BATON ROUGE, La. --- The National Senior Games Association (NSGA) announced that figure skating and speedskating will be added as official competitive events at the 2002 Winter National Senior Games - The Senior Olympics, slated for the week of January 4-11, 2002 in Lake Placid, N.Y.. Figure skating events will include singles and dance (pairs) while speedskating will include long track pack racing at various distances.

"The addition of figure skating and speedskating is testament to the increasing popularity of senior athletics and the Winter National Senior Games," said Phil Godfrey, vice president of national games at NSGA. "These additions are a direct result of requests we received from winter athletes at the 2000 Winter National Senior Games. By offering a wider variety of events we feel we have opened the competition to a greater number of senior athletes, thereby supporting the mission of the NSGA."

The Sheffield Speedskating Oval, where races will take place in 2002, was named after Lake Placid speedskating legend James "Bunny" Sheffield. The outdoor venue was the site of Eric Heiden's record-breaking, five gold medal performance at the 1980 Olympics. The Olympic Center skating facility, which will host ice hockey and curling as well as figure skating in 2002, was the site of the first American Winter Olympic Games in 1932. The Center was where Sonia Henie won Olympic gold in 1932 and was the site of USA Hockey's "Miracle on Ice" in 1980.

"It's very exciting that the 2002 Winter National Senior Games will include speedskating and figure skating," said 90-year-old Jack Shea, the 2000 Winter National Senior Games honorary chairman and the 1932 gold medallist in speedskating at 500m and 1,500m. "This is great for senior athletics, the Lake Placid area and both the sports of speedskating and figure skating."

The Winter National Senior Games The Winter National Senior Games are held during even-numbered years and are open to men and women 50 years of age and older. Men and women in individual sports compete in groups based on five-year increments. Team sports for both men and women are divided into 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+ and 75+ age groups. Unlike the Summer National Senior Games, qualifying at the state level is not necessary to compete in the Winter National Senior Games at this time. To be eligible for the 2002 Winter National Senior Games, athletes must be 50 years old on or before January 4, 2002.

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