Chythlook-Sifsof heads to Olympics optimistically

Published on February 11th, 2010

By VAN WILLIAMS

When 20-year-old Alaska snowboarder Callan Chythlook-Sifsof zooms down the slopes of Vancouver on Tuesday, she will be making history.

It'll be a run like no other because the fun-loving girl with a warm smile and Yup'ik/Inupiaq heritage will be the first Alaska Native to compete in the famed Olympic Games that date back to 1896.

The social significance isn't lost on Chythlook-Sifsof, who was raised in the Dillingham suburb of Aleknagik before moving to Girdwood with her family at age 12.

"I feel a tremendous honor," she said in a recent interview. "It's something I have no words to describe how honored I am to be that."

But at the same time, she is quick to point out that she isn't the chosen one.

Chythlook-Sifsof comes from humble beginnings (learning to snowboard on a bunny hill) and subscribes to the notion that anything is possible.

More so, she'll sell the idea to anyone who will listen that if you apply yourself, you too could be Olympian-no matter where you live or what you look like.

"I think it's a good illustration of the fact that people (from the Bush) are doing these things," she said. "They're not just on TV and they're not just people from far-distant lands ... these are real people.

"I'm an illustration that there are so many different people from rural Alaska who are doing a lot of cool things and so I think it's a good time, a good generation, for this because I think it's easier to see that these things are completely possible."

Roller derby on snow

At the Olympics, Chythlook-Sifsof will compete in women's boardercross, an event that combines NASCAR and roller derby on snow. It is at times a contact sport and sometimes people crash, like Chythlook-Sifsof did at the recent X Games in Aspen, Colo.

She wiped out pretty hard, slamming against the ground and taking out another racer. She suffered a mild concussion and cut under her eye, but she said the collision was worse that it looked on TV.

"When I was in the crash I felt like I just crashed," she said. "But when I got to the bottom everybody was like, 'Whoa are you OK?'

"People were all worried about me, but it totally didn't feel as bad as it looked."

Being that she commercial fishes with her family, it would take more than a snow spill to keep Chythlook-Sifsof out of action. In fact, she got right back on her board for the next race, finishing second in a field of six riders.

Even though Chythlook-Sifsof has logged nearly five years of national service on the U.S. Olympic snowboard team, her ticket to Vancouver wasn't punched three weeks before the Games.

Part of the waiting process was because the U.S. Olympic Committee was trying to decide how many American snowboarders to take in relation to other countries and how that would affect medal possibilities.

So even though Chythlook-Sifsof was ranked in the top 20 in the world and top three in the nation, she had wait like most of the other athletes.

Finally, the call came from her coach that she was headed to the Olympics.

"It was one of the most special things I think that will ever happen to me," Chythlook-Sifsof said. "It's just a big milestone and it's a huge thing for me and something I've been dreaming about and thinking about for a really long time, so it blows my mind to actually think its happening.

"No matter how much you think about it and dream about it, and how much of a reality it is, it's still something that is unbelievable."

Getting official word felt like the weight of the world being lifted from her shoulders, she said, so much so she could have almost floated to the Olympics.

"I think the whole season was, like, pressure-filled for everybody and throughout every stop on the tour, you didn't have a definitive answer to whether you were going or not," Chythlook-Sifsof said. "It was definitely nerve-wrecking and I was thinking about it every day. I couldn't sleep."

That's because going to the Olympics is every athlete's dream.

"It's the highest competition you can have in any sport," she said. "All the things surrounding the Olympics is what makes the Olympics what it is, it's definitely the most notable sports competition in the world.

"I think in that way nothing compares to it, just because of what it is and the legacy of it ... people dream about it for their entire lives, so I think that's what makes it such a special event."

Callan's Facebook time

If you needed any proof of the impact Chythlook-Sifsof has had on the Alaska Native community, just check out her Facebook fan page.

What started as a joke by her friends has turned into a juggernaut, with the number of friends in her fan club surpassing 600 (and counting).

"My friends made that more as a joke, I think, because it was kind of a fad," Chythlook-Sifsof said. "I guess it became a little more serious each year. It's grown a lot and there are a lot more people than I expected to be on there."

There was a ton of traffic the day she was named to the team on Jan. 25, yet since then the comments have still been coming in. Here are a few samples:

• "Wishing you the best and sending you lots of positive energy. Our five-year-old daughter is named Callan!"-Aaron Bird Bear.

• "Good luck, you're already a winner in my book!" -Vamori Kaufman Burgheim.

• "Good luck from the capital city and Dillingham. You give us a reason to watch," -Jonathan Smith.

• "You have a lot of fans down here in Southeast Alaska"-Sissy Stands.

Between Facebook, e-mail and her cell phone, the support Chythlook-Sifsof has received has been overwhelming. And most of it has come from people she's been on a first-name basis with virtually her entire life.

"On one hand I see it's a great thing to look up to people that are doing really cool things, and for sure I do, too," she said. "But I think it's kind of a unique thing because coming from rural Alaska and having all of my family live in Aleknagik ... I mean, I know all these people, so it's really cool to have the support of the people I grew with. It's been amazing."

Olympic expectations

When Chythlook-Sifsof is on the mountain, she is about having a good time.

If not, she wouldn't do it.

"Snowboarding will always and forever be for me. It's my passion," she said. "It's fun. Going out on the mountain every day is just the best for me."

So when she lines up at the Olympics for the biggest race of her life, don't expect her to tinker with her technique or stray from her strategy.

She will keep doing what has been doing her whole life.

"You definitely have a goal in mind and you have a killer instinct kind of, but at the same time you just try to stay focused and have fun," she said. "That's the biggest part of it.

"You have to enjoy what you're doing."

And just being at the Olympics-the week she turns 21, no less-is a victory in itself.

"Definitely one of the best years of my life," Chythlook-Sifsof said. "Nothing can go wrong from here. It's been a dream of mine for a long time to make the Olympic team, so whatever happens I am so incredibly thrilled to be on the team and to be there and to be representing the USA.

"I have my sights set on the top three, for sure, and I hope it can work. But if it doesn't, I am so thrilled just to be there."