BEIJING (AP) 鈥� Katie Tannenbaum came to the Olympics and finished last.
It didn鈥檛 upset her whatsoever.
Nor should it, considering her story: She overcome long odds to just to get to the Beijing Games. The California native competes in skeleton for the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she has lived since 2007. Her claim to racing fame before now was sliding headfirst into a broom that was dangerously left in the track during one of her runs two years ago. She made the Beijing Olympics only after Sweden and France declined to send athletes to the race.
And if all that wasn鈥檛 enough, she was about two hours away from having to withdraw from the Olympics. She tested positive for COVID-19 last week and had to miss out on a chance to carry her nation鈥檚 flag in the opening ceremony, then didn鈥檛 get cleared to race until just before the final session of training for the race.
鈥淚t was a very stressful week,鈥� Tannenbaum said.
She can laugh about it now, with good reason. It took the 36-year-old Tannenbaum a long time to get to the Olympics. She thought she qualified for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, but sliders from other nations were chosen instead to fill out that field.
鈥淪ure, there were brief moments I thought about being done, but I think I would have been more likely to retire if I had gone in 2018, and at the end of the day I鈥檓 glad I didn鈥檛,鈥� Tannenbaum said. 鈥淚 have evolved a lot as an athlete over the last four years and am very proud of the goals I have hit, or exceeded, in that time.鈥�
It鈥檚 a resiliency that she鈥檚 seen from the island nation she calls home.
The Virgin Islands were ravaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017, a Category 5 鈥� the worst kind 鈥� of storm that caused nearly $4 billion in damage. Two weeks later, another Category 5 storm in Hurricane Maria hit as well, though its impact was not as damaging as Irma was.
Tannenbaum wasn鈥檛 there for the storms. She was training in Canada, but the mental strain at the time was massive.
鈥淚 knew I was lucky that I was off-island, but I also hated that I wasn鈥檛 there with my community,鈥� Tannenbaum said. 鈥淚 remember walking onto the training floor the day Irma was going over us and knowing I was in no mental state to be training."
She kept going, dealt with the disappointment of missing Pyeongchang, has rolled with the ups and downs since. Because of her virus-related troubles, she got only two training runs in Beijing 鈥� nowhere near enough to learn the track.
Didn鈥檛 matter. She hopped off her sled Saturday night, enormous smile across her face, waving the Virgin Islands flag.
Getting here was the win.
鈥淚 think being called 鈥榠nspiring鈥� is one of the greatest compliments one can receive," Tannenbaum said. 鈥淚f I hear that from even one person, I feel like I鈥檝e made an impact."
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
