USA Wrestling has chosen its nominees to serve as coaches for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team in women's freestyle wrestling.

Selected by USA Wrestling to serve along with USA Wrestling National Women's Coach Terry Steiner of Colorado Springs, Colo. on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team women's freestyle coaching staff is Tadaaki Hatta of Elyria, Ohio.

Three finalists were interviewed by the USA Wrestling Women's Coach Selection Committee, which selected Hatta as its choice to join Steiner as nominees. USA Wrestling's Executive Committee approved these selections. The nominees will now be forwarded to the U.S. Olympic Committee for final approval.

Hatta served as an official Women's World Team Coach at the 1991 World Championships.  He was a coach for the 2007 Pan American Games team, as well as a number of U.S. age-group World Teams.

The other two finalists who were interviewed were Troy Steiner of Corvallis, Ore. and Levi Weikel-Magden of Colorado Springs, Colo. 

One of the finalists, Bill Scherr of Glenview, Ill., withdrew prior to the interviews due to his time commitment as chairman of World Sport Chicago and as a board member of Chicago 2016.

Quotes from the nominees and complete biographies are below.

QUOTES FROM THE NOMINEES

USA Wrestling National Women's Coach Terry Steiner of Colorado Springs, Colo.

"Many of the athletes vying for Olympic spots have been around for a long time. They are a veteran crew. Going from seven weights to four for the Olympics, the biggest thing we have is depth. Everybody is looking over their shoulder, trying to hold onto their spot. Competition is a great thing for us. We have stacked weight classes in all of the Olympic divisions. You want to have competition and depth in the program. I am excited about this."

"Women's wrestling is still very new to the Olympic Games. That Olympic medal is very special. We have high expectations. We have many athletes who want to win an Olympic gold medal before they retire and move on with their lives. Internationally, every country in the world is treating this as an important thing. It will be very competitive at the Olympics."

Tadaaki Hatta, Elyria, Ohio

"I am very excited. I applied for this position for the Athens Olympics, and have worked hard the last four years with the program. This time, I have had much more involvement as a coach, and believe I can help the women wrestlers even more. I believe our main competition will be against Japan, China and Russia. I know the cultures of Japan and China well, and know the language. Knowing the opponents will help our athletes to do their best."

"I am a firm believer in going back to the basics. I teach good position, good techniques and to know when to use certain techniques. It is all about timing. I look forward to working with Terry Steiner preparing this team. We will be shooting to win four medals at the Olympics."

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE NOMINEES

USA Wrestling National Women's Coach Terry Steiner of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Steiner was named USA Wrestling's full-time National Women's Coach in April 2002, the first in USA Wrestling history.  He is responsible for the training of America's elite women freestyle wrestlers, as well as coaching women wrestlers who are involved in the U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete program. 

For the first time, women's wrestlers competed in the Olympic Games in 2004. Steiner helped lead that Olympic team to one silver and one bronze medal, the second-highest medal count of any nation.

Since becoming USA Wrestling's National Women's Coach, U.S. teams on international tours have turned in many outstanding performances. At the 2003 World Championships in New York City, all seven U.S. women's competitors won medals, including gold medalist Kristie Marano, as the team tied with Japan for the team title. Japan was awarded the first-place trophy for having the most gold-medalists.

Steiner also led the U.S. women to first place at the 2003 World Cup, where the U.S. defeated host Japan in the finals.

Other top five finishes at the World Championships for the U.S. Women's World Team under Steiner was a third place at the 2005 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary and a fifth place at the 2007 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Steiner worked six years as an assistant wrestling coach at Wisconsin, working with head coach Barry Davis. He has helped develop a number of successful Div. I wrestlers, including two-time NCAA champion Donny Pritzlaff.

Steiner spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Oregon State. He was also a coach with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club in Iowa City, Iowa after his college career ended.

Since 1997, he served as one of the coaches for Wisconsin's USA Wrestling Cadet National Team. Along with his twin brother Troy, he directed a kids wrestling club in Iowa City in 1993-94.

Steiner claimed second in the 1998 U.S. Nationals and placed at the U.S. National Championships eight times. He placed fourth in the 1996 Olympic Trials and fifth in the 2000 Olympic Trials. He won a gold medal at the 1996 Pan American Championships. 

He was a 1993 NCAA Div. I champion for Univ. of Iowa, coached by the legendary Dan Gable. He won three All-American honors and compiled a career record of 124-27-2. He was also voted the Outstanding Wrestler at the 1993 NCAA Championships. Originally from Bismarck, N.D., Steiner won two state titles for Century High School. Steiner earned a bachelor's degree in social work from Iowa in 1993.

Tadaaki Hatta, Elyria, Ohio

Hatta served as Pan American Coach for the 2007 Pan American Games team, which competed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The U.S. won medals in all four weight classes, including individual champions Sara McMann and Kristie Marano.

He was the head coach of the 1991 U.S. Women's World Team that placed fifth in the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan and featured two medalists. 

He was the coach of the 2006 World University Championships in Ulan Batar, Mongolia, where the United States placed fourth in the standings, with two medalists. Hatta was also the coach of the 2005 World University Games team in Izmir, Turkey, where the U.S. team placed fourth, led by four medalists.

He was on the coaching staff for the women's team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. He was a finalist for the Women's Freestyle coaching position for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.

He served as the Assistant Coach of the 2003 U.S. Women's World Team that placed second at the World Championships in New York, N.Y., and featured seven individual medalists, including champion Kristie Marano.

Hatta was also a member of the 1988, 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic team coaching staff in men's freestyle wrestling. He was also a coach of the 1968 and 1984 Japanese Olympic team, as well as the 1972 Mexican Olympic team. 

Hatta was also head coach of the Women's 1999 Cadet World Team, the 2001 and 2002 Women's Junior World Team and the 2002 Women's University World Team.  He was also the boy's Cadet World Team coach in 1998. Hatta served on the coaching staff for numerous men's freestyle World Teams prior to concentrating on the women's program.

He is a USA Wrestling Gold Certified Coach. Hatta was a leader within USA Wrestling Ohio for many years, previously serving as Director of Wrestling Development and Coaches Education Director. Hatta is also an M-1 referee within USA Wrestling.

Hatta is a coach for women wrestlers with the New York AC. He also coaches with the All-American Wrestling Club, a youth club in LaGrange, Ohio. Hatta previously was a coach with the Dave Schultz WC and the Sunkist Kids.

Hatta was active as a coach on the high school levels in Ohio, serving 20 years (1978-98) in positions with Oberlin High School, Ravenna High School, St. Edward High School, Walsh Jesuit High School and St. Ignatius High School. He also served nine years as the rugby coach at St. Edward. Professionally, he works as an art teacher for Ravenna High School.

He competed for Oklahoma State Univ., where he was a 1965 NCAA champion and third in the 1966 NCAA Championships. Hatta also won two Big Eight titles for the Cowboys. He was a national runner-up in freestyle three times. Hatta has received a Master's degree from Northwestern Univ.