How U.S. Winter Olympic athletes are selected

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Bobsled and Skeleton
The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation selected the U.S. rosters for the skeleton and women's bobsled teams on Jan. 15. The men's bobsled roster will be selected on Jan. 16.

Returning bobsled gold medalist Vonetta Flowers was among nine athletes awarded Olympic spots and will be looking for an encore performance in Turin with new partner Jean Prahm. Jill Bakken, Flowers' 2002 teammate, failed to qualify for the Olympics with partner Bethany Hart.

The tandem of Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming will also join Flowers and Prahm at the Olympics and are strong medal contenders.

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The men’s drivers will be selected based on their World Cup rankings. However, the U.S. federation can replace the lowest-ranked driver if it feels another athlete would be better suited for the Turin competition. The men’s drivers choose their push athletes.

The men’s team is hoping for the recovery of Todd Hays, who is battling back from a foot injury he sustained in a race in January. Hays’ team of Pavle Jovanovic, Steve Mesler and Bill Schuffenhauer showed great promise in the ’04-05 season and are continuing to post strong runs this year.

Also running well in World Cup competition is the the four-man team of Steve Holcomb, Brock Kreitzburg, Jason Ross and Curt Tomasevicz.

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In men's skeleton, the USBSF provisionally gave Zach Lund, who is facing a suspension after reportedly testing positive for a drug masking agent, one of the three spots. Eric Bernotas and Kevin Ellis round out the men's team and will both be making their Olympic debuts.

Lund contends his positive test stems from his use of the hair-restoration drug called Proscar and expects to go before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency by Jan. 23 in order to state his case.

In women's skeleton, the biggest surprise is that the U.S. team will only have one representative at the Olympics, and it won't be Noelle Pikus-Pace. Katie Uhlaender has secured the only spot and will have an outside shot at a medal in Turin.

Pikus-Pace's comeback effort to make the Olympics after fracturing her leg when a bobsled hit her in October 2005 fell just short.

Who will coach the U.S. skeleton team at the Olympics? That's still up in the air. Coach Tim Nardiello, who has been accused of sexual harassment, will be among the names sent this week to the U.S. Olympic Committee for the final stamp of approval. It’s still unclear, however, if Nardiello will be allowed to coach the U.S. skeleton team in Turin.

CONTINUED : Curling