Park City is known for its large population of highly trained athletes and the students and teachers  are no exception. Micaela Carriel, a current teacher at Park City High School is an immensely trained athlete and has had her fair share of the Olympic experience.

Mrs. Carriel, formally known as Ms. Damas, attended an Olympic training week with high hopes of making the US Bobsledding Team for the Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2012. “I really enjoyed trying to make it to the Olympics. I was provided an opportunity to interact with different people and travel,” recalled Mrs. Carriel.

When asked about her opinions on the 2018 Olympics being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea she stated, “It’s exciting to see some of my old teammates complete another cycle.” She followed up her response stating that she has a huge respect for all Olympic athletes training and all of the work they put towards the Olympic Games.

After the Olympic training week in Sochi, Russia, the US Bobsled Team had to cut two members from their eight person team and unfortunately Mrs. Carriel was one of the two. However, she still remembers her whole Olympic training experience in a positive light as she stated, “I was cut from the team at the point but I had no regrets, I made my Olympic training experience count.”

Although the Olympic training week seemed to close a huge door for Mrs. Carriel, she believes it also opened many doors, one of them including meeting her husband. Despite never making it to the Olympics, she was on the American Bobsledding team for two years, and was among the lucky group to make it to Sochi, Russia for Olympic training week.

She had the same training experience as the other olympic athletes, and still remains friends with many of the athletes she met during the training week.

Being cut from the Olympic team did not seem to change Mrs. Carriel’s view on the monumental event. In fact, being apart of the event has made her respect the process of the Olympic games and the athletes even more. Mrs. Carriel still enjoys watching the different events and the opening ceremonies, which she says are her favorite part.

As the coach for the girls soccer team, Mrs. Carriel is known to be one of the many athletic teachers throughout the high school, so it is no surprise she has taken part in something as big as the Olympics. “I have always been very athletic,” Carriel says. “In highschool I was the kid who participated in all of the sports provided.”

Although Mrs. Carriel didn’t get her shot in the Olympics, she prevailed among hundreds for a spot to train at Sochi in this once in a lifetime experience she will never forget.