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Water skiing is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires sufficient area on a stretch of water, one or two skis, a tow boat with tow rope, two or three people, and a personal flotation device. In addition, the skier must have adequate upper and lower body strength, muscular endurance, and good balance.
Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Neighboring Lakeland to its east, Winter Haven is located about 51 miles east of Tampa and about 47 miles southwest of Orlando. The city's population was 49,219 at the 2020 census, making it the second most populated city in Polk County after Lakeland. It is a principal city of the Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation (IF).
USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United States and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Before June 1991, the organization was known as the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS).
USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugby." USA Rugby is responsible for the promotion and development of the sport in the U.S., and promotion of U.S. international participation.
The International University Sports Federation is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. It was founded in 1949 as the world governing body of national university sports organizations and currently has 171 member associations from five continents. Between 1949 and 2011, it was based in Brussels (Belgium); it was relocated to Lausanne (Switzerland) since 2011.
The International Softball Federation (ISF) is the international governing body for the sport of softball with its world headquarters and training centre at Plant City, Florida. The ISF is a non-profit corporation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and SportAccord.
Richard Downing Pope Sr., better known as Dick Pope, was the founder of Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida. He was also known as "Mr. Florida" and "Mr. Water Skiing." He played a key role in the development of tourism in the state of Florida, and in the growth of theme parks as tourist destinations. He was a highly accomplished athlete, and helped to popularize the sport of water skiing.
Stewart McDonald, born Henry Stewart McDonald, III in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Washington, D.C., and served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and Korean War veteran of the US AIr Force, including test pilot and aerial refueling. He attended Cornell. He began (pre-NASCAR) stock car racing in 1947. After recuperating from a crash, he attended the University of Miami and in 1948 began a long association with Cypress Gardens and the sport of water skiing including ABC Sports Color commentator and induction to the Waterski Hall of Fame in 1992. He was the first president of the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association (FMTPA) in Tampa. He was also an actor, model, movie producer, raconteur, public speaker, auto-mechanic, humorist, and writer. He was involved in many aspects of television advertisements including Cadillac, Vitalis hair products, and Mercury Outboard motors. He operated water-ski schools in Biscayne Bay and Tampa Bay, was the first rated Senior Judge in 1959, and co-author of the American Water Ski Association Judges Manual and other AWSA manuals. He was a local group leader of the Quiet Birdmen for 32 years and chairman of the national executive committee for two years
George Alfred Blair was an American businessman, entrepreneur, and waterskier, known for his barefoot waterskiing and trademark yellow "banana"-like wetsuits.
Laszlo Bellak was a Hungarian and American table tennis player.
U.S. Snowboarding, the snowboarding arm of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), is committed to the progression of snowboarding by providing athletic programs, services, and competitions for male and female athletes of all ages, coast-to-coast. Since the inclusion of snowboarding as a medal sport in 1998, U.S. Snowboarding has accounted for 14 Olympic medals, including the sweep of the podium in men’s halfpipe in 2002 and a best in the world performance of seven medals in 2006.
The Water Ski Hall of Fame and Museum is the hall of fame, museum, and archive of the sport of water skiing. Founded in 1980 and currently located in Davenport, Florida, the organization is administered by the USA Water Ski Foundation.
Sharon Firth is a Canadian former cross-country skier who competed in the Winter Olympics in 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984. Firth's mother was Gwich'in and her father was Métis. She and her sister grew up in the Gwich'in First Nation.
The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions that are not currently contested at the Olympic Games; the Games featured 3,600 athletes competing in 206 medal events over 30 sports.
Les McDonald, was the founding President of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) from 1989-2008, and was made an Honorary President for the organization until his death in 2017. He is largely credited with getting the sport of triathlon into the Olympic Games, with the inaugural race taking place at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, Australia, in 2000. He is a member of the Triathlon Canada Hall of Fame (2001), Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (2007), the BC Sports Hall of Fame (2009), and the ITU Hall of Fame (2014). He was awarded the Olympic Order in 2010, in Vancouver, by the International Olympic Committee. He was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2013 by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, the Governor General of Canada.
Kristi Overton Johnson is an American former water skiing champion, author, and missionary. Competing professionally between 1983 and 2005, Overton Johnson accumulated 80 pro victories.
References
- ↑ "About Us". www.usawaterski.org. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ↑ Riess, Steven A. (2015-03-26). Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 1030. ISBN 978-1-317-45947-7 . Retrieved 10 June 2021.
- ↑ "Pictures: USA Water Ski Foundation Hall of Fame and Museum". orlandosentinel.com. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
- ↑ Fredericksen, Brady (27 September 2016). "In Auburndale, hopes of an international water ski hub". The Ledger. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
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