(January 8, 2025) – Katie Tannenbaum stood at the start line of the track they call “The Dragon” in Beijing. To get there she’d slid on every tour the IBSF had to offer at the time over the course of a career that spanned over 11 years. She’d slid in Asia, Europe, and North America and done so nearly always on her own.
Despite the length of that journey and the bumps in the road that came along with it, the few weeks leading to that moment where she’d push off and become an Olympian became an entire journey in itself.
Tannenbaum had done the work required to make it into the Olympic Games. After the whirlwind process where nations can confirm or deny that they’ll be sending athletes to the Olympics, she had become the final woman into the 25 slider field.
With Tannenbaum ready to head out to realize her Olympic destiny, a “hail Mary” of sorts was thrown by another athlete from a nation who had already filled their quota. That athlete had finished ahead of Tannenbaum in points, and was arguing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that she should receive a spot in the Games which, per CAS, would bump Tannenbaum out.
The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) is very specific in their wording about how an athlete qualifies for the Olympic Games, how many athletes a nation sends, and so forth. But because the appeal was filed, CAS had to hear it.
CAS always sets up an “ad-hoc” division at an Olympics to hear expedited cases. And while the appeal was almost certainly not going to win, there was still a wait to find out if everything was official for the Virgin Islands to get their lone athlete to the Olympics.
“I knew the chances of losing my spot through the CAS case were low. But it was still this thing that was hovering out there, unresolved” Tannenbaum said.
But the doubt was still lingering. The case was pushed back once, then twice, then a third time. There was likely no chance for her spot to be overturned, but Tannenbaum had to continue to wait.
“It was supposed to have been decided before I left for Beijing, but it got pushed back several times. At one point it was scheduled to be decided while I was on my flight, and I was thinking I could land in Beijing and be told I had to turn around and leave. But when I got to Beijing I found out it had been pushed back again.”
So while there was a cloud lingering over Tannenbaum’s head, she still had to prepare herself for what would be her first Olympic Games.
“I was trying to focus on the things I needed to focus on. The case wasn’t directly against me, so there wasn’t anything I needed to do except wait it out. But my NOC and I were both listed as ‘interested parties’ so we were cc’ed on every email sent back and forth about the case. I’d be going about my day not thinking about it, and then another email would show up in my inbox. That made it tougher to keep it out of mind.”
Finally, on the day of the first track walk (when athletes walk the track to learn the intricacies of it) Tannenbaum received word that the appeal had been thrown out and she had the final position. And with that, Tannenbaum began her preparations for the Games.
Despite her National Olympic Committee missing the flight from Paris due to a mix-up in the COVID testing protocol, things were going along as planned. Until Tannenbaum got a notice that there was a problem with her COVID test, it had come back positive.
“I felt well and had never had COVID…and this was in February 2022, so pretty late in the COVID game. I found out that I’d tested positive. It was late in the evening and they wanted to do another test the next morning to make sure it wasn’t a false positive. I was told not to leave my room until they had the results from the second test. But the first day of training was the next day, so I was hoping they would get the second test results in time for me to make it to training. I don’t think I slept at all that night. I took two different home COVID tests that both came back negative. And I felt fine. So while I was confident it must have been a false positive, and the next test would come back negative, it was still another unknown looming out there that could significantly impact my immediate future.”
But the second test was also positive and Tannenbaum was moved out of the athlete’s village and into isolation. And now there was a very real chance she would not be competing in the Olympics.
To further muck up matters, her NOC had decided to not fly out, in part due to her positive COVID test. While the people who made up the NOC not making it out to Beijing was one issue, they also had all of Tannenbaum’s Olympic gear.
“They had our entire Olympic team kit with them. I had one coach and one other person supporting the Virgin Islands team with me in Beijing. We were all three supposed to walk in the Opening Ceremonies, along with the VIOC delegation. But when I got put into isolation and couldn’t attend the Opening Ceremonies, and then the VIOC decided not to come at all, the other two were like ‘Katie, we have no athlete and we have no uniforms, so we’re not going to walk in the Opening Ceremonies.’ This meant the Virgin Islands would not be present in the Parade of Nations. That was the first time I broke down and cried.”
After an emotional plea from Tannenbaum to her coaching staff to walk, they ultimately caved.
“Because it meant so much to me, they did go to the Opening Ceremony. They didn’t have their uniforms because my NOC never did show up. They had to scramble and put together something to wear on the day of the event by going through their suitcases and figuring out what they had that kind-of matched. “
Though her coaches didn’t have fully matching gear, the hodgepodge of outfits were approved by the IOC to be in the ceremony and her coaches walked in her place.
“I was so appreciative of them going because I know they went for me. They saw how important it was to me, and I’ll be forever grateful for that. They even called me on FaceTime just before they were about to walk out in the Parade of Nations. I was sitting in my little isolation room watching the Opening Ceremonies on TV in Chinese, and I get a FaceTime call from my coach right as he walked out. He kept me on the whole time they walked. That time my tears were of gratitude.”
