Press
2007 State Games of America Registers 10,000th Athlete
Monday, July 30, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, July 28—Mountain Biking athlete Cody Cox of Colorado Springs is the 10,000th athlete from 46 states to register for competition in the 2007 State Games of America, August 2-5, in Colorado Springs.
The 16-year-old Cheyenne Mountain High junior signed up last night as the event blew part the 10,000-athlete mark to a hefty 10,162 registrations, with a total of 14 of the 29 sports still open for registration.
Cox is a rising star in the new State Games of America sport, finishing fourth in the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships this month in West Dover, Vermont, in the Junior Men's 15-16 division of the prestigious event.
He will compete in the Mountain Bike event on Sunday, August 5, at the United States Air Force Academy in the event's 12-mile loop.
He will join several thousand of the athletes in the Opening Ceremony next Thursday, August 2, at 7:00 at the Colorado Springs World Arena, where Olympic medalist and World Champion figure skater Michelle Kwan will cap off the spectacular evening by lighting the State Games of America torch.
Athlete registration in 14 sports is still open at www.stategames.org, and Opening Ceremony Tickets still available and going fast at www.ticketswest.com, or by calling (719) 576-2626 or toll-free at: 1-866-464.2626
The old record for State Games of America athletes is 9,462 set in 2005 with the event in Colorado Springs, and with registrations open in 14 sports, some with day-of-event options, the count will rise even higher before the end of the day on Sunday, August 5.
The whopping field now includes 1,107 figure skaters, 1547 basketball players (119 teams), 2016 Soccer players (126 teams), 564 swimmers, 699 track and field performers, 494 softball players (38 teams), and 408 Inline Hockey skaters (51 teams).
Wisconsin is sending 311 athletes to the event, Texas is bringing 257, Pennsylvania 226, and New Mexico 215, among the top states in terms of participation behind host Colorado, which will attract roughly 6,000 athletes.
At the moment, 13 sports have exceeded their pre-Games registration projections, and seven have established new event records for participation.
It is now the largest multi-sport event in Colorado history. By way of contrast with other multi-sport events, the current 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro has attracted a record 5,662 athletes from 42 nations. The 2004 Olympic Games in Athens had 10,625 athletes from 201 nations competing.
Labels: National Games
