Virgin Islands’ Olympic skeleton slider celebrates journey

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer

BEIJING (AP) — Katie Tannenbaum overcame long odds to just to get to the Beijing Olympics. The California native competes in skeleton for the U.S. Virgin Islands. She has lived there since 2007. Her claim to racing fame before now was sliding headfirst into a broom that was dangerously left in the track during one of her runs two years ago. She made the Beijing Olympics only after Sweden and France declined to send athletes to the race. And she got COVID-19 in China. She made it into the race anyway and says that was like a win.