Some Winter Olympians to root for from Bay Area
When identifying our “local” Winter Olympians, who will begin competing this weekend in Pyeongchang, South Korea, we have to stretch our definition of the term.
We have to head east to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, our nearest winter playground, where many of “our” athletes grew up.
And we have to include those who spend most of their time far away. Because while “our” Olympians may have been born and spent their childhoods nearby, most Bay Area 2018 Olympians live and train somewhere else.
Such is the fate of living in our mildweathered region. The children who grow up to be Winter Olympians generally have to move away to pursue their dreams.
But this is the Olympics and we all have our rooting interests. With that in mind, here are the athletes we are claiming as our locals:
Karen Chen, 18, figure skating
Chen grew up in Fremont but trains in Riverside with coach Tammy Gambill. A national bronze medalist in 2015, Chen shocked figure skating by winning the national championship in 2017 with a flawless performance. Her gutsy fourth-place performance at the 2017 world championships, while dealing with pain, gave the United States three coveted Olympic slots. Chen was rewarded for her work at worlds when, after finishing third at the national championships in San Jose last month, she earned one of those spots on the Olympic team. The daughter of engineers who emigrated from Taiwan, Chen grew up skating at Sharks Ice and emulating another Fremont native, Kristi Yamaguchi. Though the American women aren’t predicted to make the podium, Chen has been full of surprises in her young career.
Brita Sigourney, 28, freestyle skiing
The native of Carmel Valley earned her first win in four years at Mammoth last month to qualify for Pyeongchang. The all-around athlete was a water polo star at Santa Catalina High in Monterey and earned a scholarship to play water polo at UC Davis before quitting the sport to concentrate on skiing. She competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, finishing sixth. She’s battled injuries throughout her career and knows that this may be her last chance at an Olympic medal.
Bryce Bennett, 25, alpine skiing
The Tahoe City native made his first Olympic team in the combined event, matching his career-best ninth place finish last month in Switzerland. The son of skiers — his father was a former telemark racer and his mother worked at Alpine Meadows — Bennett started skiing at 2 and was on the Squaw Valley Ski Team. At 6-foot-7, he’s one of the taller athletes in the sport, and he can dunk a basketball.
Tim Jitloff, 33, alpine skiing
One of the Olympic veterans, Jitloff was born in San Jose and grew up skiing on the slopes near Tahoe, first at Alpine Meadows and then at Sugar Bowl. This is Jitloff’s third Olympic team. He was not selected by his coaches to compete in 2010; in Sochi he finished 15th in giant slalom. He went to Truckee High School and the University of Nevada, Reno, but now splits his time between Reno and Germany.
Vincent Zhou, 17, figure skating
The Palo Alto native finished third at the U.S. championships last month, attempting five quadruple jumps and earning a spot on the Olympic team. Zhou, who also trains with Gambill but currently lives in Colorado where he also trains, is the reigning junior world champion and won the silver medal at the 2017 U.S. championships. Zhou, whose Chinese immigrant parents are software engineers, first learned to skate at a public rink in Cupertino. Zhou struggled with his confidence in his first full season at the senior level, despite having the kind of athleticism the United States team is seeking. Though Zhou has struggled to consistently land his jumps cleanly, if he does at the Olympics, he could find himself on the podium.
Maddie Bowman, 24, freestyle skiing
South Lake Tahoe’s Bowman won the debut Olympic gold medal in freestyle halfpipe in 2014. The daughter of two ski racers, Bowman started out racing before discovering freestyle skiing. She is a four-time X Games halfpipe gold medalist. Since her gold performance in Sochi, Russia, Bowman has had several knee surgeries and recently had a down year, by her own high standards. Though pushed by younger competitors, Bowman is still a technical master and has a good shot at a medal.
Stacey Cook, 33, alpine skiing
The Truckee native, who suffered a horrific crash in Germany the Sunday before the Opening Ceremony, qualified for her fourth Olympic team. Cook competed in Turin in both downhill and giant slalom and in downhill in both Vancouver and Sochi. She was part of a historic American podium sweep at the World Cup in 2014 at Canada’s Lake Louise, finishing second behind Lindsey Vonn and ahead of Julia Mancuso.
