Photo courtesy of Ann Battelle.

Ann Battelle

1992 Olympics, Albertville, France; 1994 Olympics, Lillehammer, Norway; 1998 Olympics, Nagano, Japan; 2002 Olympics, Salt Lake City, Utah
Mogul Skiing
Ann Battelle has always had a passion for freestyle mogul skiing. After graduating college, she joined SSWSC in the early '90s. She began working with Park Smalley, and attended the Olympics in 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2002, placing second in the qualifying round in 2002. After her competitive career, she stepped back from skiing, moved to the Front Range and was a soccer and fitness coach. After a miserable eight-hour drive from Steamboat to Denver, she and her husband decided it was time to move back to Steamboat. She continued coaching soccer for the Steamboat Soccer Club and also began coaching the U13 mogul team at SSWSC. Today, she is currently the freestyle program director. Speaking to how being an Olympic athlete helped shape her later endeavors, Ann says, “My passion for mogul skiing, kids and competition drive me and challenge me everyday. My experience in the competitive skiing world is a small slice of who I am and what drives me. I love skiing in general as well as inspiring young athletes to be their best and pursue their dreams, whether on the hill or off.” When it comes to giving her two cents to this year's Olympics, she says, “Appreciate all that you've done to get where you are. What an accomplishment – you earned the right to represent the USA on the world stage! Soak up every minute of it, go to every party, meet as many people as you can, you are the star of the show. Be humble, be appreciative of all those that have helped you along the way, but celebrate yourself as well.”

Ryan Heckman

1992 Olympics, Albertville, France; 1994 Olympics, Lillehammer, Norway
Nordic Combined

Ryan Heckman represented the United States in Nordic skiing at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympic Games, building his athletic foundation growing up in Steamboat Springs and competing at the highest levels of endurance sport. After retiring from international competition, he transitioned into finance and now has more than 25 years of private equity investing experience. Ryan is the co-founder, managing partner, and CEO of Rallyday Partners, a lower middle market investment firm, and a co-founder of the Colorado Impact Fund, a Denver-based social impact fund, where he now raises his family. Reflecting on his journey, Ryan says, “Growing up in Steamboat and being a competitive skier were the perfect ingredients. I think it gave me the quality of being aggressively humble and that has transferred over into my career and raising a family.” He also encourages today’s Olympians to broaden their perspective. “There's going to be a lot of pressure to perform, but there's only going to be three people that get medals so I think the Olympics is an ideal time to emphasize why you're doing what you're doing on a broader scale. You can think about what you're doing for your country during such a dark time, what you're doing for your teammates, what you're doing to celebrate other athletes. It can be as simple as wearing the United States jersey and holding the door for someone. There's a lot you can accomplish and celebrate that doesn't have anything to do with medals.”