Pentathlon Champ Receives Academy's Thorpe All-Around Award
Photo Credit: Colorado Springs Sports Corporation, Photo by Paat Kelly
Sheila Taormina, winner of the 2006 U.S. Open title in the modern pentathlon and an elite athlete in three Olympic sports, was honored with the United States Sports Academy’s Jim Thorpe All-Around Award 15 March at the El Pomar Foundation’s Penrose House in Colorado Springs.
The award was presented by former U.S. Olympic Committee Vice-President Dr. Evie G. Dennis, Trustee Emeritus of the Academy and Chef De Mission for the 1988 United States Olympic Team in Seoul. Taormina is the second Colorado Springs athlete training in the city to receive the prestigious Academy Award. Last year’s honor went to Triathlete Hunter Kemper.
A native of Livonia, Mich., Taormina recorded another milestone when she won the U.S. Open Championship, finishing ahead of the 2004 Olympic silver medalist Elena Rublevska of Latvia and 2006 World Cup rankings leader Viktoriya Tereshchuk of the Ukraine.
She began competing in the pentathlon in June 2005; one year later she solidified herself as the top female pentathlete in the United States. She has demonstrated a career of outstanding athletic achievement that includes winning a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in swimming’s 4x200-meter relay for the United States.
The versatile athlete competed in the 2000 (6th) and 2004 Olympic Games (23rd) in the triathlon. She also won the 2004 World Triathlon championship. “Pentathlon is the most exciting and challenging sport that I have ever done,” Taormina said after her first pentathalon competition, which she won, at the highly competitive 2005 Pan American Championships.
“Sheila Taormina is one of the most outstanding athletes in the world, and we are proud to honor her and her sport with this award,” said Academy President and CEO Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich. If Taormina qualifies for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, she will become the first American to compete in three different sports in the Olympics.
The Jim Thorpe All-Around Award is named after the legendary Native American athlete who won the Gold medal in the Pentathlon and Decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Antwerp, before embarking on an illustrious professional football career. Thorpe was recognized by the Associated Press as the Greatest Football Player and Greatest All-Around Athlete of the first half of the 20th century.
The award has been presented annually since 1986 as part of the Academy’s Awards of Sport Medallion Series, which pays “Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” Past recipients include Renaldo Nehemiah, Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson, Charlie Ward and Hunter Kemper.
