With less than a month away, the 2014 Olympic athletes are competing for the final qualifying events for a spot to represent our great area and country on the world stage. Tahoe always attracts some of the best athletes, so to hear there are more than a dozen locals competing for a spot to represent the US in the next Olympics should be no surprise. We are highlighting a few and will be cheering on them all as they make their bid to represent US all.
Travis Ganong
Olympic sport: Alpine skiing, Super G, Downhill & Super Combined
Hometown: Truckee
Resort team: Squaw Valley
Born in Truckee, Ganong grew up in Tahoe City, skiing at Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley. He grew up skiing around the same time he learned to walk with the mountains were his back yard. He graduated from the Squaw Valley Mighty Mites to the race team at around 7 or 8. Following in his sister Megan’s footsteps. Megan went on to race World Cup as part of the U.S. Ski Team and Travis wasn’t far behind.
Travis has been on the team since he was 16 years old and started to race World Cup in 2010. Ganong isn’t just a racer, but a true skier at heart. He always carries a pair of powder skis wherever he goes. Always looking for some big mountain freestyle or some first track freshies.
Travis remembers they had a 3-inch rule; if there was more than 3 inches of fresh snow, they would forget the gates and go free skiing. He would often end up following pro skiers around the mountain and believes he’s a better skier because of it.
This is Ganong’s first year with a real shot at the Olympic team, and he thinks his chances are pretty good. He said he has been skiing well so far this season and, thanks to a new training regimen, is feeling stronger than ever.
Sho Kashima
Olympic sport: Freestyle moguls
Hometown: South Lake Tahoe
Resort Team: Heavenly
Sho Kashima began skiing at Heavenly Mountain Resort when he was 4 years old. Growing up, he was inspired by world champion skier Jonny Moseley, among other Tahoe legends. It was Moseley’s gold medal win in Nagano that inspired Kashima to compete as a mogul skier. And, that decision has already led to more than a dozen top-10 World Cup finishes.
Kashima started skiing moguls with the Heavenly ream when he was 12 years old. After that he won the 2006 dual mogul National Championships and qualified for the US ski team at 19 years old. In his rookie year he finished runner up for rookie of the year and 13th overall.
Elena Hight
Olympic Sport: Snowboard Half Pipe
Hometown: South Lake Tahoe
Resort team: Northstar California
Elena Hight was just 6-years-old when her family moved to South Lake Tahoe. Elena started snowboarding at Heavenly Mountain Resort soon after. She was instantly smitten. By the age of 7, she was racing with the Heavenly Snowboard Foundation, and at just 16 was flying through the air for the United States in half pipe at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino, Italy. She also returned to compete again in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and is doing her best to be a part of the 2014 Winter Olympics snowboarding team in Sochi.
Elena is now 24 and says that she not only wants to compete in Sochi, but “hopes to come home with a gold medal.” She won Silver Medals at the X Games in Tignes, France, and Aspen, Colo. And, won Gold Medals at the Grand Prix in Mammoth and the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships in Vermont. She recently moved to Incline Village to be closer to her home mountain at Northstar. She is happy to give credit to Tahoe for her success. “I’ve been so lucky being able to travel the world doing snowboarding, but really there is no place in the world like Tahoe. I’m so blessed to come back home to Tahoe,” she says. “You don’t know what you have until you leave. The availability of the mountains, the talent that comes out of Tahoe. I don’t know if I would be on the path I am on unless I grew up here.”
The 2014 Winter Olympics, or the 22nd Winter Olympics, are scheduled to take place from 6 to 23 February 2014, in Sochi, Russia, with some events held in the resort town of Krasnaya Polyana. Ninety-eight events in fifteen winter sports will be held. The Sochi Olympics will be the first Olympics in the Russian Federation since the breakup of the USSR. The host city Sochi has a population of 400,000 people and is situated in Krasnodar, which is the third largest region in Russia. The Games will be organized in two clusters: a coastal cluster for ice events in Sochi, and a mountain cluster located in the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains. This will make it one of the most compact Games ever, with around 30 minutes travel time from the coastal to mountain cluster.
Everyone at Elder Group will be rooting on all the local athletes from this great playground that we are so lucky to call home. Elder Group Tahoe Real Estate, proudly affiliated with Chase International, has some great real estate opportunities available now! Selling over 100 million in the Truckee/Tahoe area since 2009. Contact Alison Elder at info@eldergrouptahoe.com or by phone, 530.582.8103. Visit our site for Truckee-Tahoe properties for sale at www.ElderGroupTahoeRealEstate.com. We’d love to hear from you!
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