Last week, these three women were on the biggest sporting stage in the world, competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Winding down from some incredible performances at the Sochi Olympics, South Lake Tahoe will honor the three gold-medal winners – Maddie Bowman, Jamie Anderson and Hannah Teter.
The tight-knit ski community honors its three U.S. Olympic team members in a city-wide celebration, Saturday, March 15.
Anderson and Bowman won gold for snowboarding slopestyle and freeskiing halfpipe respectively, while Teter placed fourth in snowboarding halfpipe and captured gold in 2006. The three women all do their training locally at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort.
All three women are residents of tiny Meyers, which is located west of South Lake Tahoe. Anderson, Bowman, and Teter may have put the tiny town of 3,000 on the international map as having the most gold medals per capita.
Anderson, 23, won her Olympic gold medal in the women’s inaugural snowboard slopestyle competition at Sochi. She has also won four Winter X Games gold medals in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013.
“I think most of us have been thinking about this (the Olympics) for a few years,” Anderson said. “To just have that moment come so quick and really knowing this is your moment, you just want to shine and do your best and show the world what a fun sport snowboarding is.”
In her first Olympics, Bowman, 20, struck gold in the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe competition at Sochi. The skier also brought home gold at the Winter X Games in 2013 and 2014 in the superpipe division.
“The way I’ve gotten here is taking it one day and one competition at a time and having absolutely as much fun as I could. And hey, it worked out,” said Bowman, who has won gold medals at the past two Winter X-Games.
Teter, 27, was a 2006 Olympic gold and 2010 Olympic silver medalist in the women’s snowboarding halfpipe. Teter finished fourth at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in the halfpipe event. She was a 2003 Winter X Games gold medal winner and 5-time bronze medalist.
A procession will take the Olympians via fire truck from South Tahoe High School, onto Highway 50, past the airport and through the town of Meyers, concluding at Sierra-at-Tahoe. At 1 p.m. community members can line Highway 50 along the route and cheer the Olympian procession as it drives by.
The party will include autograph signings, live music, food and drink specials, prizes and a raffle with proceeds to the Sierra Foundation, which grooms future world class athletes.
Expected to attend the festivities are California Senator Ted Gaines, El Dorado County Supervisors and South Lake Tahoe City council members with proclamations for the three Olympians.
The South Tahoe High School marching band will greet the Olympians at Sierra-at-Tahoe’s new Solstice Plaza at 1:40 p.m. The National Anthem by the South Tahoe High School Choir will be followed by an introduction from Sierra-at-Tahoe’s General Manager John Rice.
Well-wishers and partygoers are encouraged to board buses or carpool to the resort because parking will be limited. The athletes will depart from SouthTahoeHigh School at 1 p.m. Bus schedules, times as well as all event details will be available at www.sierraattahoe.com.
The welcome-home celebration for the Olympians at the country’s “Best Ski Destination” (USA Today, Jan. 2014) is sponsored by Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort, the City of South Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, El Dorado County, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Barton Health, TahoeCenter for Orthopedic, and the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce.
