Once again athletes from Tahoe/Truckee are making the pilgrimage to the winter Olympics. Tahoe/Truckee athletes have been training and competing hard in a variety of sports, some for many years. With nine Tahoe/Truckee Olympians competing this year all of us ordinary athletes from the Tahoe/ Truckee area have a lot to be proud of! Tahoe and Truckee are small towns and everyone knows everyone so most likely if you live in Tahoe/Truckee area you are fortunate to know at least one of these athletes personally. You probably have seen them in High school competitions, maybe on the same team as one of your own kids; maybe they are one of your kids. Yes we are so very fortunate to have these young mentors in our tight nit little community. We share this love for these sports that we “ordinary athletes” sometimes take for granted. We share some of the same runs at the ski areas to and we ski and bike the same trails in the back country. We cross train, exercise and play in Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River in the summer. We truly share a deep bond a real connection with these Tahoe/Truckee Olympians.

To see our local Tahoe/Truckee athletes competing in the Olympics makes us Tahoe locals wake up a little earlier, slap on our skis with a lot more enthusiasm and ski a little faster, even if some of us are old! Yes we old folks will continue to admire and shamelessly live vicariously though these amazing young Tahoe/Truckee athletes. We will continue to break trail with the enthusiasm of an Olympic hopeful with the strength twenty couch potatoes and the precision of not less than a thousand motor toys! Yes we will do this until our skis no longer turn and our hearts no longer beat.

You can see and support Tahoe/Truckee’s Olympians starting Feb. 13th with the mogul’s competition with Tahoe resident Shannon Bahrke and the downhill competition with Tahoe grad Marco Sullivan. The next day Feb. 14th see Tahoe super G gold medalist Julia Mancuso. On Feb. 15th see Nate Holland from Tahoe/Truckee in the snowboard cross. Then on Feb. 17 see Tahoe’s Mancuso and Stacey Cook of Truckee in the downhill event. Then tune in to see the girls from South Lake Tahoe, 2006 gold medalist Hannah Teter and Elena Hight for the half pipe competition on Feb. 18th. Be sure to look for Mancuso again on Feb.20 for the super G women’s alpine event where Mancuso will be defending her gold from four years ago! Feb. 21st see the Truckee/Jamaican ski team with Tahoe/Truckee locals Daron Rahlves and Errol Kerr for the exciting skier cross country event. The womens’ giant slalom, scheduled for Feb, 24th, will again feature Tahoe/Truckee local gold medalist Julia Mancuso. Go Tahoe.

Unfortunately we may not be able to travel to Vancouver to support these Tahoe/Truckee athletes but we that must remain in Tahoe and Truckee (boo-hoo) should plop down in front of our TV set for each event and cheer loudly (like we do) for our local Tahoe/Truckee athletes but as soon as the competition ends I know you all will not fall asleep with melted ice cream on your face and pie on your lap. No you, you will share the Tahoe/Truckee Olympic athletes enthusiasm and jump up from your easy chair, slap on your skis and hit the trails for at least one last run before dark.