1.   As expected, four-time national champion and two-time Olympian Michael Gostigian was picked for the first Olympic qualifier next weekend in Mexico City.

2.   Head coach Pam Nixon and her staff stayed in Capetown to scout the field at an Olympic qualifier tournament there.

3.   Jim Gregory and coach Jan Bartu left this week for Rome and the final Olympic qualifier.

4.   Larry Brown coached the US team at the Olympic qualifier in Puerto Rico and assisted Rudy Tomjanovich in Sydney.

5.   Maxwell beat the American Jim Terrell by about a canoe length at the last Olympic hemispheric qualifier for eight countries.

6.   Several of the Olympic qualifier games were televised by Turner Sports, and the Olympics-clinching semifinal was seen on NBC.

7.   Since the race was an Olympic qualifier for the Kenyans, Tanui is now an Olympian despite his finish.

8.   The Americans will get all the international dates they can handle during the next year, when the other Olympic qualifiers come to the States to prepare.

9.   The annual competition also is an Olympic qualifier this year.

10.   The top six athletes will go on to train in Colorado Springs and then compete in upcoming Olympic qualifiers.