The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah.
These individuals represent the best athletes in the country for their respective sports and compete as a team at the national, world and Olympic level.
History
*The first U.S. Ski Team was officially named in 1965 for the 1966 season, however the United States participated in skiing at all Olympic Winter Games and sent various athletes to World Championships prior to the '66 season.
1860s–1880s early ski clubs and ski tournaments in the U.S. Ski clubs appeared in the United States starting in 1861, in California. Norwegian "snowshoe" downhill races are noted in Sierra and Rocky Mountain mining camps. The Nansen Ski Club of Berlin, New Hampshire, was founded by Norwegian immigrants and named in honor of Norway's legendary Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen. It continues to operate. Annual ski jumping tournaments began in Great Lakes mining and timber regions. The Saint Paul Winter Carnival included skiing events starting in 1888.
1891–1893 Central Ski Association of the Northwest tournaments
A regional ski association is formed by the Eau Claire (Dovre), Ishpeming (Norden), Stillwater (Norwegian), Red Wing (Aurora), and Minneapolis clubs, but dissolves after an economic downturn and a couple low snow winters.
1905 National Ski Association
The National Ski Association of America, the forerunner of the present-day U.S. Ski & Snowboard, was founded on Feb. 21, 1905 in Ishpeming, Michigan. Club President Carl Tellefsen proposed holding a meeting after the 1905 jumping tournament – a national competition – to found a ski association which, among other duties, would oversee jumping tournaments. In 1905, the association was formally organized during a meeting attended by officers from the Ishpeming, Minneapolis, Red Wing, Stillwater and Eau Claire ski clubs. On Feb. 21, 1905, Carl Tellefsen announced the National Ski Association of America with himself as its first president.
1910 International Ski Commission
In 1910, the International Ski Commission was formed at the first International Ski Congress to develop rules for international ski competitions. On Feb. 2, 1924 in Chamonix, France, while what would come to be recognized as the first Winter Olympic Games were being held, the commission gave way to the International Ski Federation (FIS); 14 member nations were present at the founding; 108 are FIS members today.
1924 inaugural Olympic Winter Games at Chamonix, France
The first Winter Olympic Games actually were under the banner of International Sports Week, but were renamed the Winter Olympic Games in 1924 after organizers saw how successful they were (and after Norway, which had opposed "Winter Olympic" events because of concern Norwegians wouldn't dominate, saw it would be a winter power) supported the concept. Only Nordic skiing events were held, including cross country, ski jumping (then the premier ski event everywhere) and Nordic combined. Sixteen nations competed.
Anders Haugen, a Norwegian immigrant to the United States, was listed as fourth in ski jumping because of a calculation error. In 1974, as Norwegians prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary of those first Winter Games, a recalculation in Oslo found Haugen was the real bronze medalist and not Thorleif Haug (1894–1934). A medal presentation was arranged in Oslo, where a frail Haugen received the bronze medal from the daughter of Thorleif Haug, who had been dead since the Thirties. Haugen's medal remains the only jumping medal won by an American in the Olympics or World Championships. Originally, the IOC did not recognize the medal exchange and kept Haug listed as its 1924 bronze medalist for years before recognizing Haugen as the legitimate medal-winner.
First FIS World Championships: Nordic (1925) and alpine (1931) International competitive skiing was still primarily a European sport in the Twenties. Although the United States participated in the Winter Olympics of 1924, '28 and '32 - where there were only Nordic events, there was no U.S. Ski Team.