The Virgin Islands Olympic Committee is proud to announce that three Virgin Islands athletes have been recently awarded “Sochi 2014 Olympic Scholarships” by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Olympic Scholarship provided by the Olympic Solidarity Program of IOC is aimed at the athletes preparing and attempting to qualify for XXII Olympic Winter Games to be held in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
From thousands of qualified applications submitted by the National Olympic Committees from all over the world, only few hundreds of athletes have received the scholarships.
All recipients of the scholarship had to have a sufficient technical level to be able to qualify for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. They also had to participate in international competitions recognized by the International Winter Sports Federations during the past (2011/2012) winter season.
Olympic Scholarship provides each individual athlete up to $1,000 per month to cover training facilities fees, coaching fees, and costs for their participation in Olympic qualification competitions.
Once awarded, the scholarship is conditional until the qualification of the athlete for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
In order to follow the progress of each athlete towards Olympic qualification, the athlete has to provide on regular basis, a full evaluation report on his/her training and results achieved.
Selected athletes for “Sochi 2014” Olympic Scholarships from the U.S. Virgin Islands are:
- Jasmine Campbell (21) from St. John in Alpine Skiing;
- Veronica Gaspar (17) from St. Jon, in Alpine Skiing;
- Kathryn Tannenbaum (27) from St. Thomas in Skeleton.
All three Virgin Islands athletes are currently training in the United States. Jasmine Campbell is in Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. Veronica Gaspar trains in Sun Valley Ski Academy, Sun Valley, Idaho. Kathryn Tannenbaum is training with the U.S. Skeleton Team in Park City, Utah. All three athletes have a busy winter season schedule ahead of them. The scholarships will make a significant difference to their ability to prepare themselves for what will be an demanding and expensive training for the 2014 Sochi Olympic selection.
