2010 Winter Games One Year Out - Snowboard Team Interviews

Press Release

• February 12 2009
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While winter sport competition pushes on around the world, this week, U.S. Snowboarding athletes look one year ahead to a competition that represents the completion of goals met and dreams reached for athletes everywhere - the Olympics.

On Feb. 12, 2010, the opening ceremonies will commence two weeks of competition on the world’s stage from Vancouver, where battles will be won and lost, but everyone will walk away an Olympian. The year-out date will find top U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding athletes competing from Vancouver to Moscow, battling for this year’s World Cup titles, but thinking, too, about Olympic medals 12 months from now.

A few of the top U.S. contenders took time from their global competition travels this week to tell their story a year out from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games - where are they now and where will they be a year from now at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Seth Wescott
Today: Cypress Mountain
2010: Feb. 15 – Men’s snowboardcross, Cypress Mountain

Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) had a reality check as he flew into Vancouver this week. “Arriving in Vancouver today I was struck by the fact we are only one year to go until the 2010 games. The city is abuzz with construction, and has the feel of gearing up.”

While fans take in the ambience and excitement of Vancouver, Wescott and company are checking it out on-snow. “For me this week is all about the test. Getting to race on the course at Cypress where we will do battle next February will be what really puts this next year of my life into focus.”

The veteran is philosophical about the next year of his life, knowing full well that as defending champion, he’s on everyone’s radar, including his teammates. “I am motivated, healthy and looking forward to the challenge of the next year and the process of the journey to get back to the stage where I can live my dream again. The journey builds your strength, resolve and passion as I move towards Feb. 15, 2010, the day a year from now when I will defend my gold for the USA!”

Lindsey Jacobellis
Today: Cypress Mountain
2010: Feb. 16 – Women’s snowboardcross, Cypress Mountain

Lindsey Jacobellis remains, as she was in 2006, the queen of her sport. She has dominated with seven X Games SBX wins along with 16 World Cup victories (including one in halfpipe). But she’s looking to upgrade her silver in Cypress Mountain next year.

“Of course I want to upgrade my medal,” she said from the Olympic venue outside Vancouver this week. “That’s what being a true competitor is all about.”

Jacobellis is in town with to checkout the Olympic course for the first time. “This event will be a good opportunity to test out the hill because it will be built by the same course designer.”

It seems like yesterday that she won silver in Torino. “So far, the three years have flown by. Once you gear up into competition it goes by so fast. I’m looking forward to the summer to get some down time - a chance to get physically and mentally prepared for the first qualifier in Argentina.”
Hannah Teter
Today: Cypress Mountain
2010: Feb. 18 – Women’s snowboarding halfpipe, Cypress Mountain

Hannah Teter and Shaun White made history in Torino, doubling up on gold and following in the footsteps of Kelly Clark and Ross Powers from 2002. But it now means Teter comes into Vancouver as the defending champion. Teter is quick to remember her roots and why she snowboards in the first place.

“I just wanna keep the mindset of remembering why I snowboard, which is to have fun,” she said while checking out the 2010 venue in Cypress Mountain. “If I forget that, it’s all over.”

The Vermont native has also been able to put her gold medal into a global perspective, and to give back as a humanitarian. “Winning the Olympics was a thought that was counterbalanced with feeling honored and blessed to be able to attend such a big event. I told myself that if I were to do well, the obligation to use that to help the people of this planet who have less than I do, would be a major goal and priority.”

She has clearly done that, donating all of her ongoing prize money to a village in Africa and using her platform as an Olympic champion to raise awareness globally to her cause. “My main focus is to be conscious of all things going on around me, and to excel in the sport that I love so much!”

Gretchen Bleiler
Today: Cypress Mountain
2010: Feb. 18 – Women’s snowboarding halfpipe

X Games champion and Olympic silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO) will be hanging her hat in Vancouver on the one-year-out night, checking out the superpipe at Cypress Mountain overlooking the city.

We can all feel the excitement and pressure of the Olympics just one year away,” she said from Vancouver. “We’re trying new things, progressing and pushing ourselves in preparation, and it’s going to be an exciting year.”

Bleiler’s fame has grown since her 2006 silver, especially with a dominating performance in the 2008 X Games to take gold.