Three women athletes - skier Picabo Street, figure skater Kathaleen Kelly and luger Zianibeth Shattuck-Owen - are joining the Salt Lake Organizing Committee Board of Trustees.
The trio, named Wednesday, helps fulfill a U.S. Olympic Committee requirement that at least 20 percent of the trustees be active athletes who have competed internationally within the past 10 years.Earlier this year, the Legislature's Sports Advisory Committee was told that athletes were unhappy that Olympic organizers weren't living up to their promise to abide by the USOC requirement.
It was the promise of being a part of the preparations for the Olympics that athletes backed Salt Lake City's bid to become the USOC choice for both the 1998 and 2002 Winter Games.
Now, six of the 33 trustees are athletes. A disabled athlete may be named to fill the remaining opening in anticipation of the Para-lympic Games that follow the Olympics.
Street, who lives in Portland, Oregon, won a silver medal at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, and is the 1996 World Cup Women's Downhill champion. She was named the 1996 USOC Female Athlete of the Year.
Cutone is a U.S. and Canadian gold medalist in figure, freestyle, dance and pairs skating. A resident of Lexington, Mass., she is a member of the U.S. Figure Skating executive committee and board of trustees.
Shattuck-Owen lives in Salt Lake City and spent eight years on the national luge team. She is a member of the U.S. Luge executive board and served on the bid committee for the 1998 Winter Games.