Shannon Bahrke is competing in freestyle skiing at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
At her Olympic debut in 2002, Shannon Bahrke's silver medal in women's moguls made her the first of 34 American medalists at the Salt Lake Games. Not surprisingly, she has called it the highlight of her career. Entering the 2009-10 season, that silver represents the only major championship medal of her career in an Olympic discipline, but Bahrke has been close on numerous occasions. In her second Olympic appearance in Torino, Bahrke placed 10th.
Second in the World Cup moguls standings in 2006-07, Bahrke missed the entire 2007-08 campaign after blowing out her knee just prior to the season's first World Cup. That injury followed an earlier string of calamity that began at a World Cup event in Japan in February 2004, when Bahrke—in foggy and snowy conditions—threw a back flip on the bottom air, caught her ski tips and landed on the grip of her left ski pole with her jaw. A broken jaw ended her season and left her mouth wired shut for three weeks. (The subsequent diet of smoothies and strained soup was difficult, she says, because she normally eats about five meals a day.) Bahrke returned to the World Cup circuit in 2004-05, but prior to that season's second event, she suffered a torn ACL, a partially torn MCL and some damage to the meniscus in her right knee, once again missing the remainder of the season.
There was a tangible benefit to being off the slopes for the 2007-08 campaign. During her forced time off, Bahrke co-founded Silver Bean Coffee Company with her fiancé, Matt Happe (pronounced "happy"). The idea came to her while sitting in a Salt Lake City coffee shop with friends after what she called a "great powder day" on the slopes. Bahrke has partnered with more than 20 members of the U.S. ski team, including 2006 Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso and 2009 Nordic combined world champion Bill Demong. Each athlete has their own label, with proceeds of sales going to that athlete's charity of choice.
Bahrke's younger brother, Scott, is an aerialist on the U.S. national team, a role that makes perfect sense to her based on his personality growing up. "I saw him as this little kid that was absolutely crazy, jumping off everything, and I'm like, what is he going to do in life?" Bahrke says. "And then, bam, perfect, it's aerials. It was like they were meant for each other." Though Bahrke is the far more seasoned competitor, she sees Scott as an inspiration because he does "really crazy things." She also says that he helps with her jumps and isn't afraid to offer choice words of criticism. "Usually, he tells me to stop being a wuss," she says, "because I'm just doing one back-flip with a twist, and he's doing three back-flips with five twists."
The surname "Bahrke" is Norwegian in origin, and as Bahrke recalls, her Norwegian roots originate from her great grandparents, who hailed from a town about an hour south of Oslo. While growing up in Tahoe City, California, she and her cousins attended Norwegian camp instead of standard summer camps. There, she learned the Norwegian national anthem, and while she was on the medal podium at the Salt Lake Games beside Norwegian Olympic champion Kari Traa, Bahrke started singing the Norwegian national anthem while it played.
At her Olympic debut in 2002, Shannon Bahrke's silver medal in women's moguls made her the first of 34 American medalists at the Salt Lake Games. Not surprisingly, she has called it the highlight of her career. Entering the 2009-10 season, that silver represents the only major championship medal of her career in an Olympic discipline, but Bahrke has been close on numerous occasions. In her second Olympic appearance in Torino, Bahrke placed 10th.
Second in the World Cup moguls standings in 2006-07, Bahrke missed the entire 2007-08 campaign after blowing out her knee just prior to the season's first World Cup. That injury followed an earlier string of calamity that began at a World Cup event in Japan in February 2004, when Bahrke—in foggy and snowy conditions—threw a back flip on the bottom air, caught her ski tips and landed on the grip of her left ski pole with her jaw. A broken jaw ended her season and left her mouth wired shut for three weeks. (The subsequent diet of smoothies and strained soup was difficult, she says, because she normally eats about five meals a day.) Bahrke returned to the World Cup circuit in 2004-05, but prior to that season's second event, she suffered a torn ACL, a partially torn MCL and some damage to the meniscus in her right knee, once again missing the remainder of the season.
There was a tangible benefit to being off the slopes for the 2007-08 campaign. During her forced time off, Bahrke co-founded Silver Bean Coffee Company with her fiancé, Matt Happe (pronounced "happy"). The idea came to her while sitting in a Salt Lake City coffee shop with friends after what she called a "great powder day" on the slopes. Bahrke has partnered with more than 20 members of the U.S. ski team, including 2006 Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso and 2009 Nordic combined world champion Bill Demong. Each athlete has their own label, with proceeds of sales going to that athlete's charity of choice.
Bahrke's younger brother, Scott, is an aerialist on the U.S. national team, a role that makes perfect sense to her based on his personality growing up. "I saw him as this little kid that was absolutely crazy, jumping off everything, and I'm like, what is he going to do in life?" Bahrke says. "And then, bam, perfect, it's aerials. It was like they were meant for each other." Though Bahrke is the far more seasoned competitor, she sees Scott as an inspiration because he does "really crazy things." She also says that he helps with her jumps and isn't afraid to offer choice words of criticism. "Usually, he tells me to stop being a wuss," she says, "because I'm just doing one back-flip with a twist, and he's doing three back-flips with five twists."
The surname "Bahrke" is Norwegian in origin, and as Bahrke recalls, her Norwegian roots originate from her great grandparents, who hailed from a town about an hour south of Oslo. While growing up in Tahoe City, California, she and her cousins attended Norwegian camp instead of standard summer camps. There, she learned the Norwegian national anthem, and while she was on the medal podium at the Salt Lake Games beside Norwegian Olympic champion Kari Traa, Bahrke started singing the Norwegian national anthem while it played.
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