It’s been a long road to the Olympic Games for Katie Tannenbaum, but the U.S. Virgin Islands slider is ready to make her ‘glorious’ debut in Beijing

Katie Tannenbaum began sliding competitively in 2011. In the eleven years since, the Virgin Islands slider has competed on nearly every stage in the sport; North American Cup, European Cup, Intercontinental Cup, World Cup, and even a few World Championships. However, one stage has eluded Tannenbaum and that’s the Winter Olympic Games.

Nonetheless, Tannenbaum persisted, knocking all the obstacles out of her way, sometimes literally, as she chased a chance to compete under the hallowed five rings. She came up short in 2018, even presenting a case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that she should be allowed entry to the Games under the principle of universality, or universal representation.

However, that effort proved unfruitful as well, leaving Tannenbaum without a ticket to the 2018 Winter Olympics. She told Around the Rings; “having that happen in 2018 was a big part of what kept me motivated over the next four years. I intentionally kept little reminders around, like setting my phone passcode to ‘2018.’ I didn’t want to forget. I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure that didn’t happen again.”

When the qualification period for Beijing 2022 ended, Tannenbaum found herself outside the cutoff for qualification once more. She wasn’t even in line for a reallocation of a quota place should athletes ranked in front of her not be chosen by their National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

However, after two higher ranked sliders were not selected by their respective NOCs, the criteria was changed to allow sliders outside the top 45 in the world a chance to compete at the Olympic Games. Suddenly, Tannenbaum found herself staring down a stage with an empty spotlight in need of one more performer; the stage that had eluded her for eleven years.

Tannenbaum took to social media to announce her participation at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, proclaiming, “it is with tears of disbelief streaming down my face and my heart swelling out of my chest with pride that I announce that I will be representing the Virgin Islands at the 2022 Olympic Games!”

The announcement represented the culmination of a journey Tannenbaum had begun over a decade prior. When asked by Around the Rings how it felt to finally qualify for the Winter Olympics, Tannenbaum responded with a single word; “Glorious!”

Tannenbaum further replied, “I am the only Virgin Islands athlete at these Games, so it is especially meaningful.”

“If I weren’t competing, the Virgin Islands wouldn’t be represented at the Beijing Olympics at all. Our flag wouldn’t be flown during the parade of nations at the opening ceremonies. It’s an honor to play a part in letting the rest of the world know who we are.”

Her service to the U.S. Virgin Islands hasn’t been limited to the track either. She has worked in disaster recovery since the U.S. Virgin Islands were hit by two category five hurricanes in 2017.

Tannenbaum suffered her own sliding disaster during a World Cup race held in Innsbruck last season. She found herself barreling towards a track worker’s broom which had been left in the track about a third of the way down. The Virgin Islands slider hit the broom head on.

According to Tannenbaum, the short-term physical damage wasn’t too severe; at least compared to mental damage left behind by the incident. Tannenbaum commented, “I had never previously considered my sport dangerous (despite the common assumption that it is).”

“I have always thought of it as a very controlled environment, and as the driver of the sled, I am the one with that control. When that broom ended up in the track, it made me realize there were components outside of my control, and I really was putting my life in danger every time I stepped to the start line.”

“While my situation ended up OK, the broom flew out of the track as soon as I hit it, I started having visions of other, larger, items that could end up in the track, and mentally choreographing how, and if, I could get out of the situation with my life. I knew those weren’t healthy thoughts to be having.”

Still, Tannenbaum continued to slide towards her goal, registering a top-five finish at a North American Cup race a month and half later. She even made the top-20 during a World Cup race held at St. Mortiz two and a half weeks ago.

Sliding for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Tannenbaum has had to put up with her fair share of comparisons to Cool Runnings. Her Instagram profile even identifies her as a professional skeleton athlete, clarifying, “no, it’s not like Cool Runnings.”

She told Around the Rings that she gets that comparison, quote, “ALL. THE. TIME.”

She added, “despite that I am not Jamaican nor do I bobsled, I used to think I got the comparison because I was from another Caribbean island doing another sliding sport. But over my career I have seen a lot of my fellow athletes get the same comparison, whether they do skeleton, bobsled, or luge, whether they are from the USA or Australia.”

“I eventually realized that Cool Runnings is, for many people, their only familiarity with or exposure to sliding sports. So when they meet an athlete in any sliding sport, from any nation, it is the best way they can think to connect with them.”

Of course, like many other athletes from non-traditional winter sports nations, Tannenbaum’s efforts have received their share of criticism as well. When asked how she responds to that criticism, Tannenbaum replied, “there’s no doubt that sports tourism exists.”

“When people learn that I slide for a small nation, many automatically assume I live in the Virgin Islands just so I can compete in skeleton. They are always surprised when they find out that I lived in the Virgin Islands for years before I ever got on a sled… and that it was former Virgin Islands Winter Olympic athletes that encouraged me to give skeleton a try.”

On the topic of former U.S. Virgin Islands Winter Olympic athletes, Tannenbaum was queried on if she had any plans to follow in the footsteps of Anne Abernathy, the famous luger who earned the moniker, “grandma luge,” for her longevity in the sport, being that Tannenbaum is the second most senior women’s skeleton athlete on the start list in Beijing.

Tannenbaum replied, “I don’t know what and when my endpoint will be, but Anne Abernathy is a legend. She has participated in six Olympic Games. I have a long way to go before I could be compared to her.”