Mother Russia & The Room 8 Bears!

After coming home from the Olympics Bree and I received a call asking us to travel to Russia to help homologate, which means test the safety and structure of a new track near Moscow. How could we say no to a fully funded ‘Bobsled vacation?!’ We traveled to Russia with Annie O’Shea and Matt Antoine some of our skeleton teammates where we were treated to some Russian hospitality. Each day we went to the track, took two runs, gave the FIBT feedback on the track and then went on a new tour around Russia. We were fortunate enough to see some amazing churches, The Red Square, many historic museums, and other very interesting parts of Russia. The Russian Bobsled Federation was very excited to have us and other nations involved in the successful homologation of the track.
                                                     The start of the Bob track in Russia

After traveling almost 20 hours back to California I was able to stop by Miss Pavlos class at Baker Elementary in San Jose. I was inspired to visit her class after receiving an amazing letter from one of her students, Athena, while I was at the Olympics. Athena obviously spend many hours on the letter and picture that she sent to me, which included a Room 8 Bear penny for me to rub for good luck. Her letter was one of my favorites and was posted by my bed throughout the Olympics. I rubbed the penny she gave me for good luck each day before I went to the track. I was excited to finally meet her and tell her how much her thoughtful note meant to me. I shared my Olympic experience with her and her classmates and was surprised by her with flowers and a gold medal that she made for me. The students were very excited to meet me, but I do not think they fully realized how gratifying and exciting it is for me to be able to share knowledge I have learned throughout my life. I also met a student of Miss Pavlos, Erika, who enjoys dirt biking, so I was able to give her fellow ITA athlete Lea’s information on the Little Bellas group and the camp that is coming to Monterey. Thank you to Miss Pavlos and Athena! I had a great time meeting with your class and I hope to come back really soon.

                     Miss Pavlos Class: The Room 8 Bears!

Calling all Bobsled Fans!

I am very excited to announce that I have received the go ahead to extend my ITA project to Chico and Northern California. My project for the next few months will consist of visiting local schools and after school venues. I will be sharing my Olympic experiences and life lessons I have learned throughout my journey. It has been overwhelming the number of local students and teachers who have supported me through the Olympics and I am hoping to show my appreciation by giving back to them.  When I came home I was surprised by an incredible book filled with letters and drawings from Mrs. Forrester's  Mill Street School class in Orland.  I am really looking forward to visiting these students and answering all of their questions like if Bree and I are 'bestests friends'.

I have already gone to few schools and visited my old gym, Athlete Horizons, where I shared many stories with the young gymnasts. It was a lot of fun to talk to these girls, as I can tell how much they look up to me because I was once in their shoes. They were very interested in how I thought gymnastics has helped me as an athlete (after competing competitively until the age of 16) and of course wanted to know if I got scared bobsledding and how I overcame it. If my story was able to only resonate with one girl, I believe my visit was a success. I have received many requests, but if you want me to come your classroom or group please contact me at emily@in-the-arena.org and I will do my best to make it happen. Thank you.

Students in Mrs. Weaver's  Little Chico Creek class cheering me on in Whistler

The Aftermath

To say the least, life has been crazy since the end of our race on February 24th. Bree and I had an incredible run and finished 5th in the world. I think we are both pretty satisfied with our result considering how difficult it was for our USA 3 sled to qualify for the Olympic games. Of course, a medal would have completely fulfilled the dream and getting so close only makes me hungry for more. Our teammates Elana and Erin won the bronze (congrats girls!) and our American team had three sleds in the top six, which is great for our program.

After the completion of our races Bree and I decided we were going to do everything possible to get the FULL Olympic experience. We attended the women’s gold medal hockey game, women’s figure skating, men’s hockey gold medal game and of course we watched Team Holcomb, our fourman bobsled team win gold! With all the Olympic festivities I was barely able to see my family and missed out on meeting Amory (ITA founder) and her family, which I can hopefully do sometime soon.

After the Closing Ceremony I flew home to Chico where I was greeted after a night of no sleep by fifty plus ‘fans’ and supporters from Chico and the Northstate. I was amazed how many people were there that I had never met, but who felt like they knew me by following my journey and living my dreams with me. I honestly did not realize the kind of affect I had over the people in my community. I thought I would come home and go on with life like it was before the Olympics, but my life is forever changed. I went to the post office the following day and Chicoans were coming up to me bursting with pride, shaking my hand and telling me thank you. I never would have thought that I would be getting thanked for following my goals and pursuing my dreams. It is ironic to me because I feel like I should be the one thanking each individual within our community that has helped me reach my goal.

