Sochi notebook: US's Lolo and Lauryn aren't only Olympians jumping seasons

Jana Pittman, Australia’s first summer and winter Olympian, ran the 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at the Athens 2004 Games. She also won gold at the 2007 world track championships. What the 31-year-old mom said she most relishes about pushing a bobsled is that “I was almost ready to retire and really didn’t want the whole ‘shemozzle’ with individual sport any more. I just love that there’s someone else that can take the main ... stress of it,” referring to her driver, three-time bobsled Olympian Astrid Radjenovic, who placed 14th in 2006 and 19th in Vancouver four years ago. 

Hanna Marien was Belgium’s flagbearer at last week’s opening ceremony, but the 31-year-old didn’t attend the 2008 opening ceremony in Beijing because she had to squeeze in some last-minute training on the track. The absence paid off when she ran the second leg of Belgium’s 4x100-meter relay and took the silver medal behind Russia. Marien is Belgium’s first summer and winter Olympian. According to her Sochi 2014 bio, she didn't make the 2012 track team and Belgian bobsled team manager Geert Vanvaerenbergh encouraged Marien to take up bobsledding.

Bryan Barnett of Canada placed sixth in the two-man bobsled event Monday, but he and his driver, Justin Kripps, had been in fourth place after three heats. Barnett ran the 200-meter event at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, but did not finish his heat. Late last year, he decided to give the bobsled a try and was named to the national development team. He made his competitive debut just three months ago, at Novermber's North American Cup event in Calgary. Barnett celebrated his 27th birthday on Feb. 10.

In addition to Jones, Williams, Pittman, Marien, and Barnett, there was nearly a sixth two-season Olympian competing in Sochi. Craig Pickering of Great Britain ran the 100-meter dash and the 4x100-meter relay in Beijing. The 27-year-old sprinter slipped a disc in his back earlier this month, however, and doctors said the injury could have long-lasting effect on his athletic career so the would-be Olympic bobsledder pulled out. On his Twitter bio, Pickering calls himself the “world’s unluckiest athlete” and spent the first day of the two-man event in a bathtub wearing his bobsled suit. 

Former Olympic-wax-technician-turned-bronze-medalist Alex Diebold dedicated his snowboard cross hardware on Tuesday to Bode Miller’s younger brother Chelone. Miller was a multi-talented snowboarder who had a legitimate chance of making the 2014 Olympic team. He also had a history of seizures following a 2005 motorcycle crash. “Chilly” died in April in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. He was 29.

“I know he’s up there looking down on us,” Diebold said. “He was the embodiment of snowboarding, and he always had a smile on his face. I just want to take this chance to dedicate this to him and his family.”

The event had been postponed Monday due to dense fog, and on Tueday, Diebold endured a misty, rainy contest. “Thank God for Gore-tex,” he said.

Diebold’s teammate Trevor Jacob placed ninth, while Nate Holland and Nick Baumgartner did not advance out of the heats. Their countryman, two-time Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott, was unable to go for a three-peat because he didn’t make the team.