[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 2, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S934-S935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CONGRATULATIONS TO VERMONT OLYMPIANS

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, on a happier note, I see the 
distinguished Senator from Vermont, Senator Sanders, on the floor 
today. I want to congratulate the Vermonters who represented our 
country at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
  The Olympics themselves were exciting. I know Marcelle and I watched 
hours and hours of them. But we watched especially, obviously, when we 
saw some of these young Vermonters.
  These athletes carry on a long tradition of Vermonters participating 
in the Winter Olympics. Hundreds of Vermonters have competed in the 21 
Winter Olympiads, and it is no secret that Vermont produces great 
winter sports athletes, thanks to our northern climate, beautiful 
rugged terrain, and also a healthy sports industry.
  After all, the first ski lift in the United States was a rope tow 
built in the town of Woodstock. I remember what a thrill it was when 
then-President Gerald Ford told me that the first ski lift he was on 
was on that ski lift in Woodstock. It is a nice memory of a wonderful 
person, President Gerald Ford.
  Thanks to Jake Burton Carpenter and his wife Donna, Vermont is the 
cradle of snowboarding and it is now a central Olympic event. The 
Carpenters have worked so hard to make this a real sport, and they 
have. Our schools in ski areas have hosted dozens of international 
snowboarding, Alpine, and Nordic ski competitions.
  Many Vermonters have won medals at the Winter Olympics over the 
years.
  These champions include alpine skier Andrea Meade Lawrence from 
Rutland who was the first American to win two gold medals in 1952, 
Brattleboro's Bill Koch who was the first American nordic skier to 
medal in 1976, and alpine

[[Page S935]]

skier Barbara Ann Cochran, slalom gold medalist in 1972.
  The Cochran family is somewhat of an Olympic dynasty in its own 
right. Barbara Ann's sister Marilyn and brother Bob also competed in 
1972 and her sister Lindy in 1976. Bob's son Jim raced in Saturday's 
slalom at his second Olympics. A member of the family is a member of my 
own staff and I cherish having him here.
  There were 11 athletes in Vancouver this year who were born in 
Vermont or call Vermont home. Ten others attended high school or 
college in Vermont, we are going to take credit for them as well, and 
we are proud to do that.
  Raised in Vermont are snowboarders Kelly Clark from West Dover, 
Lindsey Jacobellis from Stratton, Hannah Teter from Belmont and Ross 
Powers from Londonderry; alpine skiers Jimmy Cochran from Richmond, 
Nolan Kasper from Warren, and Chelsea Marshall from Pittsfield; nordic 
skiers Andy Newell from Shaftsbury, Liz Stephen from East Montpelier, 
Caitlin Compton from Warren; and freestyle skier Hannah Kearney from 
Norwich.
  Vermont's colleges and universities, with a strong tradition of 
winter sports, have sent athletes, both in-state and out-of-state, to 
numerous games. Jim Cochran is a UVM alum, along with biathlete Lowell 
Bailey, nordic skier Kris Freeman and hockey goalie Tim Thomas. Nordic 
skiers Simi Hamilton and Garrott Kuzzy are Middlebury College 
graduates.
  Vermont's ski academies, private high schools that are dedicated to 
winter sports training, attract hundreds of kids from out of State 
every year, and have produced hundreds of Olympians. Liz Stephen and 
Nolan Kasper skied at Vancouver and are graduates of Burke Mountain 
Academy, which was the first ski academy in the country, founded in 
1970. Other ski academy graduates competing in Vancouver are 
snowboarder Louie Vito who attended Stratton Mountain School along with 
Andy Newell and Ross Powers; freestyle skier Michael Morse of the 
Killington Mountain School; and biathlete Laura Spector and skiercross 
racers Paul Casey Puckett and Daron Rahlves who attended the Green 
Mountain Valley School along with Chelsea Marshall. Jim Cochran 
represented the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy, and Kelly Clark the 
Mount Snow Academy.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S935, March 2, 2010, the Record reads as follows: . . . 
and skiercross racers Christ Puckett . . .
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: . . . and 
skiercross racers Paul Casey Puckett . . .


