Profile: Figure Skater Rachael Flatt
- Print
- 2/26/2010 |
- 10:00 am
As the Olympic Winter Games wind to a close this week, one of the American athletes getting the most attention is 17-year old figure skater Rachael Flatt. She was the surprise winner of the 2010 U.S. National Championships, and even though she didn't medal in Vancouver, nobody doubts that she is one of the up-and-coming stars to watch out for in coming years. At just 17, she's now considered the 7th-best woman in her sport in the entire world.
But believe it or not, that's not what makes Rachael so special. The more you learn about her, the more you realize that her athletic accomplishments are really just the tip of the iceberg.
On February 25, NBC Nightly News ran this short segment about the surprisingly down-to-earth life of America's new Olympic darling. Please: Take three minutes and watch it.
In an era when spoiled, self-entitled athletes regularly dismiss their family, social and academic responsibilities in pursuit of athletic excellence, it's reassuring to see someone who keeps a healthy balance.
You see, there's no special traveling tutor for Rachael. She attends a regular public high school in her hometown of Colorado Springs, where she's a straight-A student. When she made the Olympic team this year -- a huge feat for anyone, let alone a teenager -- she flew to Vancouver for Opening Ceremonies, then flew home and went back to school until it was time to head back to Canada to begin the competition.
She takes a full course load of advanced placement classes, has been accepted to Stanford University, and says matter-of-factly, "Education stays with you forever. Skating, obviously, will not."
Before you shrug your shoulders at this wild example of a perfectly engineered cyborg teenager, be sure that you're getting the right message. No, not everyone can do what Rachael does. She's got certain gifts that not everyone has. Fine. But the most important thing about her -- and this is the message that you should take away from her story -- is her attitude. She is able to accomplish all of these things not only because she's smart and athletic, but because she strives to be the best version of herself. She takes her academics seriously. She takes her skating seriously. She takes her relationships with her family and her friends seriously. She realizes that being smart is cool, and she's right.
That's a lesson that is hard for some teenagers to understand, but the cool ones -- the really cool ones, the ones who will be cool not just in high school but for the rest of their lives -- always seem to pick it up somewhere.
<