With the ceremony out of the way, and Tannenbaum still in isolation, there was now the concern about preparing for a race on a track she’d never been to. Tannenbaum had not competed in the World Cup race there earlier in the year, nor the international training period that had led up to it, and now was having to get reports from her coaches about what they saw since she was unable to be there in person.
And the days got closer, it began to feel more and more like Tannenbaum may not be able to compete after all.
“I did what I could and tried to find out how the track was, while also trying to get out of isolation. It wasn’t straightforward and clear what I had to do to get out. They refused to define what constituted a negative test. Everyday I would get tested, then someone would call my room and say ‘You’re still positive’ and hang up.”
The days ticked by, and Tannenbaum became more and more concerned about the chance to compete. She would need two negative tests back-to-back to be allowed in her event. Finally, just under the wire, she got her first negative test.
“I received my first negative on the second to last day of official training, and I think that result was from the test the day before. They had tested me again that day and weren’t going to have the results back until the next day, after the last official training. Thankfully, they made the decision to let me out before they had the definitive results, which did ultimately come back negative.”
So the good news: Tannenbaum was free to get out and get two runs of training in, on a track she’d only walked, just before the Olympics.
The bad news: If anything went wrong in either of those training runs, she’s out of the Olympics.
Like any other World Cup or World Championships event at the time, an athlete had to have two runs completed in training in the discipline to be eligible to compete. On a new track like Beijing, it’s expected that maybe one or two runs won’t be great, that’s why there’s usually a half dozen or so.
But for Tannenbaum, there would be just two.
“I remember my coach coming up to me at the track and saying ‘Katie, you have two goals for today. First, cross the finish line. Second, cross the finish line.’ And up until that moment it hadn’t occurred to me that I might crash and not finish one of the training runs. That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.”
“Then I got really worried. I realized there had been athletes that had crashed and not completed runs in training. My coach was right. It’s unfortunate that was what the goals had become, that I wouldn’t have a chance to practice more, but that was my situation.”
Tannenbaum got her two runs in clean, and would be the 25th and final starter in the 2022 Olympic women’s skeleton event. Finally, there would be some normalcy. She went through her normal warmup prior to her first run and could focus on the run that would make her an Olympian.
The time came for the Virgin Islands’ only athlete at the 2022 Olympic Games to take the line.
“I’d gone through my pre-race routine so many times before, and even though it was the Olympics and I knew a lot of people were watching on TV, because of COVID we didn’t have a huge live crowd, so it sort of felt like any other race.”
And finally she was able to take her first run, solidifying her status as an Olympian.
“Had it not been the Olympics, had it been any other race and I’d been in the same situation, I don’t know that I would have raced. I would never have gone to the start line of a World Cup race having only two runs down the track. But at that point, and on the Olympic stage, it wasn’t so much about the race results. I was the only person from my NOC representing the Virgin Islands at these Games. If I’d pulled out, the Virgin Islands wouldn’t have had any representation at all.”
“It was about the people who helped me get there and the whole journey leading up to that moment, not about my personal concerns of having subpar runs. It took me sucking up my pride and recognizing that this wasn’t just for me, but for the whole village who had helped to get there.”
Tannenbaum took her first two runs of the day, finished them both despite what was admittedly not her best racing. She was well behind and all but guaranteed not getting a fourth run. But the weight was off of her shoulders, and she could finally enjoy the Olympic Games and her status as an Olympian.
“The difference in the way I felt before the second race day versus the first race day… a huge weight had been lifted. I was finally able to exhale. I remember walking around and really taking things in for the first time, appreciating the feeling of being at the Olympics. It was the first time I’d been able to relax since before I’d arrived in Beijing.”
On the second day of competition Tannenbaum was once again the final slider off the top in the third heat. This time it wasn’t a look of relief on her face as she finished, but one of elation. A coach handed her the Virgin Islands flag and she celebrated the experience.
“I knew how many people were watching at home. Most knew I’d gotten COVID, but that was the only part of the story most people knew about. I also realized others would interpret how this experience was for the Virgin Islands based on how they saw me interpreting it. If I’d looked at the camera and shrugged with disappointment, everyone else at home would have seen that, and also taken on a negative viewpoint.”
“I wanted it to be a positive experience and a positive memory for everyone watching in that Virgin Islands, and for myself as well. I remember seeing so many athletes showing their disappointment after they’d crossed the finish line, and I thought, I could easily do that too. But I chose to smile and wave my flag and be proud of everything we had done to get there, and by doing that, give those at home permission to be happy and proud in that moment too.”
And with that, a long and strange Olympic journey had come to an end for Katie Tannenbaum. And while maybe it wasn’t exactly how she had drawn it up, it was still a realization of a dream for her.
“It’s interesting, for how many times I’d visualize my Olympic experience, none of them ever looked anything like this. Never in a million years would I have envisioned dealing with a lawsuit, getting COVID, having my NOC bail on me, ending up in isolation in China, and all of it culminating with me standing at the start line of the Olympic Games with only two runs down the track. But that was my Olympic reality. My real-life experience wasn’t exactly what Olympic dreams are made of.”
“But even through all of that, I don’t ever want to lose sight of all of the positive experiences that got me there. I am so appreciative of those, and will always choose to be grateful first.”
