BOA ANNOUNCE LUGE ATHLETES TO COMPETE FOR TEAM GB AT 2006 OLYMPC WINTER GAMES IN TURIN
21 Dec 2005
The British Olympic Association (BOA) today announced that the following athletes would represent Team GB at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin in the sport of Luge:
• Mark Hatton
• Adam Rosen
Team GB 2006 Chef de Mission, Simon Clegg, said:
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome these athletes into Team GB for the Winter Olympics in Turin. Mark is hoping to build on his performances at the Salt Lake Games in 2002, and Adam is an exciting young talent to emerge in the sport. We wish them well as they embark on their final preparations leading up to Turin, certainly the first part of this season has been extremely encouraging.”
Luge Team Leader for Turin, Andrew Croucher said:
“At the start of the season the team worked extremely hard to improve sled set-up and adapt to those improvements. Head coach, Thomas Zeitz, has been instrumental in fostering a great team spirit and instilling full confidence in the sled improvements and the team’s ability to compete at the highest level. Mark Hatton and Adam Rosen have produced the best pre Christmas results for over a decade and are improving with every race, the feeling within the team is that we are well on track to reach our peak performance at the Games in February.”
Notes to editors:
• Mark Hatton has been nominated to be a Great Britain representative on the IOC Athlete Commission. The election is due to take place at the Turin Games in February. Mark is currently an International Luge Federation Athlete Representative.
• The Great Britain Luge Association are running a “text to win” competition to support their athletes representing Team GB 2006. For more details please visit the website: www.gbla.org.uk. There are great prizes on offer and every entry will play a part in the success of the GB Luge Team.
• For more information please contact Louisa Huddy in the BOA Media Office on 0208 871 2677 ext 247 or 07789 658 798.
ATHLETE BIOGRAPHIES
Name: MARK HATTON
D.O.B: 28/03/1973
Birthplace: London
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Height: 182 cm
Weight: 90kg
Hobbies: Photography, Surfing, Cooking, Watching Rugby, Public speaking
How do you relax: Playing any sport for pure fun and not just results, long hot baths, nice cup of tea
Best Sporting Achievement: Racing in the 2002 Olympics, becoming a Cambridge Blue in Athletics (Pole Vault).
Non Sporting Achievement: Shaping and constructing a surfboard that didn't sink, getting into Cambridge to do a PGCE in Physical Education
Sporting Heroes: Sergey Bubka, Mickey Skinner
Non Sporting Heroes: Ernest Shackleton
From who/what do you draw inspiration: Remembering how great success feels and how awful failure feels - knowing which one I want. Watching Australian speed skater Steven Bradbury cross the finish line in the Salt Lake City Olympics 2002 - you are always in with a shot.
Injury: Competing for the last 4 years with a non healing fractured spine, concussions, rotator cuff in left shoulder, chipped elbow, broken knuckles, broken foot.
Career Accomplishments:
18th World Cup Igls Austria
25th Salt Lake City Winter Olympics 2002
4 x British Champion
2 x Commonwealth Champion
Name: ADAM J. ROSEN (AJ)
D.O.B. 12/04/1984
Birthplace: New York
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Height: 187.96 cm
Weight: 80 Kg
Hobbies: Aviation, cars, music, history
How do you relax: Watching the History Channel, flying, being with good friends
Best Sporting Achievement: Winning a Luge Silver Medal at the New York Winter Empire Games at the age of 13.
Non Sporting Achievement: Flying solo when I was 16 and becoming the Senior Master Sergeant in the Civil Air Patrol, June 2001.
Sporting Heroes: Lance Armstrong - he never took no for an answer, Georg Hackl - a legend, Tommy Zeitz the best!
Non-sporting heroes: My grandfather who valiantly served in the Royal Navy on the HMS Sussex, and whom I was named after.
From who/what do you draw inspiration? Lance Armstrong , Sir Winston Churchill who was dyslexic like myself.
Career Accomplishments:
12th in J2 World Championships, Calgary 2003/04
18th in World Cup, Calgary 2005/06
21st World Cup, Igls 2004/2005
27th in Senior World Cup Championship, Nagano 2003/2004
29th Park City World Championship 2004/05