Athlete Bios
Bobsleigh
USA's Rohbock finished 1st at Whistler track
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 3:24 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
American Shauna Rohbock finished first at the Whistler World Cup in 2009. (Associated Press)Shauna Rohbock and her sledmate, Valerie Fleming, won a silver medal for the United States in the two-woman bobsled at the 2006 Olympics.
The two finished 0.71 seconds behind the German team of Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze. Rohbock used the same sled that Jill Bakken steered to Olympic gold at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.
Rohbock, a native of Orem, Utah, who has five sisters and a brother, is also a specialist in the National Guard.
Last February, Rohbock finished first at the Whistler World Cup at the site for the bobsled events at the Vancouver Games. In the 2006-07 season, she ranked second overall in the standings.
Rohbock narrowly missed participating with Bakken at the 2002 Olympics. She had been Bakken’s brakewoman for much of the two seasons leading to the Games, but lost her spot to Vonetta Flowers in a push-off about a month before their start.
She began her bobsled career as a brakewoman before advancing to the driver’s seat in 2002. She made the move, Rohbock told NBC, partly because she felt brakewomen had the reputation of being expendable.
“You’re always waiting to get kicked out of the sled, just waiting for someone to come along and push better,” she said.
Rohbock was also an accomplished soccer player. She led the nation in scoring as a sophomore at Brigham Young and finished with a school-record 95 goals. She graduated in 1999 with a degree in recreation management. She played a season professionally for the San Diego Spirit of the Women’s United Soccer Association.
