Like most athletes I had dreams of participating in the Olympic games. In high school I was invited to the Olympic development camp for hockey, but due to some scheduling mishap I was not able to attend. I was able to represent the US twice playing hockey in Europe, but that was as close as I ever came. I almost forgot about the time I was training with the Romania speed skating coach while living in Salt Lake. I found an article about Kathryn Bertine an ESPN columnist/writer who is writing about her ordeals while trying to make the US Olympic cycling team. I picked the story up late in her adventure. If you want to start from the beginning then start here. I'm going to continue on so if you don't want to here what happens then go back and read the first entry and continue on. I'll wait...
After placing 35th at Nationals her US Olympic dreams were dashed. Her next course of action is quite ingenious and not necessarily unheard of, find a different country. I've heard of this kind of thing before, I've heard of some Canadian and US hockey players representing other countries on their Olympic teams. Kathryn has started to look for a smaller nation to ride for. I'm surprised she didn't receive more interest in her offer than what she did. The marketing/PR opportunities for a small nation I would think would be a tremendous boon with her ties to ESPN. The last installment of her journey has her meeting with the St. Kitts/Nevis Cycling Federation and the ball is rolling. It sounds like she could have a good shot at being at the Olympic games this summer, I'm pulling for her. She's living her dream, just the training opportunities she is partaking in has me very envious. I like watching the videos on her site of her training with Gord Fraser and the testing she is going through at Carmichael Training System's Tucson office.
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