Athlete Bios
Skeleton
Uhlaender recovers from snowmobile accident, ready for Olympics
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 5:35 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Katie Uhlaender competes at the Park City Skeleton World Cup on Nov. 12, 2009. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)Katie Uhlaender is a two-time World Cup winner (2007 and 2008) in skeleton and may represent the United States' best chance at a women's medal in the sport at the Vancouver Games.
Uhlaender, 25, placed sixth at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. She is recuperating from a knee injury, caused by being thrown from a snowmobile. The injury required three knee operations in six months. She is still expected to compete and was granted a waiver onto the World Cup team by the USA Bobsled & Skeleton Federation.
Uhlaender has been outspoken in her criticism of the limited number of runs athletes from outside Canada have been granted at the Olympic sites. "The world is pretty disappointed," she said recently in a conference call with reporters.
Uhlaender was born in Vail, Colo., and started skiing when she was two. In 2003, she placed seventh at the junior world championships.
She is the daughter of the former professional baseball player Ted Uhlaender, who died at 62 in February 2009. She now wears the World Series ring that he won as a member of the Cincinnati Reds on a chain around her neck.
"I think that's what makes a champion," Uhlaender told The Denver Post. "You don't have to be an Olympian to have the Olympic spirit. That's what I learned from my father. He wasn't an Olympian, but he was definitely a champion. That's the one thing he taught me, never give up, work with what you've got and don't be a little baby about it."
