Editor’s Note: This is Part II in The Tahoe Weekly’s ongoing “Olympic Hopefuls” series leading up to the Olympics in February. Part I of the series may be found at http://yourtahoeguide.com/2013/12/local-athletes-eye-olympic-winter-games/
Olympic sports: Snowboardcross
Hometown: Sandpoint, Idaho, & Olympic Valley
Resort team: Squaw Valley
There is, of course, a lot of skill involved in becoming an Olympic athlete, but perhaps what is even more important is dogged determination. A willingness to train hard for years, to get to that shining moment of glory and then if you fall down, get back up, brush off the snow, and do it again, and again, as many times as is necessary for as long as it takes. It’s that level of determination that epitomizes Olympic Snowboarder Nate Holland.
In 2006, Holland was stoked to be competing in the winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
“It was an exciting time. My first Olympics, the first time Snowboard cross was part of the Olympics. I was thrilled to be there, but was disappointed in my results,” he says.
So, he picked himself up, and became even more determined to win Gold in the next Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, four years later. In those games, he made it into the finals, an incredible accomplishment amongst a competitive field, and was battling for a medal and got 4th place.
“While that was a pretty hard result to swallow. I couldn’t ask for anymore of myself then to be battling for gold and silver. That’s how I ride, I go for the win,” Holland said.
Now, this six-time, X-Games Gold medalist is back again, heading to the Olympics in Sochi, Russia. When I spoke to him in November, he was heading to Europe the following day to begin the series of Olympic qualifiers that will pick the U.S. Team (Holland has since been named to the U.S. Olympic team).
“I spent the fall in Park City at the US Ski and Snowboard Training Center.” Holland said. “My body feels great. I’m healthy. I’m looking forward to getting into competition and proving that I can go to the Olympics.”
Holland was raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, which is 50 miles south of Canada along the shores of Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced Pond-Ah-Ray). In 1999, Holland came to Squaw Valley and Lake Tahoe where he found “a perfect storm of athletes pushing each other.”
He was just 20, but already felt that it was time “to graduate from North Idaho and Schweitzer. At Tahoe, I found better riding and better riders.”
Tahoe also had a mountain lake similar to his beloved Pend Oreille and Holland began spending his summers working with Lee Schmidt at the High Sierra Waterski School at Sunnyside. Holland has come full circle, opening his own waterski school in Sandpoint known as Action Water Sports, which he runs with his brother Pat, also a competitive snowboarder. He now spends time in both worlds, Sandpoint in the summer and Tahoe in the winter.
Last February, Holland had a chance to check out the Olympic venue at Sochi. Unfortunately, during training, he broke a rib and twisted an ankle. But, he didn’t let the pain stop him. “I had to ride to get the course knowledge,” he said, so he competed with his injuries and still managed to get a fourth place.
What he got from the race was the realization that the course is a good one for him. But, in the head-to-head race format that is boardercross, all bets are off, anything can happen on any day, and a falling is a big part of the game.
Holland says,
“It’s the Olympics, and it’s just one more race with a bunch of hype, but it’s also like every event. There are a lot of uncontrollable factors. You have to be smart enough to read the pack and understand what is going on,” he said.
And, of course you have to have the determination to keep persevering no matter what happens. Oh yeah, he’s got that.
