Jenna Blasman qualifies two weeks before games
H.G. Watson
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Finding out she had made the Canadian Olympic team was hugely exciting for Jenna Blasman. Having to keep it a secret? Not as fun. “That was hard,” she laughed. Team Canada officials gave her the good news two full days before it was released to the public.
But on January 22, Blasman was official- ly added to the roster of Canada’s snowboard team.
The Kitchener native spoke to the Cord Community Edition just hours before heading to Austria for the last leg of her Olympic training.
She will travel from there to Sochi, Russia for the opening of the Olympic Games on February 7.
At just 20-years old, Blasman had always hoped to go to the Olympics, but was not ex- pecting it. She found out that she had made the team after her high scores in Olympic qualifying rounds in Stoneham, Que., opened up an addi- tional two spots on the team.
However, an injury almost waylaid her shot at Olympic glory.
“I did not have enough speed going into one of the last jumps during practice at qualifiers,” she said. “I just landed on the flat [of the snow- board]…and it was really icy so I put my arm down to kind of protect myself.”
She fractured her left wrist, but wouldn’t let the injury keep her down. She went on to compete and earn her Olympic spot. She now says her doctors expect her to be strong within the next two weeks.
Blasman cut her snowboarding teeth on Kitchener’s own Chicopee ski hill. She now lives and trains in Whistler, B.C. The switch has paid off for her professional career — in 2013, she joined the World Cup circuit and placed fifth
in her second appearance, in Cardona, New Zealand.
Her family will be joining her in Sochi, and she excited to have them all there to cheer her on.
“I just really want to enjoy the experience,” she said. “Pretty rare that someone would go to the Olympics and I never thought it would hap- pen for me.”
FLASH ROUND
Favourite ice cream flavour?
Cookies and cream.
Favourite Simpsons character?
Homer.
What song do you get pumped up to before hitting the slopes?
Lately I’ve been listening to Beyonce.
Where in K-W do you hang out?
Mostly at friends’ houses or at the hill.
if you weren’t snowboarding what would you be doing?
Probably fishing with my brother.
What sport are you going to be watching at the Olympics?
I really want to get tickets to the hockey game – I’m hoping I can swing that!
