Tomorrow morning at 7am mountain standard time the women’s freestyle moguls qualification runs begin in Sochi, Russia at the 22nd Olympic Winter Games. I am both excited and nervous for all of the great athletes taking part. It really hits home for me because 12 years ago I would have been there… In fact, I was there. I was one of four women mogul skiers who represented the United States in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. True story.
(Photo Credit Lori Adamski Peek for Sports Illustrated Magazine.)
It seems like a lifetime away, but if I dig deep I remember. I know how much training, hard work, and preparation these athletes have put in; I know the pressure that they have been under to even have the opportunity to ski their first qualification run tomorrow; and I know how lucky they are to, not only be among the best in the world in their chosen sport and to be healthy, but to be among the best in the world and to be healthy on an Olympic year…
One of the four amazingly talented women that will be representing the US tomorrow is Bozeman, Montana native Heather Mcphie. Heather will be skiing in her second Olympic Games. Four years ago, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Heather on a personal photo project giving a behind the scenes look at her life and training regiment leading up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
You can view the full documentary story that I photographed on heather on my travel site here :
http://www.hannahhardaway.com/
It was a really wonderful experience getting to know and work with Heather on such an intimate level (she did not make the US Ski Team until after I had retired in 2003, so we actually never had the opportunity to be teammates, but I sure would have liked to have been!) Heather is an incredibly focused and driven athlete as well as a beautiful person inside and out. Good luck tomorrow Heather! I will be rooting for you!
