También texto en español.Seven young and aspiring athletes will compete as members of the Team BG - Elite Athlete Development Project (EADP) at the Mooloolaba BG Triathlon World Cup in Australia this Sunday and the New Plymouth BG Triathlon World Cup in New Zealand on April 6th. The athletes have earned entry into the race and will benefit from an ITU support team of two coaches, bike mechanic and athletic trainer.
The selected athletes will be accommodated as a team and supported in the build up to and throughout the race by an experienced team of coaches and mentors. The selected athletes are: Lisa Norden (Sweden) Svetlana Blazevic (Serbia) Dan Alterman (Israel) Leonardo Chacon (Costa Rica) Javier Cuevas (Dominican Republic) Chris Felgate (Zimbabwe) Omar Tayara (Syria) - New Plymouth only
“For me it’s a great opportunity because I come from Costa Rica where we don’t have a lot of money to improve so it’s a big opportunity for me. They help with a lot of things like travel, food, for everything. I am so happy to be on this team,” said Chacon.
"We have a talented group of athletes selected as part of Team BG going into the first two World Cups of 2008,” commented ITU Sport Development Director, Libby Burrell. “We have seen some really great results from the team athletes over the past year and expect the same going into the final stages of qualification for the Beijing Olympic Games.”
2007 was a breakthrough year for Team BG – EADP as many team members achieved personal best finishes and top-10 results at World Cup events. Highlighted Team BG 2007 results were: Lisa Norden (SWE) – Under23 World Champion; Yuliya Sapunova (UKR) – 4th at Tiszaujvaros World Cup; Leonardo Chacon (CRC) – 5th at Pan American Games; Dan Alterman (ISR) – 6th at Richards Bay World Cup.
“It’s amazing the difference it makes. I get to go to races I wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise so one part is the money support. Another part is the Team BG part itself, where we get loads of support around the race with coaches, bike mechanics, physio, things I wouldn’t be able to get if I was not part of Team BG,” said Norden.
Team BG - EADP is one of the sport development programmes initiated through ITU’s partnership with global natural gas company, BG Group. The athletes, selected from developing and emerging countries, were chosen for their outstanding potential shown at the Continental Cup and World Cup level over the past calendar year.
Mooloolaba and New Plymouth are the first two Team BG – EADP events of 2008. The next BG Triathlon World Cup event that makes up the 2008 initiative is Madrid, Spain on May 25th.