                      My greeting at the airport  (photo from The Chico ER)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Game Time!!

After a few exciting days of training we are ready to go. The sled is washed and waxed, the runners are polished and it is game time! I am as calm as one can be preparing for an Olympic event. A lot of reporters and friends have asked me if I am nervous and the honest answer is yes, but not anymore nervous than I have been for every race leading up to this point. The hard part is done. As Coach D (my college track coach) would say ‘the money is in the bank.’ I have put in the work. I have made the team and now it is our turn to cash in and do what we do best.. GO FAST! I will be representing all of the northstate and my country proudly tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone from my hometown of Chico, California and college UCDavis for all of your amazing support throughout my Olympic journey. I have received an overwhelming amount of encouragement from emails, phone calls and of course all the comments left by the 1,000 plus people who have joined a facebook group created in support of me! Lastly, thank you to my family for the love and support they have given me. I can honestly say without them I would not have been inspired to go for my goals and believe in my dreams. They are my biggest fans. I can not even anticipate the emotions I will feel seeing them here at the Olympic games waving our flag proudly in support of me.

Put me in Coach!

Waiting, watching…. waiting, celebrating…. waiting, feeling defeat…. waiting…

We start training in two days and it can not come fast enough for us. We have watched our fellow sliders, luge, go through a very difficult race having the starting position moved down after the tragic accident by Georgian luger. We have watched Shaun White put on an amazing gold medal performance in the half pipe and Lindsay Vonn winning gold in downhill and being disappointed with her finish in super combined. We have watched it all and we will continue to watch until the 20th when we finally start our first day of training. I can not wait to get back on the ice and especially this track. This track is the fastest in the world and one of the most fun (when done right). It is funny we are counting down the days until we get on the ice, but I am sure once it finally gets here time will fly by. Until then…. Good Luck to the skeleton sliders tonight and men’s bobsled on Saturday and Sunday. We will continue to watch and cheer on our teammates anxiously waiting for our turn to show the world what we can do.

Olympic Pin Craze

I decided since I am a rookie Olympian it is best for me to soak up the experience because who knows if I will ever get this once in a lifetime chance again. So, I am doing everything I can from pin collecting to playing Dance Dance Revolution with athletes from different countries. Pins are the currency here in the athlete village and around. The volunteers and spectators want all the best pins from all the different countries, but the athletes really have the advantage of getting these collectable pins. If you have an awesome pin people will do close to anything to get it. Who would have thought I would have gotten into pin trading and collecting? I think Grandma Betty would be proud and would probably tell me that someday these will go for a ton. I think she may have been wrong thinking that with the Cabbage Patch Dolls, but with these rare Olympic pins she might be right. I have traded countless pins with many countries and I am having a small competition with some of my teammates for who can get the best pins. The pins that are the most sought after are the pins from the smaller nations as they only have a limited number to give away. So far I have gotten of 30 pins from different nations including the ones I really wanted, Spain and Portugal. I was even lucky enough to get an exclusive ITA athlete Torin Koos pin! Ghana and Jamaica are next on the list of pins to get, so tomorrow I am going to search for some new friends (and pins).

Just another day at the office...

Wow! The last few days have been exhausting, but some of the best of my life. After landing in Vancouver with my team we were scooped up and have gone non stop ever since. I have been given three bags of Ralph Lauren and Nike Team USA gear. I have signed countless autographs. I had my first ever press conference.  I have met Sandra Oh (from Greys Anatomy), Bonnie Blair, Picabo Street, Vice President Biden, Queen Latifah (who thinks I look like her girl Alicia…Keys that is) and the governator Arnold Schwarznegger. This is, of course, is not including the countless amazing athletes I have met and that I was honored to walk side by side in the Opening Ceremony.

 Rocking the new gear

                         

I wish I could explain to every one of you what it is like to follow our flag into a stadium filled with over 60,000 people, but there are no words to describe the pride and honor I felt. I now know why many athletes have a hard time retiring and why we put in countless number of hours training and go through every up and down we do. That was all worth it. I would do everything again to be able to experience that minute over and over.