon world championship teams and has two daughters both who are beginning
pentathlon competition.
As February turned into March our athletes were busy trying to capitalize on the success
enjoyed in Sarasota. The team was next bound for Cairo, Egypt, the second stop on the World
Cup Series tour. Team USA fielded a full team of elite athletes despite the US Army’s decision
forbidding our Army athletes to attend the
competition. While it is understandable there
would be concern, it was unfortunate and
problematic for our selection system next
year if this order cannot be rescinded. Our
team did a great job in Egypt. Conditions
were optimal and the athletes did not
disappoint. In the women’s event, Both
Samantha Achterberg and Margaaux Isaksen
easily qualified to the final with Margaux
winning her semi-final by a significant
margin. Isabella Isaksen narrowly missed the
final while Grace Kittle set personal records in nearly every event. In the women’s final Margaux
won the fence, swam well, rode brilliantly on a challenging course and went into the Combined
with a 24 second lead. She should have easily won but she timed out on her fourth series and
Asadauskite, the Olympic Champion was
able to catch her though Margaux
brought home the silver medal.
Obviously Margaux was upset but upon
analyzing her target we could see that
all her shots were well grouped, but just
high and out of the black. A simple
adjustment would have delivered her to
the top of the podium.
Sammy had great improvement in the
fence under Seth Kelsey and Janusz’s
watchful eye, and she was able to break
th
into the top 20 finishing 18 . A great step for this young lady. Still it was nice to see the stars
and stripes waving during the medal ceremony for the second time in as many world cups. In
the men’s division, our young men did a great job
but in two words their efforts could be described
as, “gaining experience”. Brendan Anderson and
Lucas Schrimsher, both juniors, made a good
showing for themselves, while Harry Greene and
Ted Lauzen also performed respectably. Each
athlete had personal bests in the world cup. Two
weeks later things would be different in Rome.
The third world cup was challenging in many
respects. While the location was beautiful the
LOC did not provide adequately for meals and
hotel. Both were substandard. The military athletes were
back into the rotation but very unfortunately, the
Schrimshers suffered a terrible loss early in the week just
prior to departure when they received news of the death
of their father, only 56 years old. The brothers pulled
themselves together and went to Rome as they both
expressed that their Dad would want them to do that.
The main venue was magnificent, located in the famous
marble stadium. Our girls had trouble without Margaux
present (she stayed home to heal a slight knee injury)
with the lone bright spot being Isabella Isaksen winning
her semi-final and then nearly breaking into the top ten
with only a difficult horse stopping her in the final. It is
worth noting that her horse went for zero in both rounds.
Sammy did not repeat her result from Cairo but gained valuable experience in the fence which
she will need in Budapest.
Our men understandably didn’t fare too much better with only Olympian Dennis Bowsher
making the final. Once again it is clear that fencing is the key piece missing from Dennis’
Pentathlon. Also of note was Laura Asadauskaite’s amazing Combined moving from 20th to 1st
from 59 seconds back. She will be the athlete to beat at world championships.
Of note in Rome was the UIPM organized photo shoot in the interest of launching an
international marketing and promotional campaign later in the year. We were able to secure
slots for two of our elite athletes, both Margaux Isaksen and Nathan Schrimsher were able to
participate.
The 10 athletes selected traversed the city of Rome doing photo shoots at the Roman Forum,
Coliseum and Baths along
with candid shots about
town. It was a great
opportunity for Nathan
(pictured here while admiring
Elodie Clouvel) and will be for
Margaux later in the year.
The same weekend as the
Rome World Cup was also the
start of what we all hope will be an annual occurrence in San Antonio, Texas. A long-planned
reunion of athletes who participated while the sport was based in San Antonio (over 4 decades)
took place with a Saturday evening gathering that drew dozens of Pentathletes. While I was
unable to attend, Monica Rowland did make it and no doubt can share more insight as to the
people and events of the weekend.
This event was a great example of what the sport
could do to encourage our alumni to reconnect with
the sport and the great memories it provided to them.
San Antonio is the catalyst for this and now with John
Moreau taking the head coaching position at IWU and
Monica’s work with developing young pentathletes
locally, it is the foothold which we need to create a
vibrant regional training environment.
