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Show OLYMPIC BIATHLETE JOAN GUETSCHOW She’s All ts February 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway and American Joan Guetschow has just skied into the last shooting range in the Women’s 15 Kilometer Olympic Biathlon, when she hears the announcement that she is in second place. The words coming from the public address system carry a shock wave, because biathlon — the sport where target shooting and cross-country skiing are combined in a match of cardiovascular strength and pinpoint mental concentration — is a specialty that has been left to Europeans. But that isn’t the half of it, 11 months earlier, the Minnesota native underwent 5 1/2-hour heart surgery to repair an abnormality that could cause her pulse rate to shoot through the roof and possibly even kill her. Joan had overcome pain, surgery and fear and had worked tirelessly for eight years to reach Lillehammer: But she hadn't always been a skier. In fact, she didn’t begin competitive skiing until she journeyed to Finland in 1986 as a foreign exchange student. There, she took to ski racing like a duck to water. “I grew up as a competitive swimmer in high school. I had a good aerobic base and I had a good Finnish coach,” Joan says from her desk at the Fitness Center inside Park City’s Racquet Club. Living in Finland was a good experience, she recalls. “That was the best year. It really opened my mind about another culture and about myself.” Following one year of competitive skiing at the University of Minnesota, Joan pulled up stakes again and moved to Lake Placid, New York to train with the U.S. Women’s Biathlon coach. The following year, she followed Goach John Underwood to Bend Oregon’s Exercise Science Lab, to continue her training and education. To that point, there was no Women’s Biathlon in the Winter Games, but biathlon had been slated as a new Olympic women’s competition for 1992 in Albertville, France. In 1990, the U.S. Olympic Team hired a Russian and a German coach for the Women’s Biathlon Team. And it was back to Lake Placid for Joan. “There were a lot of other women there, who had been in it for years with no financial support... I wasn’t one of the people who paved the trail. I was just in the right place at the right time.” For the next two years, Joan trained rigorously three weeks each month, putting in long hours running, Open til 8:00 pm. Serving Caravall. No topless dancers. Heart Photos: TIMES § ¥ Nancie Battaglia Olympian Joan Guetschow shooting, skiing, more shooting, and weight training and, yes, more shooting. Tar, gest shooting immediately after a hard workout demands _ physieal conditioning as well as rocksolid concentration. It is imperitive to bring breathing and pulse down sharply through rigorous physical conditioning, the mental aspects of biathlon also joan Guetschow skating demand _ intensive training. “When you're shooting (in competition), there are people next to you and behind you observing. So you have to be able to focus that out,” Joan explained. “Concentration is a_ skill you can develop. It’s the difference between the top shooters and the ones who are average.” After streaking to first place finishes in the 1992 Nationals and then the ‘92 North American Games, Joan was first in the time trials at Albertville. But then amidst the hoopla and excitement, things went awry. “I was just so excited to make the (U.S. Olympic) team, I really didn’t have any goals beyond that,” Joan remembered. “I shot badly and I skied the wrong route.” All was not lost, however, because PAGE towards finish in Women's 15K as Joan notes, somewhat philosophically, Olympic medals are not why she participates in sport. “The hard work, the discipline, the little steps of improvement are what make it meaningful.” Coincidentally, a new plan to hold Winter and Summer Games in alternate even-numbered years meant the next Olympic competition for Joan was only two years away in Lillehammer. Following some _ disagreements with her German coach, Joan went back to Coach Underwood and designed a training program suited specifically for her needs as an ath- lete and as a young woman — who wants a life outside of sports, as well. And it worked — two years later, she was skiing and shooting at a level 7 that was at, or near, her personal best, as she entered the final shooting range in the 15K at Lillehammer. “It wasn’t even like a race,” she recalls. “I was in the zone and it was just happening . . . I came into my last standing shooting and heard that I was in second place. I came out of the zone a little. It caught me off guard.” Joan was one of the first women through the course and by the time she crossed the finish line, she was in first place, having hit 19 of a possible 20 targets. But by the end of the competition she had fallen to 17th, a few precious seconds out of medal contention, Now 28, and living in Park City, Joan keeps in shape, works full time at the Fitness Center and is among a small group launching a_ youth biathlon program. “The kids living in this area have a unique opportunity. Other than Lake Placid, this is the only place really set up for biathlon,” she said. “We've always been behind,” Joan says of the European biathletes. “If we can start them young, it will help our competitiveness down the road.”’ Will Joan Guetschow compete in the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan? That decision still has to be made, she says. ‘’m going to go with my gut,” Joan says of the big decision. “Because to pursue that kind of goal, you have to have a strong desire.” @ eae MOUNTAIN ee WASATCH |