She’ll make her Olympic debut tonight, but here’s how she spent her first week in Korea
The PeyongChang Olympics reach the midway point this weekend, and it’s about time for Western Washington University sophomore and U.S. skier Breezy Johnson to make her debut.
Johnson, a member of the U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team who specializes in the speed events, particularly the downhill, was added to the entry list for the ladies’ Super-G, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. PST Friday (11 a.m. Saturday in Korea). Johnson, a native of Idaho, is one of four Americans scheduled to race, joining Lindsey Vonn, Laurenne Ross and Alice McKennis.
The Super-G is slated to be shown during NBC’s Primetime coverage Friday, which starts at 5 p.m. Vonn is scheduled to be the first skier to hit the slopes, while Johnson will ski 28th in the 45-skier field.
Once she leaps from the start, Johnson will make it three straight Winter Olympics that Whatcom County has had a representative, following in the footsteps of Karen Thatcher, who won a silver medal with the U.S. women’s hockey team in 2010 at Vancouver, B.C., and Bellingham High graduate Angeli VanLaanan, who finished 11th in the freeskiing halfpipe in 2014 at Sochi, Russia.
Though Johnson has yet to see any competition since arriving in South Korea, she’s been keeping herself busy, judging by her social media posts.
Obviously, it all started with the Opening Ceremonies last week, as she showed with some Instagram posts:
Though the winds made things difficult on the alpine skiing events early in the Games, Johnson appears to have gotten in a training run:
She also enjoyed getting her uniform to represent Team USA:
As she prepared mentally to race, Johnson reached back to 1980 to find some inspiration:
Johnson, who tweets her thoughts in verse, also has had these thoughts during her time in South Korea:
Our flag is a symbol but it’s very real
— Breezy Johnson (@_BreezyJohnson) February 7, 2018
Let it not divide us but strengthen like steel
But respect above all, not the symbol, no no
But the values it stands for and every hero
What is a name? Can it make us?
— Breezy Johnson (@_BreezyJohnson) February 10, 2018
No, names are not superfluous.
We are not born with goals or dreams,
But as we grow we choose the teams
That call to us, through so much noise
And names help us to find a joy.
We stand. We fight.
— Breezy Johnson (@_BreezyJohnson) February 15, 2018
We do not come to participate;
We come to compete;
To put our hearts on the line
To push our chips on the table
And we may not be dealt
The winning hand
But we won anyways#OlympicGames2018
On Friday, Johnson shared her thoughts via Facebook on the news U.S. teammate Tommy Biesemeyer wouldn’t get to ski in PeyongChang because of an ankle injury:
Johnson’s best finish in the Super G this season is 28th at the Jan. 13 World Cup event at Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria. She comes into the Olympics hot, though, after placing fourth in the World Cup downhill Feb. 3 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and following it up with an eighth-place finish the next day.
The downhill is scheduled for 6 p.m. PST Tuesday (11 a.m. Wednesday in South Korea), with training runs slated for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
This story was originally published February 16, 2018 at 11:55 AM with the headline "She’ll make her Olympic debut tonight, but here’s how she spent her first week in Korea."