WAUWATOSA — Inside Wauwatosa's newest coffee shop, you'll find plenty of people passing the time and enjoying their favorite cup of joe. It's also where you'll find Dave Tamburrino, a two-time Olympian who has traded his speed skates for coffee beans.
Tamburrino owns Idyll Coffee Roasters with his family, marking a significant career change for the former speed skater who competed in the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.
Watch here: How one former Olympian is bringing his pedigree from one of sport's biggest stages to a new coffee shop in Wauwatosa.
"I moved to Milwaukee in 1990 to go to Marquette University as a freshman. So I was balancing the rigors of training full-time for the Olympics, which was coming up in 1992," Tamburrino said.
He put college on hold to focus on his Olympic dreams, but missed making the 1992 team by two-tenths of a second.
His Olympic experiences in 1994 and 1998 were vastly different. In 1994, Tamburrino was on the upswing of his career and achieved a personal best by seconds in the 1,500-meter race.
"98 was a little more like a job. That was in Nagano, Japan. Two out of three races were personal bests. But in the mind of an athlete, I would always like to win a medal," Tamburrino said.
Tamburrino retired from speed skating at 25, returned to school, and after a successful marketing career, opened Idyll Coffee Roasters.
"I have to say, Idyll coffee, just like skating, is a team effort, and we have a great family team behind it. My wife, Amy, and her brother Pete and his wife Karen, the four of us own Idyll coffee," Tamburrino said.
The coffee shop offers a welcoming atmosphere with natural light and two floors that can accommodate 246 people, setting it apart from chain competitors.
Tamburrino credits his Olympic training with preparing him for this entrepreneurial venture.
"Training at that level for four years at a time, you're putting your body and mind through things that are incredible but not sustainable forever, so having that context really helped position my mindset in terms of what it would take to help bring this vision to reality with a great team," Tamburrino said.
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