The final US qualification competition was held in Colorado Springs only a few days ago. This
was the 4th qualifier of the season and the first year where we have held a 4th event. This was
done to encourage athletes who did not make
the top 5 places in February to keep training for
the national championships. All the usual
suspects competed in what was a fierce final
Combined event in the men’s division. Only a few
seconds separated the top five athletes in a
display that will no doubt be repeated in the Pan
American Cup in May, the final selection
competition for the Pan American Games.
Pictured L to R are Logan, Nathan and Lucas.
In the women’s division it will come down to a
battle between Isabella and Sammy. This healthy
competitive drama will play itself out on the stages of Budapest and then Colorado. At this time
it is simply too close to call.
Regional Competitions – As we turn away from our elite team and look at the pipeline for the
future, we have had 7 regional competitions so far this year with 3 more to go. The big
surprises were the turnouts in Sacramento (over 60 athletes) and the continuity in San Antonio.
Also new to the series is Atlanta, Georgia. We lost Todd this year in Minnesota due to an
insurmountable scheduling conflict, but he will be back for next year’s series. Of particular note
is the tremendous impact the regional events have had on our communications traffic. In Q1 of
this year we recorded 169,000 unique visitors to our website—this is up from what would
typically be some 25,000. Of course the world cup was responsible for a great deal of the
increase, but we have tracked many of the visitors to our regional cities.
Rio 2016 – The latest news is that the Bonus Round may not take place in the main stadium
(where riding and combined are held). The UIPM is fighting hard to be sure this does not
happen.
Pan American Games (PAGs) – Plans are well underway for the Toronto Pan American Games
in July. This is of particular importance to us as it is the easiest place to qualify for Rio 2016. We
hope to qualify one male and one female at these Games—the maximum number. It is also
important to mention that there is a strong likelyhood that we will qualify 3 women instead of
the normal 2 for the PAGs as we are the number 1 ranked team and the women’s roster may
have the room. Tickets ae at a premium as the venue only seats 1000.
US Nationals – The 2015 National Championships promise to be an exciting experience for all
involved. The Junior and Senior Championships will take place on June 4th with the Youth
Championships taking place June 21 with a 17 day camp in between. We anticipate being fully
subscribed with 40+ campers and 10 coaches. We expect the “3 weeks of Pentathlon” at the
OTC to be particularly rewarding and encourage board members to attend.
Boston 2024 – “The reports of our death are greatly exaggerated”. Mark Twain could not have
said it better. Though the Boston bid has no doubt an uphill road, they are indeed in for the
long-haul despite media reports. We met with liaisons for the bid and discussed our venue
needs keeping in mind the one-stadium concept. Boston is very interested in hosting
Pentathlon events locally and we should take advantage of this opportunity.
USOC Sport Performance – USA Pentathlon has done well in negotiating the proposed 2015
High Performance Benchmarks. However, we have 2 new primary benchmarks. These
benchmarks were newly created after we achieved the earlier proposed benchmarks in the first
two world cup events. The new 2015 benchmarks are:
1. Podium result at the 2015 World Championships
2. Qualify for 2 Olympic spots at the Pan American Games 2015.
Financial Summary – USA Pentathlon received an increase of roughly 20% from 2014 in our
Performance Pool Allocation (PPA) from $264K to $315k in cash plus non-cash items such as
beds, meals and training center access to include medical and recovery centers. We raise
additional funds primarily through our digital media contract, competitions, training camps and
fund-raising. Our 2015 budget is nearly $592K. Our operations generate a small annual surplus
of approximately $10K and we have no debt. The USAP trust which is maintained by the US
Olympic Committee Foundation has grown over four years from $149K to $188K.
UIPM Update – The UIPM now looks to the USA as a leader in the sport. This is primarily due to
the work of John Helmick and Janusz Peciak. The Union is focused on expanding in the nonOlympic areas of Biathle and Triathle and in the emerging games areas such as the Beach
Games, University Games and Urban Games. Shiny Fang is working hard towards a broadcast
solution which relies on a comprehensive sports presentation package. Rio 2016 poses unique
challenges in both transportation, housing and venues, all of which the UIPM is working hard to
solve. Recently the UIPM extended an invitation to bid for events from 2018 through 2020.