The United States Olympic Hall of Fame is an honor roll of the top American Olympic athletes.
The Hall of Fame was established by the United States Olympic Committee in 1979; the first members were inducted in 1983. Between 1992 and 2003, the Hall of Fame went dormant, with no induction of new members. In 2004, the honor was revived, and continued in 2005 when the 'Class of 2006' was selected.
The current process for selecting inductees is two-staged. Fifteen finalists are selected by a nominating committee consisting of athletes, members of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, historians and USOC representatives. The inductees were then selected based on online voting at www.usolympicteam.com, with a requirement to select five individual athletes, one team, one Paralympian and one coach. When the inductees are announced, a veteran and a "special contributor" are also included.
According to an October 2005 press release, 182 athletes, teams, and special contributors have been inducted as of that date. Another 10 inductees were added in 2006, and 14 more added in the 2008 class.
In the past the Hall of Fame has sought to construct a museum, but construction has not begun due to a lack of sponsorship.
Read more about United States Olympic Hall Of Fame: Inducted As Individuals, Inducted As Teams, Inducted As Coaches, Inducted As Contributors
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, olympic, hall and/or fame:
“In the United States there is more space where nobody is is than where anybody is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Europe and the U.K. are yesterday’s world. Tomorrow is in the United States.”
—R.W. “Tiny” Rowland (b. 1917)
“The admission of the States of Wyoming and Idaho to the Union are events full of interest and congratulation, not only to the people of those States now happily endowed with a full participation in our privileges and responsibilities, but to all our people. Another belt of States stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.”
—Joseph Heller (b. 1923)
“Having children can smooth the relationship, too. Mother and daughter are now equals. That is hard to imagine, even harder to accept, for among other things, it means realizing that your own mother felt this way, too—unsure of herself, weak in the knees, terrified about what in the world to do with you. It means accepting that she was tired, inept, sometimes stupid; that she, too, sat in the dark at 2:00 A.M. with a child shrieking across the hall and no clue to the child’s trouble.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)
“It is remarkable that the dead lie everywhere under stones.... Why should the monument be so much more enduring than the fame which it is designed to perpetuate,—a stone to a bone? “Here lies,”M”Here lies”;Mwhy do they not sometimes write, There rises? Is it a monument to the body only that is intended?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)