Jennifer Heil
She won 4
World Cup titles, and got a silver and gold it the Olympics. Who is it?
Jennifer Heil.
She was born on April 11, 1983 in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada. She is most likely so good because she started hitting the Canadian slopes at age two. She went to McGill University and founded B2ten, which offers the same kind of support she got to all Canadian athletes. It has raised over $3,000 to support just athletes from all around Canada!
Heil was able to compete in her first Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah at 18. She finished in fourth place in her sport, the moguls, just one hundredth of a point out of bronze, which is closer than almost all of the sports in the summer and winter Olympics! She was forced to take the 2000-2010 season off because of chronic shin splits (ouch!), but won the championship title.
In 2006, she was invited to compete in the 20th Olympics in Torino, Italy. She did amazing in the moguls! Good enough for first place! Yes, she won the gold medal.
But, even though she was not injured, she
took the 2007-2008 season. She had a 4-year plan, and she took the year off
because she wanted to build up her physical strength. Also, she was beginning to
favor one leg, so she worked on that leg along with her strength.
Heil says, "My skis are part of my body now," that's how long she has been on them! She has so much energy that when she is off her skis, she is play a sport!
Unfortunately for Canadians, but fortunately for everyone who wants to win the World Cup, Heil stated that she may retire sometime in the next four years. If she does, Canada may go into another gold medal drought in skiing at home.
Heil was also very good at many other sports, too. She was very good at volleyball, but was too short (she is 5-foot-3inches). She set records in high school for junior cross-country running, but had to quit because of shin splints. Jennifer swam for 11 years and competed in the provincials, which is like state-wide competition in the U.S. She even did freestyle in the pool!
Jennifer Heil now lives in Montreal, Canada where she skis nearby.
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