USAMU shooter chosen as Army Athlete of Year

[USAMU]

USAMU shooter chosen as Army Athlete of Year
By Tim Hipps

U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center

FORT BENNING, Ga. – Maj. Michael E. Anti of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit has been selected as 2004 Army Male Athlete of the Year. Maj. Heidi Grimm and Capt. Anita Allen are co-winners of the Army’s Female Athlete of the Year award.

Anti, 40, of Winterville, N.C., won a Silver Medal in Men’s 50-Meter Three-Position Rifle shooting event in the 2004 Olympic Games at Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre in Athens, Greece. Anti, a three-time Olympian, also finished 24th in Men’s 50-Meter Free Rifle Prone in the Athens Games.

Grimm, 37, of Rochester, N.Y., won Gold Medals in the 2004 Armed Forces Triathlon Championships at Naval Base Ventura, Calif., and the 2004 Conseil International du Sport Militaire Triathlon Championships at Belfort, France. She was the first U.S. military female finisher in the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championships at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with a time of 11 hours, 31 minutes and 5 seconds in the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run. Grimm also finished second in her age group in the 2004 Army Ten-Miler at Arlington, Va.

Allen, 27, of Star City, Ind., finished 18th in Women’s Modern Pentathlon in the Olympic Games at Goudi Olympic Complex in Athens, Greece. The highlight of her five-sport performance there was a first-place ride in the equestrian show-jumping event. She solidified her Olympic berth by winning the women’s modern pentathlon in the 2003 Pan-American Games at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.


Anti, who trains with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga., and Allen, stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., are members of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. Grimm is stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash.

The Army Athletes of the Year were selected Jan. 19 at the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center Headquarters of the Army’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation division, which provides more than 50 programs for Soldiers and their families.

In addition to their athletic endeavors, the Soldiers’ military accomplishments and community service also were considered. The awards will be presented Feb. 17 during the Association of the United States Army’s Winter Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of Fort Knox, Ky., which is under U.S. Army Accessions Command, of Fort Monroe, Va. Accessions Command is charged with overseeing recruiting and training of the Army’s enlisted Soldiers and officers. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. The world-class Soldier-athletes of the USAMU also promote the Army and assist recruiters in attracting young Americans to enlist in the Army. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil or www.usamu.com. For further information on the World Class Athlete Program, contact Douglas Ide, CFSC Public Affairs Officer at (703) 681-1548, DSN: 761-1548 or pao@cfsc.army.mil.)

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Cutlines:

0515-AntiAthleteOfYear.jpg: Maj. Michael Anti (left), winner of the 2004 Army Male Athlete of the Year award, displays his Olympic silver medal in men's 50-meter three-position rifle shooting alongside gold medalist Zhanbo Jia of China (center) and bronze medalist Christian Planer of Austria (right).

0515-AllAthleteOfYear.jpg: Capt. Anita Allen, co-winner of the 2004 Army Female Athlete of the Year award, rides Dino to a first-place finish in the equestrian show-jumping portion of the women's modern pentathlon in the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens, Greece. Allen finished 18th in the five-sport event.

Photos by Tim Hipps, USACFSC Public Affairs

0515-MajHeidiGrimm.jpg: Maj. Heidi Grimm, co-winner of the 2004 Army Female Athlete of the Year award, is the first U.S. military female finisher in the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championships at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Courtesy photo

Tim Hipps
U.S. Army Community & Family Support Center
Senior Information Specialist
Tim.Hipps@cfsc.army.mil
(703) 681-7259