Mark Engel, 26, alpine skiing
Engel was born in Folsom but calls Truckee home. He started skiing at 2, at Tahoe Donner, and racing at age 7 on the Sugar Bowl ski team. Currently ranked second in the United States in slalom, this is his first Olympics. When he’s not skiing, he is an accomplished musician, putting out his own album and playing guitar, banjo and violin.
Jamie Anderson, 27, snowboarding
South Lake Tahoe’s Anderson is expected to have a good shot at at least two medals, in the slopestyle and big air disciplines. She won the first Olympic gold medal in slopestyle, in 2014, and would like to add another debut medal in big air in Pyeongchang. She remains one of the most consistent performers in the sport. Anderson, the fifth of eight children, grew up training at Sierra-at-Tahoe and became the youngest Winter X-Games medalist at 15. Though continuously pushed by up-and-coming talent, she finished the 2017 World Cup standings first in slopestyle, second overall and fifth in big air. Her tricks include a Cab 720, switch backside 540 and a recently added Cab double underflip.
Hilary Knight, 28, hockey
Knight, the current face of American women’s hockey, probably wouldn’t have that distinction if her parents had stayed in Palo Alto, where she was born. But when she was 5, Knight moved to the suburbs of Chicago where she began playing hockey. Now a resident of Sun Valley, Idaho, Knight is a two-time Olympic silver medalist, helping the Wisconsin Badgers win two national championships. Considered one of the best players in the world, she has played professionally in the NWHL. Since the last Olympics, Knight has helped lead the U.S. team to three world championship victories over Canada; this year the team’s theme is “Gold or Bust.”
Nick Cunningham, 32, bobsled
The Monterey native is competing in his third Olympics. He got into bobsled following a track career at Monterey High and Boise State. After Vancouver, where he was a push athlete, he switched to driver. In 2014 he finished 12th in the four-man bobsled and 13th in two-man. He expects to compete again in both divisions. He is the only experienced driver on the Olympic team. A sergeant in the National Guard, Cunningham is also a member of the Army’s World Class Athlete program.
J.R. Celski, 27, short-track speedskating
Celski was born in Monterey but raised in Federal Way, Wash., where he was influenced by Apolo Ohno, who was from the same town. Celski returned to California as a teenager to train before moving to Utah, where he lives and trains now. This will be his third Olympics; in 2010 he won an individual bronze in the 1,500 meters and bronze in 5,000-meter relay, and in Sochi he won a silver in the 5,000-meter relay.
Joanne Reid, 25, biathlon
Reid grew up in sunny Palo Alto, but her Winter Olympic roots run deep. Her mother is Beth Heiden and her uncle is Eric Heiden, both former Olympic speedskaters. Her uncle won five gold medals and her mother won a bronze in 1980. She learned to ski on roller skis, and her mother, who worked for Apple, was her coach and trainer. She skied for University of Colorado, where she won a national championship and also earned a master’s degree in engineering. She took up biathlon in 2015. This is her first Olympics.
John McCarthy, 31, hockey
Beginning in 1998, there has always been a San Jose Shark in the Olympics. Though NHL players are not participating this year, there’s still one, thanks to McCarthy. The native of Boston was selected by the San Jose Sharks in the seventh round of the 2006 NHL draft and played in 88 games over the course of seven years. The native of Boston is the captain for the Sharks’ minor league affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Unlike the rest of his teammates, McCarthy has never played for a United States team in any other international competition.
Kendall Wesenberg, 27, skeleton
Born in Castro Valley and raised in Modesto, Wesenberg got interested in skeleton during the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. She received a degree in business administration from University of Colorado, Boulder. She became the first American woman to win the European Cup in the 2014-15 season. This is her first Olympics.
Aaron Tran, 21, short-track speedskating
Tran was born in San Francisco but raised in Federal Way, Wash., the hometown of skaters Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski. This is his first Olympics; he qualified by finishing second in the men’s 500 meters and third overall at the U.S. Olympic trials. He lives and trains in Salt Lake City.