Tuesday, December 4, 2001
USA Hockey President Walter L. Bush honoured with Olympic Order
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Ticker) -- USA Hockey President Walter L. Bush has been honoured with the Olympic Order, the highest possible invidual award in international athletics.
The International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee will honour Bush at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"Walter's recognition for his efforts marks a great day for international hockey," said IIHF president Rene Fasel. "Walter's contribution to our global game has been outstanding and has lasted longer than anybody else's in North America."
The Olympic Order is awarded to a person who has illustrated the Olympic ideal through his or her actions, or has rendered outstanding services to the Olympic cause.
"I am humbled by this honour," Bush said. "I am proud and pleased to feel that I have made a contribution to the Olympic movement worldwide. It is a movement I feel very strongly about, and I have made it a priority to further hockey's international relationships around the world."
Bush has served as president of USA Hockey for more than 15 years.
On the international level, Bush serves as one of 11 members of the International Ice Hockey Federation Council and, in June 1998, was re-elected to a second consecutive term as vice president of the IIHF.
Bush received the sport's ultimate honour when he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.
Other hockey recipients who have received the Olympic Order include Wayne Gretzky, Peter Stastny and Vyacheslav Fetisov.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
