At least four U.S. military service members will join Team USA as it looks to win gold medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing next month.
The crew includes:
Army Sgt. Emily Sweeney (luge) from Suffield, Connecticut;
Air Force Airman 1st Class Kelly Curtis (skeleton) from Princeton, New Jersey;
Army Spc. Frank Del Duca (bobsled) from Bethel, Maine; and
Army Spc. Hakeem Abdul-Saboor (bobsled), from Powhatan, Virginia, FOX 13 of Seattle reported.
“The challenges have come from every angle, really. It’s been unbelievable how many different challenges we, as a team, have had to face this year,” Sweeney told the World Class Athlete Program.
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Second time around
This will be the second time Sweeney, 25, will compete in the Winter Olympics, after she previously participated in the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. She also won seven World Cup medals and is a 2013 Junior World Cup Champion.
Skaters compete during the Speed Skating China Open, a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021.
(Associated Press)
Curtis, who will turn 33 next Tuesday, will compete in the skeleton event, where a rider of a small sled races head-first down a frozen track.
“My track-and-field experience ultimately led me to the skeleton,” Curtis told the Air Force Recruiting Service, according to the report. “I competed for Tulane University and Springfield College in the heptathlon. One of the strength and conditioning coaches at Springfield College, Dr. Daniel Jaffe, suggested I try out for bobsled or skeleton after I graduated.”
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Curtis, who completed her basic training in Summer 2020, has ambitions to become an officer in the military and to compete at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter…
Source : foxnews
