The athletes participating in the tour include three Olympians and one Paralympian, and all six are training to qualify for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In addition, three have Chinese ancestry. They represent the sports of archery, badminton, BMX cycling (making its Olympic debut in Beijing), fencing, table tennis and Paralympic swimming.

All members of the media are welcome to submit a credential request to attend and cover the tour’s events, which will include press conferences, broadcast sessions, photo opportunities and public appearances. The request form is attached and can be returned to Peggy Manter at peggy.manter@usoc.org or by calling 719-866-4529 for more information. Credential requests are due Friday, July 27.

The athletes include:

Howard Bach, Badminton
Bach and his partner Tony Gunawan won the 2005 World Championships doubles title, the first world title ever won by U.S. badminton athletes. He competed at the 2004 Olympic Games with former partner Kevin Han, reaching the round of 16. Bach was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and moved to San Francisco when he was 3 years old.

Gao Jun, Table Tennis
After winning a silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, for her native country of China, Jun became a U.S. citizen and will train to compete for the United States in 2008. She is a three-time Olympian (1992, 2000, 2004) and has been a member of the U.S. National Team since 1997. She is the top female table tennis athlete in the United States, currently ranked 16th in the world. She studies economic trade at the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, China.

Lindsay Pian, Archery
Pian is ranked No. 3 in the United States and is attending the 2007 Pan American Games and World Archery Championships. Her father, Robert, is a first generation Chinese-American and both of her grandparents are from the Beijing/Tianjin area. Her grandfather was a civil engineer and worked on the Yangtze River Three Gorges dam during its conceptual stages.

Erin Popovich, Paralympic Swimming
In her first Paralympic Games in 2000, Popovich won a whopping six medals – three gold and three silver – and set four world records in the process. She put together what may have been the most impressive performance of any athlete at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, where she competed in seven events and came home with seven gold medals. Popovich was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder of bone growth that is evident at birth.

Donny Robinson, BMX Cycling
Robinson turned pro in 2002 and has since become the top BMX rider in the world. His latest career victory was winning the 2006 National Bicycle League (NBL) pro title. He has transcended physical stereotypes to become a BMX superstar. At 5’5” and 150 lbs, he dominates a sport full of 6’0”, 200 lbs athletes.

Iris Zimmerman, Fencing
Zimmerman competed at the 2000 Olympic Games, finishing fourth in the team foil event and 11th in individual foil. She had all but hung up her sword until the IOC brought back the women’s team foil event for 2008 after its absence in 2004. She was a campaign worker for California Democratic candidate Steve Westly, but put her career on hold to train to compete in China, her mother’s homeland.

BEIJING GOODWILL TOUR

WHO: Six U.S. Olympic Hopefuls
WHAT: Press conferences, photo shoots, public appearances and other media opportunities
WHEN: Aug. 2-4, 2007
WHERE: Beijing Hilton, 1 Dong Fang Rd., North Dong Sanhuan Road, 10-5865-5000
WHY: To commemorate the one-year-out mark of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
HOW: Submit a credential request to Peggy Manter (peggy.manter@usoc.org) by Friday, July 27

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Aug. 1, Wednesday
Arrival of U.S. athletes

Aug. 2, Thursday
10 am-12:15 Press Conferences Hilton Ballroom (3rd Floor)
10-10:45 am USOC leadership press conference Hilton Ballroom (3rd Floor)
11-11:30 am Three athletes’ press conference Hilton Ballroom (3rd Floor)
11:30-11:45 Photo opp. with all six athletes Hilton Ballroom (3rd Floor)
11:45-12:15 Three athletes’ press conference Hilton Ballroom (3rd Floor)
12:15-1 pm Lunch with athletes and media Hilton Galleria (3rd Floor)
1:30-3:30 pm Photo and broadcast sessions by station Hilton Ballroom (3rd Floor)

Aug. 3, Friday
TBD Several photo opps. throughout the day TBD

Aug. 4-5, Saturday-Sunday
U.S. athletes depart

About the USOC
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the sole entity in the United States whose mission involves training, entering and underwriting the full expenses for the U.S. teams in the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games. In addition to being the steward of the U.S. Olympic Movement, the USOC is the moving force for support of sports in the United States that are on the program of the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games. For more information, please contact the USOC Media and Public Relations Division (719/866-4529). This release also is available on the USOC’s public web site (www.usolympicteam.com) and our media-specific web site (http://usocpressbox.org/).