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 

  Of course, all of Vermont wants to give a special hearty 
congratulations to those whose efforts resulted in medals--Hannah 
Kearney won gold in the mogul competition.
  I spoke with her the morning after. I told her I had seen her great 
smile on television that morning. She said I think it is going to take 
forever to get that smile off my face. The New York Times had a 
wonderful article showing Marty Candon driving her in a parade in 
Norwich this past weekend.
  Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark won silver and bronze in the snowboard 
halfpipe. Our entire State is proud of your accomplishments on this 
international stage.
  But I am proud of every Vermonter who was chosen for the Team. No 
matter what their results were, it has been a pleasure to watch them, 
and I know that each minute of competition we saw on television was 
preceded by hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and thousands of hours of 
training.
  They have been great ambassadors for the United States, and fantastic 
role models to Vermont's kids. I say congratulations to all of them.
  Finally, I want to take a moment to recognize two Vermonters who 
missed competing in Vancouver because of serious head injuries. 
Snowboarder Kevin Pearce of Norwich fell while training in Park City, 
UT, on December 31, and Cody Marshall, Chelsea's brother, of 
Pittsfield, an alpine slalom racer, was injured last summer. Both have 
come a long way since their injuries but have difficult recoveries 
ahead of them. I spoke with Kevin Pearce's mother Pia, and I know how 
the whole family has come together for him, just as Cody Marshall's 
family has come together for him. So I wish them and their families 
well, and I wanted them to know they are special inspirations to all of 
us. They are in all of our prayers and thoughts.
  Vermont is a very small State--second smallest in the country--so it 
is almost like one big community in our sense of pride for these young 
people.
  I see my distinguished colleague from Vermont on the floor. I yield 
to him.
  Mr. SANDERS. I thank Senator Leahy for yielding. There is not a lot 
more I can add to what he has already said.
  As you well know, Vermont is a small State. We have 620,000 people--
one of the smallest States in the country. But a lot of our young 
people grow up on the slopes of Vermont. They are involved in skiing 
and snowboarding from a very young age. My grandson is out there. He is 
5. He is doing pretty well as a snowboarder. That is true all over the 
State.
  I think people who have watched the extraordinary Olympics in 
Vancouver noted that a lot of the participants, a lot of the 
outstanding athletes came from the State of Vermont. The world watched 
as Hannah Kearney of Norwich won the first gold medal for the United 
States. She was closely followed in the women's snowboarding halfpipe 
when Vermont took both second and third place on the podium. That is 
quite a feat for a small State. Kelly Clark of West Dover brought home 
the bronze, and Hannah Teter of Belmont, the silver medal. This is an 
incredible feat when you consider that there were a total of just eight 
women on the U.S. snowboarding team; three of them were from the Green 
Mountain State and two of them were in the top three. That is pretty 
good under anybody's definition of success.
  In true Vermont fashion, our Olympians bring more than talent, 
excellence, and commitment to their sports. They showed exemplary 
dedication to their communities. In other words, these men and women 
are more than just athletes; they are people who are concerned about 
the world in which they are living and the communities in which they 
live. When Hannah Teter took gold in the Torino games in 2006, she 
combined her prize money with proceeds from maple syrup sales to start 
a charity called ``Hannah's Gold'' which brings aid to a village in 
Kenya. That is what Hannah Teter did. Liz Stephen, a cross-country 
skier from East Montpelier, supports ``Fast and Female,'' a charity 
geared toward getting young girls involved in sports. Lindsey 
Jacobellis, a snowboarder from Stratton, VT, used her love of animals 
as motivation to get involved with the American Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. From charity efforts to hometown, 
family-owned restaurants, the impact of these outstanding individuals 
is felt by many.
  The 11 athletes who are recognized today as Vermont Olympians are the 
following: in cross-country skiing, Caitlin Compton, Andy Newell; in 
Alpine skiing, Chelsea Marshall, Nolan Kasper, and Jimmy Cochran; in 
ski jumping, Nick Alexander; in freestyle skiing, gold medalist Hannah 
Kearney; and in snowboarding, silver medalist Hannah Teter, bronze 
medalist Kelly Clark, and Lindsey Jacobellis. It is with great pleasure 
that I congratulate these athletes on a spectacular job. The State of 
Vermont is very proud of you all.

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