INSIGHTS FROM AN OLYMPIAN BY JOHNNY QUINN | @JOHNNYQUINNUSA

Hello from McKinney, Texas! Welcome back to my “Bobsled Updates” as I work to Go For Gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Opening Ceremony begins in 327 days (February 9, 2018)! For all the new readers to my bobsled updates, I provide in-depth, behind the scenes, bobsled updates periodically. My updates include some of my training protocol, race outlook and competition thoughts, reviews and expectations moving forward! On a side note, please feel welcome to share, forward, cc, bcc any of my bobsled update emails with your family, friends, co-workers, colleagues or with anyone you wish. For the serious bobsled fans, you can send them this link so they can join themselves. I learned early on in media training to not write, tweet, post or share anything that I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about on the front page of CNN, Fox, Wall Street Journal or other media outlets.  My goal with these bobsled updates is to provide a unique perspective as a U.S. Olympian with a dream of winning Olympic Gold! I want you to be on the journey with me and see the steps it takes to make a dream come true! FYI — this bobsled update is a little longer then my normal updates, as I have a lot to catch you up on since the 2014 Winter Olympics… OK, lets get to the good stuff, in a 10-point order to catch you up to speed: 1. After the 2014 Olympics, I needed a break — physically and mentally from the grind it took to make the U.S. Olympic Team. There is no question it took a ton of physical effort, but mentally speaking, it was the toughest challenge I have faced to this point of my life. 2. In order to stay physically fit and mentally sharp I started doing CrossFit…

It was an absolute honor to represent the United States of America and compete on the world’s greatest athletic stage. I want to do my best to share with you (in pictures and in words) what it is like to walk in Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic Games! This picture is of the U.S. Men’s Bobsled Team lined up for a team photo in the Olympic Village. Steve Langton (far right) clearly has the best hair. Ralph Lauren provided our gear for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The U.S. sent two bobsled teams (USA-1 and USA-2) to the Sochi Olympics in the 4-man bobsled event. I was on USA-2 sled and here is our team picture. Side note, take a look at our shoe laces and socks. Ralph Lauren had an Opening Ceremonies app on our phone to show us how to dress properly in order to walk. The shoe laces had to be tied in the back and we had to have three folds in our socks. It was simple: follow the dress code in the app, or don’t walk in Opening Ceremonies. You decide. A few of us bobsledders found snowboarding legend Shaun White and asked for a team picture. He happily obliged and we all became best friends. We made it to the Olympic stadium and each country is instructed to line up in alphabetical order, according the the host country’s dialect. No one on our team spoke Russian so it took awhile to find where the “U” (United States) is located in the Russian alphabet.  Out of 230 U.S. Olympians, only four were from the great state of Texas, therefore, we had to take a “Team Texas” picture. Your 2014 Texas Olympians consisted of two bobsledders and two speed skaters. Jordan is from Denton, TX, Jonathan…