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The ITU sport development department have just released details of the second major project -the TEAM BG Elite Athlete Development Project – EADP (formerly known as the Wild Card Project)

Project Goal

The primary objective of this project is to provide support, resources and expertise to athletes from emerging/developing National Federations to compete at a World Cup level and at the same time increase the number of coaches from emerging/developing National Federations gaining experience in the preparation and support of athletes competing at a World Cup level.

Click here for details on all ITU sport development projects

Project Outline

Emerging/developing National Federations are invited to submit applications for one of the EADP spots. Applications for athletes that have already proven themselves at a domestic or Continental Cup level will be considered. Applications should be submitted as per the timelines prescribed in the ITU World Cup Online entry system. Four World Cup events will be earmarked as the TEAM BG Elite Athlete Development Project events. At each of these events a full support team (2 coaches, bike mechanic and athletic trainer) will be on hand for the athletes selected and the group will be accommodated as a ‘team’ and supported as such pre, during and post event.

Target Group

The target group will be athletes from emerging/developing National Federations who have already shown competence at Continental Cup level and are looking to make the step up to World Cup level of racing but need the support in order to do so. These athletes should be seen as Olympic prospects (2008) by their National Federations.

Qualification Criteria

Athletes need to be registered with their National Federations and have shown the ability to race at a high level in Continental Cup events within the last year. The athletes nominated should be committed to competing in the long term and have the Olympic Games as an ultimate objective. While there are five (5) male and five (5) female slots available athletes will be selected at the discretion of the ITU Sport Development Staff and in some cases not all the slots will be filled.

Budget

All athletes selected will be funded by the TEAM BG Elite Athlete Development Project funding. This will include the following:

  1. Economy class flight

  2. Hotel accommodation (on a shared basis)

  3. Meals – 3 per day

  4. Bike mechanic services

  5. Coaching support

Evaluation

The athletes selected will be tracked over the years to determine their progress and feedback sheets will be completed by all of the participants prior to and post each event.


Definition and Explanation of National Federation Status

For the purpose of the ITU Sport Development (Athlete and Coaching) we have categorized National Federations into three (3) categories:

Olympic NF’s are those NF’s who had at least two competitors at the Athens Olympics

Emerging NF’s are those NF’s with only one or no competitors at the Athens Olympics but have some representation at the World Championships in the Elite, U/23 or Junior Categories over the past two years.

Developing NF’s are those NF’s with no representation at the World Triathlon Championships in the Elite, U/23 and Junior Categories in the past two years.

The Athlete and Coaching Development Programme specifically targets Emerging and Developing NF’s.

Click here for application form

Time Line

The pilot project was launched in September 2006 for the Beijing World Cup and from 2007 onwards the project will nominate four (4) events per year as the TEAM BG events.

Applications for each of the designated events must be submitted in writing to libby and each applicant must also be entered by their National Federation with ITU via the online entry method by the closing date for entry for the specific event they are applying for: