USOEC Weightlifting Program Closing
The weightlifting program at the U.S. Olympic Education Center has been officially declared to be dead weight.
USA Weightlifting says it’s ending the program in less than a month.
7 athletes train there full-time and attend class at NMU, but they and their coach will have to find a new home.
USA Weightlifting gave the USOEC 2 reasons for the move.
USOEC head Jeff Kleinschmidt says one is the general economic downturn affecting millions around the country and the world.
The other is that USA Weightlifting athletes didn’t perform nearly as well as expected at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, and the agency is losing some funding because of that.
Kleinschmidt says the group is also making cuts to its programs at the national Olympic training center in Colorado, so it’s not just our area that’s being affected.
The national college weightlifting championship is slated to take place at NMU next April.
It’ll probably be moved after today’s decision.
USA Weightlifting is looking for financing for the program, which has been in place since 2003.
Kleinschmidt says if anyone wants to make a donation, they should contact USA Weighlifting because that’s who pays for the program, not NMU.
The final day for the weightlifting program will be December 14th.
That’s the day after the end of NMU’s fall semester.