Many Olympic mothers who send their children to the Olympics experience financial hardship and sacrifices. This is their moment to rejoice.

Olympic mothers. When I was a kid, I was going to be an Olympic Alpine Skier and an Olympic Swimmer. In those days the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. My father would smile indulgently and let me dream my little dream. Regrettably, I didn’t achieve Olympic level prowess, but the Olympic dream remains alive. The beauty of the Olympics is that there are many obscure and unusual sports that we only have the opportunity to see once in four years.  I cannot believe that I am fortunate enough to attend the Olympics as a spectator. It’s a thrill to meet former and current Olympians. Believe it or not, they are people too.

The Olympic experience is further enhanced by meeting Olympic mothers. True to form, they just want to talk about their kids. Before I left home, it was fun to chat with the Sharon Hoffman the mom of Nordic Skier Noah Hoffman. (He told her not to come to the Olympics, too expensive and he wouldn’t get to spend much time with her ) and in Istanbul,  we ran into Nordic Skier Simi Hamilton’s mom,  Ruthie. We spoke with excitement and some trepidation about the Games to come and our accommodation challenges.  I happened to be leaning across the bar at the USA house and a woman overheard me say that I loved the ski jumping.

Barbara Jerome, mother of US Ski Jumper Jessica Jerome, was beaming about her daughter’s performance in the historic debut of Women’s Ski Jumping. Whether they are a first time Olympian, like our friend Claudia  mother of Eugenio, Alpine Skier for Chile, or a seasoned Olympians  like US Skiers Julia Mancuso  and Steve Nyman…the Mom’s all have a special glow about them, especially when they talk about their children’s participation in their particular sport.  US Free skier Bobby Brown, has a warm and engaging Mom, who was thrilled to hear that we were attending Slope style event.