FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The U.S. Soccer Federation announced that New England Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst has been named by U.S. Under-23 head coach Peter Nowak to the 18-man 2008 U.S. Olympic soccer team that will compete in the Beijing Olympics in August.
Parkhurst, 24, was one of three "overage" players named to the team comprised of players from the Under-23 age group. The Cranston, R.I., native will join the team for pre-Olympic training in Stanford, Calif., on Sunday evening following the Revolution's SuperLiga 2008 match against Chivas USA in Fullerton, Calif., for which he will be available for selection.
"I'm very honored to be selected for the 2008 Olympic team," Parkhurst said. "It's any athlete's dream to compete in the Olympics and represent your country at the highest level.
"I'm excited about joining the team next week to start preparing for the Games before we head to Asia ," Parkhurst continued.
The Olympic team will gather in northern California this weekend to begin preparations for the 2008 Games. After a brief training camp in San Jose, Calif., the team will depart for Hong Kong on July 25 and play in the ING Cup. After the tournament, the team will then head to its first Olympic venue - Tianjin - on Aug. 3. The U.S. will begin play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Aug. 7 against Japan, and will also face the Netherlands (Aug. 10, Tianjin) and Nigeria (Aug. 13, Beijing) in Group B play.
Parkhurst, the 2007 Major League Soccer Defender of the Year, is joined on the Olympic team by two other "overage" additions: decorated U.S. striker Brian McBride, a veteran of three FIFA World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006), and goalkeeper Brad Guzan, currently of Chivas USA.
The full 2008 U.S. Olympic team includes: Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Jozy Altidore (Villarreal CF), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Guzan, Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), McBride, Michael Orozaco (San Luis), Parkhurst, Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Danny Szetela (Brescia Calcio) and Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC). Alternates to the squad include Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) and Dax McCarty (FC Dallas).
Parkhurst becomes the fourth active Revolution player to represent the U.S. in the Olympics, joining Imad Baba and Alexi Lalas (1996, Atlanta) and Brian Dunseth (2000, Sydney).
Current Revs defender Chris Albright (2000, Sydney) and Vice President of Player Personnel Mike Burns (1992, Barcelona), as well as former Rev Joe-Max Moore (1992, Barcelona), have also competed in the Olympics.
"Michael is a key player for us and has rightfully earned his selection to the Olympic team," Burns added on behalf of the Revolution. "We're thrilled for him to have this opportunity to represent the U.S. Speaking from my experience at the Olympics in Barcelona, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he'll remember forever."
Parkhurst and the New England Revolution are in the midst of a three-week break from the MLS regular-season schedule while participating in SuperLiga 2008, a competition between the top four club teams in both the U.S. and Mexico. The Revs - who are atop Group B with a 2-0-0 record with a pair of 1-0 victories against Mexican powers Santos Laguna and Pachuca - cap group play on Sunday, July 20, in Fullerton, Calif., when they face Chivas USA at 8 p.m. ET. Telefutura (Spanish) is televising the entire SuperLiga 2008 tournament live, while both English and Spanish video is available at SuperLiga2008.com and MLSNet.com.
