The Northwest will be represented on the U.S. Olympic team by a handful of athletes for the XXI Olympic Winter Games Feb. 12 – 28 in British Columbia. These locals will join more than 2,500 top athletes from more than 80 countries who will compete in seven sports with disciplines. All told, there will be more than 90 medal events.
Good luck to our Northwest Connection!
J.R. Celski
Short Track Speedskating
Age: 19
Hometown: Federal Way, Wash.
Highlights: Apolo Ohno prodigy from same home town and track. Won five medals at the 2009 World Championships; two-time U.S. Junior overall champion (’07, ’08); silver medal at 2008 U.S. Championship; bronze medal overall in ’09 World Championship.
Patrick Deneen
Freestyle Skiing (Moguls)
Age: 21
Hometown:
Cle Elum, Wash.
Highlights: 2009 World Championship Gold medalist; four career World Cup podiums including 2008 Rookie of the Year. Patrick began skiing before his first birthday. Homeschooled, he skied nearly 200 days a year growing up.
Nicole Joraanstad
Curling
Age: 29
Hometown:
Kent, Wash.
Highlights: After graduating from Kentridge High School in 1999, Joraanstad left for Madison, Wis. for college where she continued her curling endeavor. She and teammates captured six firsts in the U.S. National Championships in the last nine years — including the last four consecutive years.
Apolo Anton Ohno
Short Track Speedskating
Age: 27
Hometown: Federal Way, Wash.
Highlights: Where do you start with one of America’s most decorated Winter Olympic athletes? With two Olympics and five medals to his credit, Ohno needs just one more medal to become the most accomplished Winter Olympian in America’s history. 2002 Olympics: gold, silver medals; 2006 Olympics: gold, two bronze; 23-time World Championships medalist; 2008 World Champion Team overall (500 m).
Did you know? Apolo was given his unusual first name by his father, Yuki, who combined the Greek words “Ap,” translated to “steering away from” and “low,” translated to “look out, here he comes.” His middle name, Anton, means priceless. Ohno won ABC’s Dancing with the Stars in 2007 on his 25th birthday.
Jeret Peterson
Freestyle Skiing (Aerials)
Age: 29
Hometown:
Boise, Idaho
Highlights: Third consecutive Olympic appearance — finishing ninth in 2002 and seventh in 2006. Finished in top six in overall World Cup standings in ’06, ’07, ’09 — taking 2008 off to recover from injuries. His signature jump is called the “Hurricane.” Bogus Basin is his home mountain; nicknamed Speedy after the cartoon character “Speed Racer.”
Sara Studebaker
U.S. Biathlon
Age: 25
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Highlights: In 2007, she captained her Dartmouth women’s biathlon team to its first NCAA in over 30 years. Named All American in 5k freestyle race.
Morgan Arritola
Cross Country Skiing
Age: 23
Hometown: Ketchum, Idaho
Morgan Arritola was born in Bend, Ore., which has a strong cross country skiing tradition, but she did not try the sport until she moved to Ketchum, Idaho as a high school freshman. Friends from her high school soccer team convinced her to try cross country skiing to keep in shape, and soon she dedicated herself to skiing. Her highest World Cup team finish was 11th in the 4 x 5 km relay in Switzerland in 2007, while her best individual result was 24th in a 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit event in Canada in 2008. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, Arritola had her best team finish of 14th in the 4 x 5 km relay and her best individual result of 22nd in the 30 km mass start.
Will Brandenburg
Alpine Skiing
Age: 23
Hometown: Spokane, Wash.
Walking at six months and on skis at 11 months at Ski Bluewood in Walla Walla, Brandenburg began racing at age seven. As a high school freshman, he made his first trip to Europe for the esteemed Topolino races in Italy. He was named Ski Racing Alpine Junior of the Year in 2007 after placing 5th in DH at Junior Worlds. Brandenburg’s 2009 season was cut short due to meniscus damage and a micro fracture, both of which required surgery and consequently benched him until summer camps.
Erik Fisher
Alpine Skiing
Age: 24
Hometown: Middleton, Idaho
Born in Ontario, Ore. and moving to Middleton, Idaho shortly after, Erik Fisher began skiing at age three at Bogus Basin. He won Downhill bronze at the 2005 Junior Worlds. In the 2006-07 Nor Am season, he medaled nine times, winning the Overall Nor Am Downhill and Super G titles. After an ACL injury during the first World Cup of the 2007-08 season, Fisher spent the remainder of the season in rehab. Returning in 2009, he landed a spot on the World Championships Team and has been consistently posting World Cup points. An eclectic outdoor sports enthusiast, Fisher also enjoys wakeboarding, road cycling, whitewater kayaking and cliff jumping.
