Posted: February 10, 2004

Triathlon: USA Triathlon Names Olympic Staff for Athens

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 10, 2004) - USA Triathlon has announced its staff for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Libby Burrell of Colorado Springs, Colo., will act as the U.S. triathlon team leader. Gale Bernhardt of Loveland, Colo., will be the team coach and Jefferson Donaldson of Juneau, Alaska, will be team mechanic.

All three were on the staff of the U.S. triathlon team for the Pan American Games, where U.S. athletes won three medals - one gold, one silver and one bronze.

Burrell has been the national teams program director for USA Triathlon since 2001. Burrell came to USA Triathlon from Somerset West, South Africa, and the University of the Western Cape, where she was a senior lecturer and head of the department of human movement science.

She has her master's degree in sport science and a bachelor's degree in biokinetics.

Burrell coached the 2000 South African Olympic triathlon team and worked individually with South African Olympians Conrad Stoltz and Lizel Moore.

Bernhardt has instructed or coached athletes since 1974. She has a bachelor of science degree from Colorado State University, is a certified coach with both USA Triathlon and USA Cycling. She is the chairperson for the National Coaching Committee for USA Triathlon. She is one of five coaches selected to accompany U.S. elite triathletes to World Cup triathlon competitions.

Donaldson became certified as a professional race mechanic in January 2002 and moved to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2003 to work as a bicycle mechanic for USA Cycling.

The 2004 Olympic Games will take place Aug. 13-29 in Athens, Greece. The women's triathlon will be held Aug. 25 and the men's race will follow on Aug. 26.

From USATriathlon.org.