OTC shooter secures Olympic spot

Olympic Training Center shooter Matt Emmons qualified for the 2008 Beijing Games by winning a silver medal today in the men’s 50-meter rifle prone at the Rifle/Pistol World Cup Final in Bangkok, Thailand.

Emmons, a gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Games, lost to Sergei Martynov of Belarus in sudden death after he tied the score on his final shot.

Springs cyclist wins U-23 national title

Colorado Springs rider Sam Jurekovic won the men’s individual pursuit under-23 national title Thursday at the USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships in Carson, Calif.

On Wednesday, Colorado Springs cyclist Giddeon Massie finished third in the men’s 250-meter time trial, less than 0.2 of a second behind Michael Blatchford and Ben Barczewski.

Sykora returns to women’s volleyball national team

Two-time Olympian Stacy Sykora has returned to the U.S. women’s volleyball national team and started practicing at the OTC.

Sykora, a 30-year-old libero, hadn’t been with the team for nearly three years after competing at the Olympics in 2000 and 2004. She was named Friday to the 19-player preliminary roster for the FIVB World Cup, which is Nov. 2-16 in Japan.

U.S. official warns of threats at Vancouver Games

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer said he’s preparing to combat bidirectional smuggling and prevent terrorism at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Mark Beaty, a U.S. federal coordinator for the next Winter Olympics, called the smuggling of weapons and drugs between the U.S. and Canada a “huge concern.” He warned of a variety of terrorist attacks, such as “multiple small-unit attacks that are done against the clock, simultaneous events, sporadic events.”

“How do we mitigate the risk that’s associated with the unbelievable amount of people who are going to be coming to the Games?” Beaty said Tuesday at the Homeland Defense/Homeland Security Symposium at The Broadmoor hotel. “You take the one (scenario) that would be the most significant, would have the most potential for death and destruction, and you work down from there.”

Olympic tidbits

Colorado Springs resident Lou Vairo will be the featured speaker Oct. 12 at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction dinner in Grand Forks, N.D. ... A $3 million technology upgrade has been completed at the OTC and at training centers in Chula Vista, Calif., and Lake Placid, N.Y., giving athletes faster video downloads and wireless access in dorms and practice areas.