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New CEO of US Skiing ‘Confident’ of Olympic Results, Medals initially appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The brand new president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard has vivid reminiscences of her first time clicking into boots on a mountain in Chamonix, France, throughout a college journey at age 12. Sophie Goldschmidt’s finest sport was at all times tennis — that’s what introduced her from London to Baylor College on a scholarship — however the affinity for snowboarding caught.
Now Goldschmidt runs the federation that can account for about half of the U.S. athletes headed to the Beijing Olympics in lower than two months, and certain among the largest names, comparable to ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarders Chloe Kim and Shaun White.
“We now have inside objectives that we don’t share publicly, as a result of I believe it simply provides stress to athletes and others, however we’ve process-oriented objectives, medal objectives, the variety of athletes that truly qualify total. … So we’ve received these proper measurements and processes in place,” she mentioned Wednesday in a video interview with The Related Press. “However we’re assured that we will ship some actually good outcomes and hopefully a bunch of medals.”
Goldschmidt had been CEO of the World Surf League and her earlier expertise contains stints with the NBA, the Ladies’s Tennis Affiliation and golf’s European Tour. Her hiring by U.S. Ski & Snowboard to exchange Tiger Shaw as CEO was introduced in September; she started working there in October, primarily based in Park Metropolis, Utah.
The group governs Alpine, cross-country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, Nordic mixed and ski leaping in the US.
Given the short turnaround to the Winter Video games, which open Feb. 4, Goldschmidt doesn’t foresee any rapid strikes.
“I’ve no set plans or adjustments that I’ve selected at this stage. I believe that may be placing the cart earlier than the horse,” Goldschmidt mentioned. “I believe I’m bringing numerous related expertise to the function, however I’m additionally considerably of an outsider, as a result of I’ve by no means labored in snow sports activities. So I wish to be very considerate. I’m not going to delay making adjustments as wanted. However I additionally wish to be sure that I actually spend time studying, listening.”
Throughout her time on the girls’s skilled tennis tour, Goldschmidt mentioned, she received to know Peng Shuai, the Grand Slam doubles champion from China who dropped out of public view final month after accusing a former high-ranking authorities official there of sexual assault in a social media publish that shortly disappeared.
The WTA introduced final week it might be suspending all tournaments in China till it may have contact with Peng and there’s a full investigation into her allegations.
The problem has resonated with China set to host the Olympics.
“What occurred to Peng … was scary. … There must be deeper understanding and direct, in-person communication, to be sure that that she’s OK,” Goldschmidt mentioned. “However at this stage, our athletes, rightly so, wish to be centered on their coaching, the competitions which might be arising and placing themselves in the most effective place doable to compete for the U.S. crew and hopefully have success in Beijing. And I believe that’s their job. … Clearly on the finish of the day, athletes are free to speak nonetheless they need and we’re by no means going to restrict or stop them from having their voice. That goes towards all the pieces that we stand for.”
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Extra AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
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Extra AP snowboarding: https://apnews.com/hub/snowboarding and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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