Hunter Church

Believer in Christ. Beijing 2022 Olympian. Proud member of the USA Bobsled National Team. World Championship Competitor x2. World Cup Medalist x2

A third-generation bobsledder after his great uncle and father, Church completed his first bobsled run at the age of seven, with his dad Thomas.

After his family had settled in Cadyville, New York, about an hour north of Lake Placid, it gave him the chance to spend time with the sport and at the age of 12 he enrolled in a junior bobsleigh program, making him one of the youngest sliders there.

Church began training as a driver three years later in Park City and continued bobsledding throughout high school, before starting to compete internationally after he graduated.

His heroes from the sport are USA bobsledder John Napier, as well as five-time world champion and Vancouver 2010 champion Steven Holcomb, who died in 2017.

Church also took great inspiration from his father, and competing at an Olympic Winter Games was always Church's goal.

But following the disappointment of missing out at PyeongChang 2018, he considered quitting the sport which runs so deeply through his family.

He decided to persevere, but when he was then left off the US national team, he was again faced with the tough question around his future.

As fate would have it, another pilot pulled out from the national team and Church received the call-up, and has never looked back.

Now in Beijing and competing in the two-man with fellow Olympic Games debutant Charlie Volker, and eyeing the four-man event later in the Games, Church is living out his dreams.

"My lineage is what continued to motivate me throughout this entire journey," he told People.

"It had a special place in my family's heart — from my great uncle to my dad and the great sacrifices he made for me. For me to come full circle and be the first of my family to make the Olympic team and cement our legacy in the sport, it was a huge driving factor. It's incredible this is where I am."