Local Olympian Lindsey Jacobellis writes children’s book

WATERBURY, Vermont (WCAX) — The 2022 Winter Olympics are over. Two of the eight US gold medals belong to Stratton Mountain School alum Lindsey Jacobellis in women’s and mixed snowboard cross. Now, as Team USA closes the book on the Beijing Olympics, Jacobellis turns the page to another story.

Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis competed in four Olympics and came away with three medals and a dog. Many may recall that Jacobellis adopted a pup during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Jacobellis decided to turn the sweet friendship story into a children’s book last year, detailing how she came across a stray dog ​​in the Russian town and couldn’t leave him behind.

“She brought me this story on my iPad and I cried. I was like, ‘We can totally do this, we can make this work,'” Leah Peterson said. Peterson is an innkeeper and freelance graphic designer in Waterbury.She says she has known Jacobellis for some time in the snowboarding community, and a conversation led to months of collaboration.

“I was like absolutely. My best friend from college made a children’s book and we were like, “We can totally do this,” Peterson said. So Peterson, Jacobellis and co-illustrator Leslie Sademan set to work bringing “Sochi: A True Story” to life.

“With all our talents, we form a dynamic trio. We brought it together,” Peterson said.

She says the book is self-published. The team released about 100 copies of the book on Amazon on January 17. “It sold out almost immediately. It went very quickly. It was overwhelming.

Thus, the group added more than 700 copies to Amazon last week. Peterson says that although the book was intentionally not released to align with the Olympics, the timing is impeccable.

The group has a lot to celebrate. “It’s so adorable,” she exclaimed.

And now Jacobellis will return to the three-man squad with the gear in hand. “I’m happy for her. It’s so exciting. I can’t contain myself. I watch it over and over.”

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Final touch: 16 years later, Jacobellis wins gold

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