![]() ![]() PAM WEISS: My name is Pam Weiss and I was one of the original members of the women’s biathlon team from 1980-1988. I still don’t feel threatened in the mountains but I’ve had to work on that.īONNIE FORD: Kari started to cross-country ski as a teenager and eventually was drawn to biathlon. ![]() I never felt ever that I was threatened out in the mountains when I was growing up. It was a place to enjoy to be free to have fun and share it with family and friends. The mountains, trails, rivers were never a dangerous place. Everywhere you look there’s mountains and you’re right underneath these snow capped peaks and there’s wildflowers carpeting the meadows and you just sit there in awe. KARI SWENSON: Yesterday I was out on a hike with the dogs in the rain in the mud and there was nobody else out there. You know they ran, they biked, they fished.īONNIE FORD: Being outdoors is still essential to Kari’s life. JANET SWENSON: When the kids were small they did everything that children should do. Janet was a nurse and an avid hiker who volunteered for ski patrol. He taught his kids how to fly-fish and how to spot constellations in the night sky. KARI SWENSON: My parents would get us out hiking, fishing, skiing, boating.īONNIE FORD: Bob was a physics professor at Montana State University. The Swensons’ house was on a dirt road surrounded by open fields. It was a big town by Montana standards, but still had less than 20,000 people. They moved to Bozeman when Kari was 8 years old. It was an amazing place to grow up.īONNIE FORD: Kari’s parents, Bob and Janet, wanted to raise their three children to be at home in the wilderness. Where I grew up here is in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. I’m Kari Swenson and I am a retired world class biathlete and I am a small animal veterinarian in Montana. KARI SWENSON: To this day I can sit down and I can mentally slow my heart down. Tall and rangy, with a long stride, she liked nothing better than testing herself in the outdoors. Her body language is focused, but relaxed. There’s a stand of evergreen trees behind her, and beyond them are snow-covered slopes and peaks. And then you settle in on your shot and then pull the trigger.īONNIE FORD: Kari Swenson is taking a few practice shots on a biathlon range outside Bozeman, Montana, and her muscle memory is kicking in. When I was skiing and competing I would do one big breath. Some people take more breaths between shots. KARI SWENSON: Breathing is very important in biathlon. Now one last thing before we start, this is an episode about an act of violence and its traumatic fallout, so please be advised. She covers the Olympics and international sports for ESPN. This story takes a look at the long road of recovery, 35 years later, after her story disappeared from public view. On a routine training run, Kari’s path suddenly forked in the mountains of southwestern Montana. It takes a special athlete to excel at both, and Kari was one of the best in the world. Biathlon is a combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting. In the summer of 1984, Kari Swenson was a rising talent in the relatively obscure sport of biathlon. JODY AVIRGAN: From ESPN you’re listening to 30 for 30 podcasts. ![]()
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