It’s hard to believe that the Winter Olympics in Vancouver begin in less than two weeks. Opening Ceremonies are Friday, Feb. 12.
The marquee event, as usual, will be women’s figure skating. The singles event starts Feb. 23 and there’s a United States dark horse candidate to watch with San Diego county ties.
Rachael Flatt, age 17, won the U.S. national championship in Spokane in late January. Flatt was born in Del Mar and used to skate at University Towne Center before her family moved to Colorado Springs in 2000 for figure skating training reasons. Flatt and second-place Mirai Nagasu – a 16-year-old from the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia — are the two women on the U.S. team.
The 5-foot-2 Flatt is far from your typical Olympic skating medalist hopeful. The high school senior is taking four Advanced Placement courses and has applied to four Ivy League schools (Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale) in addition to turning in applications to Duke, Stanford and UCLA.
Her current plan is to attend the Opening Ceremonies and then head back to Colorado Springs for a week of classes before returning to Vancouver.
Yeah, this isn’t your typical Olympian. I’m guessing 2006 silver medalist Sasha Cohen didn’t pack advanced calculus and physics books in her skating travel bag for the Games in Turin, Italy.
Based on reports of those who know figure skating, Flatt doesn’t have a legitimate chance of winning an Olympic medal in Vancouver. But how can anyone write her off after some of the recent turns and twists during the pressure-packed Olympics that saw a couple of other under-the-radar Americans win gold medals?
In 1998, 15-year-old Tara Lipinksi went from relative unknown to gold medalist when the top U.S. skater was Michelle Kwan, who settled for the silver. And in 2002, who had ever heard of 16-year-old Sarah Hughes before she won the gold? You might recall that more experienced skaters (including Kwan) made crucial mistakes during the finals to open the door for Hughes’ epic victory.
So based on the fact that Flatt is known for consistency and not splash and dash is a plus. Her jumping ability sets her apart from most of the other women and she’s being mentored by 1976 gold medalist Dorothy Hamill, one of the most popular U.S. Winter Olympians of all-time.
Perhaps there’s no gold medal in Flatt’s near future. But regardless, the Del Mar native is definitely someone to watch at the 2010 Games.
To learn more about Rachael Flatt, click here on her Web site — http://www.rachaelflatt.net/ — though I suspect she doesn’t need help from MrSportsBlog in accumulating Web hits.
MrSportsBlog 
Thank you for highlighting Rachael!
Those who write she doesn’t have a chance at winning a medal obviously don’t know figure skating! She beat the reigning world champ in the free skate at an event earlier in the season and was top five at last years’ World Championships.
She’s an amazing athlete and I can’t wait to see her in Vancouver!
I really admire Rachael’s drive to succeed both on the ice and in the classroom.
Great post.
Ice Mom
Saying that Rachael Flatt beat Kim Yu-Na in the free skate at Skate America meaning that Flatt is a Gold Medal contender is like saying that the New York Jets led the Indianapolis Colts at halftime, therefore, the Colts should have let the Jets win so the Jets could go to the Super Bowl. It doesn’t matter if you beat someone in part of an event, it matters over the WHOLE.
Rachael Flatt is a nice skater. However, she lacks certain elements-grace, speed, artistic ability-to contend with the likes of Kim and Mao Asada. And yes, I am an American, but I do not drink jingoistic Kool-Aid. I see things for what they are, not what some would like them to be.
Bottom line, can Flatt win a medal? Yes, but unless Kim and Asada fall flat-no pun intended-the best Rachael can hope for is a silver or bronze.