COLORADO SPRINGS — Eli Bremer first set foot on the U.S. Olympic Training Center complex on a field trip with his Colorado Springs Christian classmates when he was in the second grade.
“I was just starting to learn about what the Olympics were, but I remember very distinctly coming out here,” said Bremer, now a resident athlete and Olympic hopeful in the modern pentathlon. “We had to do a fitness test and try to see how many laps we could run around the track.”
The quarter-mile track is long gone, removed in 1990 to make room for construction of the imposing Athlete Center, the centerpiece of the complex that includes a dining hall and recreation areas attached to two of the OTC’s five residence halls.
Bremer said he would like to see the USOC stay in his hometown. He graduated from Lewis-Palmer High School and the Air Force Academy, then earned an MBA from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.
“For me, this is a huge deal – the training center, having the Olympic Committee here,” Bremer said.
Modern pentathlon is one of the more obscure Olympic sports, consisting of shooting, fencing, equestrian, swimming (200 meters) and running (3,000 meters). The shooting range at the OTC is one of the best in the world, and the pentathletes have access to the Penrose Equestrian Center across town. The benefits of altitude assist them in training for swimming and running.
But the fencing strips are located in what used to be the food preparation area in the old dining hall. USOC officials hope to create better accommodations for fencing if the proposed Sports Center 3 structure can be built.
Bremer isn’t complaining, however.
“The facilities here are outstanding,” he said. “I think they’re right on track, saying they’d like to upgrade some of the facilities, just so we can be competitive. I don’t think it’s a statement about the current facilities, I think it’s a statement that the Olympic Committee wants to be ahead of the pack, not with the pack.”
Teams from Egypt, Russia, Poland and Germany will make trips to Colorado Springs this year to train with U.S. pentathletes.
“We’re beating athletes away with a stick right now because this is considered such a phenomenal training center for our sport,” Bremer said.
