YANQING, China — The contestants arrived at the 37-acre campus to chase a far-fetched dream. None had ever tasted anything resembling the Olympics. Most never would. They were amateur athletes plucked from across the United States, lured to Colorado Springs by the promise of a "scouting camp." A few, they were told, would earn opportunities to make a niche U.S. national team.
But first, they were going to make a TV show.
Team USA officials had long valued the "talent transfer" concept. "We've always had this belief," says U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee high performance director Scott Riewald, "that there's so much untapped talent here in the United States, athletes who have tremendous physical skills, and developed attributes, physiologically, mental, physically, that could contribute to having success in an Olympic sport.