COLORADO SPRINGS, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- USA Hockey President Walter L. Bush has been honored with the Olympic Order, the highest individual award in international athletics.
The International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee will honor 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 honor," 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 honor 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.
