Steamboat Springs has produced more winter Olympians than any other town in North America. The history dates back to Steamboat’s first Olympian, John Steele during the 1932 Winter Olympics where Steele placed 15th in Nordic jumping. Before Steele represented Steamboat in the Olympics, Carl Howelsen brought the art of “ski jumping” to Steamboat Springs during the early 1900s to downtown’s historic Howelsen Hill. Howelsen Hill is the oldest continuously operating ski area in Colorado and has served as a training ground for Nordic skiing and jumping along with freestyle skiing, alpine racing, snowboarding and aerials. Howelsen Hill is still the home for many Steamboat Springs Olympians who regularly practice, train and compete on this mountain.
In the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Steamboat Springs native and Nordic Combined competitor, Todd Lodwick carried the American flag at the opening ceremonies of his sixth Winter Games. Another local sibling pair, Arielle and Taylor Gold are making big names in the snowboarding halfpipe competitions around the world. Lodwick and the Gold's are a few of Steamboat's 89+ Olympians.
The 2018 Olympic games is a special one for the town of Steamboat Springs and a local Pre-School teacher named Maggie Rose. I am cheering on Maggie, who is an Olympic hopeful for snowboarding this year. Maggie also happens to be my daughter’s pre-school teacher. The pre-school kids have been writing her letters of good luck and cheering for her at the base of Howelsen Hill. Rose placed 3rd in the Race to the Cup Snowboard NorAm at Howelsen Hill this past weekend. Competing in the 2018 Olympics would be a dream come true for Maggie and her 30 pre-school students. Go Maggie Go!!
