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Posted 02 May 2002   For week ended February 22, 2002
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News about Mormons, Mormonism,
and the LDS Church
Sent on Mormon-News: 16Mar02
By Paul Carter
Download to My Handheld!

Aussie LDS Olympian 'At Home' at SLC Games

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Rowena Bright, age 21 and from Cooma Australia, is one of five athletes from around the world known to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Rowena competed in the Alpine Combined event which includes of downhill and slalom last week (she placed 24th) and will compete again this Wednesday in the Slalom.

When the Summer Olympics were occurring in Sydney Australia in 2000, Rowena could only imagine what it might be like to compete with thousands of her compatriots cheering for her. While not exactly the same, she thinks that being an LDS athlete and competing in Salt Lake City comes close.

"There is an amazing amount of people here supporting me," she says. "Volunteers have heard or read about me and they're always wishing me good luck and telling me they're behind me. It's not quite the same as what the Sydney athletes would have felt in the (2000 Olympics) but it's got that sort of feeling for me."

Rowena is not a stranger to Salt Lake City. In 1995, she attended the Rowmark Ski Academy which is part of a college-prep school in Salt Lake City for three months. Then a government-backed athletic program enticed her to return to Australia to train at home.

Five years ago, Rowena was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and has had to overcome that to qualify for the Olympic team. At the World Championships in Austria last year, Rowena placed 14th in the Alpine Combined and she says that she will be happy to place in the top 15 during the Olympics.

Rowena enjoys alternative rock music and has interest in becoming an artist or rock musician. Her parents, Peter and Marion, are in Salt Lake City with Rowena's youngest sister, Abi, to cheer at her events.

Australian newspapers have described her trip to the Salt Lake Olympics as a pilgrimage. She responds that, "This is my spiritual home I guess and I'm just inspired by how the place was founded, with the pioneers risking their lives to get here.

"When I first heard that this was where the Winter Games would be, I decided then that this was the Olympics I would like to be at."

Sources:

Mormon Skier Hopes to Shine in Games
San Antonio TX Express-News (AP) 10Feb02 S2
By John Pye: AP Sports Writer

Spiritual home-field advantage?
MSNBC (AP) 10Feb02 S2
Associated Press
Australian skier Bright one of 5 Mormon athletes at Games

Games take a spiritual twist for Cooma skier
Sydney Australia Morning Herald (AAP) 7Feb02 S2

Aussie Mormon at home in Utah
Australian News 6Feb02 S2

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