- Date
- 21 Jan 2015
- Tags
- IOC News , Athletes' space
Pursuing an Olympic dream: From fighting fires and lawsuits to sliding on ice
Even when working as a wildland firefighter or studying law, Morgan Tracey always wanted to go to the Olympics. She therefore made a pact with herself – if she passed the bar exam, she would try skeleton. So in 2010, with her qualification in tow, Morgan headed to the Lake Placid Olympic Training Centre in pursuit of that Olympic dream.
Today, Morgan is a fully-fledged member of Team USA’s bobsleigh and skeleton team as well as a legal assistant at IOC TOP sponsor General Electric (GE). Her ultimate “end goal” – a ticket to the next Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018 – requires her to juggle work life with training, something she manages with the help of the Athlete Career Programme (ACP).
“An athlete had told me that there’s this programme that allows athletes to train and work and fund their careers, with their training being the most important thing,” explains Morgan. “I was looking then for the ACP not only to give me the ability to put training first, but also to make sure that I was still using the three years that I had spent in law school.”
GE has done just that for the American athlete and lawyer: “The best thing about working for GE and the Athlete Career Programme is that I can work it around my training.”
As Angela Bovee, Programme Specialist for Team USA’s Athlete Career Programme, explains: “Athletes are often the best in the world at what they do, so they have a host of transferable skills that make them top talent in the workplace, too. They just have to realise how those skills of time-management, resiliency and problem-solving can be taken into the corporate world.”
With dedication, hard work, a solid support system and a new employer enabling her to work from home and providing the flexibility required for her to pursue her sporting ambition, Morgan is well and truly on her way to achieving her dream.
In return, Bovee says Morgan is inspiring those around her, as her manager, Rachel Lieberman, supports: “Being able to watch Morgan and see her success, and maybe feel like you’ve had a little part in that, is like bringing a little bit of that dream to all of us.”
Find out more about the Athlete Career Programme here