by Paul Soriano
USA Volleyball Manager, Public Relations & Publications

Though the 2006 Torino Winter Games are 259 days away and the 2008 Beijing Summer Games won?t begin for another 1,169 days, the Olympic torch burned brightly Friday at the United States Olympic Training Complex in honor of the 1980 USA Women?s Olympic Volleyball Team.

A day after being honored by USA Volleyball at the organization?s 60th Annual Dorothy C. Boyce Annual Awards and Recognitions Banquet at the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver, the team was in Colorado Springs to host an ?Olympism Symposium? for the current members of the Women?s National Team Training Program.

During the symposium the former players, members of the first resident program in any sport to call the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center home, shared stories, experiences and ideals with the current team members.

?I think we were more star-struck than anything, what with the caliber of players we had in the meeting room on a real personal level with us,? said Team USA outside hitter Cynthia Barboza, an alternate on the 2004 Women?s Olympic Team.  ?Coming to realize that these players have gone through what we have gone through -- probably a lot more -- helps put everything that we do and all of the struggles that we think we have into perspective because they have done some amazing things that we hope to accomplish as well.?

?I really enjoyed listening to all of the veterans talk,? added outside hitter Kristin Richards. ?It was really inspirational for me personally.  A lot of great things were said and I got to meet some players who I had never met before.?

Following the symposium the United States Olympic Committee honored the team with a VIP tour of the complex, lunch and a specially decorated cake in the Athlete Center, a brief afternoon ceremony with Chief Executive Officer Jim Scherr in the President?s Conference Room and by lighting the Olympic Torch above the Visitor?s Center.

?It truly is an honor for us to have you here today,? said Scherr. ?We?re very appreciative that you made a stop after getting your award in Denver last night. I think it?s great that USA Volleyball recognized this team on its silver anniversary.?

Twenty-five years ago, the Arie Selinger-coached Americans -- Janet Baier, Carolyn Becker, Rita Crockett, Patty Dowdell, Laurie Flachmeier, Debbie Green, Flo Hyman, Laurel Brassey, Debbie Landreth, Diane McCormick, Terry Place and Sue Woodstra -- were considered a favorite to win the volleyball gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games.

But the USA women had their Olympic dreams shattered when the U.S. Olympic Committee?s House of Delegates -- at the urging of President Jimmy Carter -- voted to boycott the 1980 Olympiad in Moscow to protest the Soviet Union?s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

?We are dedicated -- those of us who are on the current staff -- and understand the sacrifice that you made for our country in not going to the 1980 Olympic Games,? added Scherr, a 1988 USA Olympian in freestyle wrestling. ?That?s something we will never allow to have happen again. We appreciate the sacrifice that you made.  It?s an honor to have you here. Thank you for what you mean to the Olympic movement and to all of us.?

Baier, Becker, Brassey, Dowdell, Flachmeier, Green, Landreth, McCormick, Woodstra and Selinger -- along with 1980 Olympic alternate Sharon Moore -- were in town for the events in Denver and Colorado Springs and were each presented with gifts by Scherr.

For more information, go to the USA Volleyball web site (www.usavolleyball.org)