Posted: February 21, 2005

Athletics: Olympic Athletes to Speak to Students at Tobin Community Center in Roxbury

Two-time Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson, two-time U.S. outdoor champion and 2004 Olympic fourth-place finisher Jamie Nieto, and Olympic finalist Brenda Taylor will speak to kids at Roxbury’s Tobin Community Center at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, February 25 as part of USA Track & Field’s "Be A Champion" program. The trio will address healthy lifestyles, keeping active, and living with integrity. They also will answer questions from the students and lead them in reciting the "Be A Champion" pledge.

The school visit will provide a photo and one-on-one interview opportunity for local press in advance of the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, the final stop on USA Track & Field’s Indoor Visa Championship Series, held Friday through Sunday at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center in Roxbury.

A major initiative by USA Track & Field and the American College of Sports Medicine, “Be A Champion” facilitates direct interaction between Olympic medalists and middle-school aged children around the country, in order to positively impact their lifestyles and decision-making.

A two-time Olympic and world outdoor championship silver medalist, Adam Nelson is in the driver’s seat to win the title of Visa Champion – and the accompanying $25,000 cash prize – if he wins the 2005 USA indoor title. Since 2000 he has been the most consistently successful of Team USA’s impressive shot put corps, winning four U.S. outdoor titles, two indoor titles, the Olympic silver medal in 2000 and 2004, world outdoor silver in 2001 and 2003, 2001 world indoor silver medal and the 2001 Goodwill Games gold medal. An outspoken supporter of good nutrition and the fight against drugs in sport, Nelson is expanding his own community outreach in those areas.

Jamie Nieto has been the most successful American high jumper of the last two years, winning the 2003 and 2004 USA outdoor titles as well as the 2004 USA indoor crown and the 2003 Pan Am Games silver medal. The #1-ranked American in 2003 and 2004, Nieto won the Olympic Trials and went on to place fourth at the Olympic Games, his height of 2.34 meter/7 feet 8 inches matching the height of the second- and third-place finishers.

USA Track & Field’s 2005 Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year, Brenda Taylor is accomplished on and off the track. She enjoyed a big year on the track in 2004, improving her personal best in the 400m hurdles by more than 2 seconds to 53.36, placing second at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and taking seventh at the Olympic Games in Athens. Off the track, the 2001 Harvard graduate and NCAA champion made youth outreach a mission, working with more than 1,000 kids ages 7 through 18 as part of her “No Obstacles” program to teach kids how to set and achieve their goals. Taylor also works with local athletic teams to send the message that academic and athletic success go hand-in-hand, helping youth athletes to apply successful training strategies to academics.

For more information on Be A Champion, visit USATF.org.

Source: Jill Greer
USATF Director of Communications