Tommy Ford
Alpine Skiing
Age: 21
Hometown: Bend, Ore.
Tommy Ford started to ski at Mt. Bachelor at age two and started to race at age seven. He impressed the ski world at the 2006 U.S. National Junior Championships by winning four gold medals (SL, GS, combined, super G) and a silver (downhill). In 2009 he won a slalom silver medal at the FIS Alpine Junior World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, then a giant slalom silver at the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships. Ski Racing Magazine named him its Junior of the Year for the second season. He began his 2009-10 senior season in Park City with newly named Europa Cup Head Coach Forest Carey.
Elena Hight
Snowboard Halfpipe
Age: 20
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Elena Hight began snowboarding on the hills of Bogus Basin, Idaho at age six.
She began competing in Snowboard Halfpipe at age seven, and at 13 became the first woman to land a 900 in competition. Her back-to-back 900s became a signature aspect of her riding. At age 16, Hight competed at her first Olympics in Turin, Italy, where she placed sixth. Since the 2006 Olympics, Elena has gathered nearly a dozen more medals at major events including the Winter X Games, US Grand Prix, Burton US Open, the Winter Dew Tour and Vans Cup. She aims to medal in the 2010 Olympics.
Torin Koos
Cross Country Skiing
Age: 29
Hometown: Leavenworth, Wash.
The son of a former U.S. biathlon skier, two-time Olympian Torin Koos began cross country ski racing at age 12. He also ran cross country, plus track and field for the University of Utah. He was ninth in the sprint at the 2000 Junior Worlds. Given a World Cup start when another skier was sick in 2001, Koos finished 12th in the sprint. He hasn’t missed an Olympics or World Championships since then as he became the first U.S. Ski Team racer fully committed to sprinting. Koos is working on a graduate degree in communications at Westminster College and hopes to broker Washington State pears to markets worldwide.
Christian Niccum
Luge
Age: 22
Hometown: Woodinville, Wash.
Christian Niccum won four consecutive Junior Worlds doubles championships with then Luge partner Matt McClain from 1995-98, then won two Junior World Cup doubles titles with Preston Griffall in 2002 and 2003. Though a doubles specialist, Niccum has also raced singles. He placed ninth in the singles event at the FIL World Luge Championships in Park City, Utah in 2005, and 23rd in the men’s singles event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. For the 2007-08 season, Niccum returned to doubles paired with fellow American Dan Joye, with whom he will be competing at the 2010 Olympic Games. His favorite place to race is Koenigssee, Germany. Niccum also enjoys hiking and snowboarding.
Bree Schaaf
Bobsled
Age: 29
Hometown: Bremerton, Wash.
Bree Schaaf competed in skeleton from 2002-07, switching to bobsled in 2007. During the first half of the 2008-09 season Schaaf claimed one gold, one silver and four bronze medals on the America’s Cup circuit. Her first-place finish at the 2009 National Championships gave her a spot on the World Cup team for the second half of the season. She raced to fifth place in Whistler, Canada. Schaaf graduated from Portland State University, where she played volleyball. For the past nine years, she has volunteered as a camp counselor for Stanley Stamm Seattle Children’s Hospital camp.
Karen Thatcher
Hockey
Age: 25
Hometown: Blaine, Wash.
Originally from Massachusetts, Karen Thatcher moved to Blaine in 2006 in order to be close to Vancouver, where she played for the BC Breakers of the Western Women’s Hockey League. She liked the Pacific Northwest so much, she convinced her parents to move to the area. A two-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Team for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship, Thatcher also played for one year at Brown University and three years at Providence College, where she received the Sarah Devens Award for her leadership and commitment both on and off the ice. She also helped the Minnesota Whitecaps advance to the Western Women’s Hockey League championship in the 2008-09 season. Thatcher graduated from Providence in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, and plans to apply to graduate schools following the Olympics.
Graham Watanabe
Snowboard Cross
Age: 27
Hometown: Ketchum, Idaho
A member of the U.S. Alpine snowboarding team in 2000, Watanabe switched full-on to snowboard cross (SBX) when he learned the discipline would debut at the Olympics in 2006. He placed 31st at his first World Cup event in 2001 in Whistler, Canada, site of the 2010 Olympic competition. At the start of the 2005 season he won the opening SBX event in Chile, becoming the first American man to win a World Cup SBX. He placed 31st at the 2006 Olympic Games and 38th at 2007 Worlds. Watanabe’s other athletic interests include road and mountain biking, rock climbing, soccer, weight lifting, yoga and golf.
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