From Students to Sochi: Brittany Bowe's Olympic dreams switched from court to ice

Brittany Bowe has the athletic pedigree of an Olympian — it's just in the wrong sport.

Currently competing as a speedskater in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Bowe's early years showed promise in a different arena, quite literally.

The 5-foot-9 Bowe was a three-time Ocala Star-Banner Girls Basketball Player of the Year at Trinity Catholic (Ocala, Fla.), where she averaged 21.9 points, 8.7 assists and 5.3 steals a game in an all-state senior season. She left Trinity Catholic as the school record holder in points (1,869), assists (839), steals (611) and 3-pointers made (198).

After high school she went on to be a three-year captain as a point guard at Florida Atlantic.

There she landed eighth on the all-time scoring list by totaling 1,075 points in her four years. After averaging 10.9 points, 3.7 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game as a senior at FAU, the stage was set for a professional basketball career — but Bowe wanted to try something else first.

"All of my focus was on basketball with the hopes of signing a professional contract overseas," Bowe told Team USA writer Jason Devaney. "But when the Vancouver Olympics aired, and I saw some of my friends, teammates and competitors from the inline world dominating the ice scene, it lit a fire inside of me and I had a change of heart with what my future plans would hold."

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Growing up on the inline skating circuit in Florida, Bowe crossed paths with future Olympic speedskaters like Heather Richardson and Chad Hedrick. It's not uncommon for athletes to make the transition from inline speedskating to its ice counterpart, so Bowe figured she would give it a shot.

She made the decision to commit full-time to speedskating and, after graduating from Florida Atlantic, moved to Salt Lake City to begin training in her new sport.

Speedskating came easily to Bowe, who was an elite inline skater (32 medals at the world championships from 2002-08) until she gave up the sport after the 2008 World Championships to focus on basketball.

Her basketball training and athleticism have also served her well on the ice, as she is the current world record holder in the 1000 meters after putting up a time of 1 minute, 12.58 seconds at a World Cup event in Salt Lake City last November.

"I couldn’t be happier right now," Bowe told The Salt Lake Tribune after the race. "I’ve daydreamed about it. I’ve dreamed in my sleep about it. And when it becomes a reality and finally hits you, it’s a dream come true."

Those dreams would never have existed were it not for one special family member. Bowe played for her father, Mike Bowe, at Trinity Catholic. He resigned from that job the same year Brittany graduated so he could follow her career more closely.

"It was just time," Mike Bowe told the Ocala Star-Banner in 2006. "I spent four great years there, and with my daughter graduating and playing college basketball, I thought it was the right time."

Now the boys basketball coach at Eustis, he had to delay his plans to travel to Sochi to support his daughter because of his team's district championship game. He coached the game on Friday, then made the long trip to Russia on Saturday morning.

The Eustis boys lost a heart-breaker, but Mike Bowe hopes his presence will guide his daughter to success in Sochi.

Bowe will compete in her specialty, the 1000, on Thursday. On Sunday she will take on the 1500 with hopes of bringing home the gold.