Jadin O'Brien overcame childhood illness to become 10-time All-American before switching sports
A Notre Dame track and field star has made the U.S. Olympic bobsled team just weeks after picking up the sport for the first time.
Jadin O'Brien, a 10-time All-American in track and field at Notre Dame, will compete in bobsled at the upcoming Olympics after an unprecedented rapid rise in the sport. Her journey to the Olympics began when five-time Olympian bobsledder Elana Morris Taylor reached out to her on Instagram.
"August 2nd, I finished the USA Championships, and August 4th I started training for bobsled," O'Brien said. "10 days after that, I was out in the rookie camp in Lake Placid. I did the rookie camp, the week after that, did another training week, and then the push championship weeks. I had two weeks to learn the sport and somehow made it."
O'Brien's athletic success comes after overcoming significant personal challenges in her childhood. She was diagnosed with PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections) as a young child.
"PANDAS is what she was diagnosed with. It started when she was a baby," said Leslie O'Brien, Jadin's mother. "She had strep all throughout her body, and it was affecting her brain. She couldn't run, she couldn't talk, she couldn't write, she couldn't get dressed. She had very dark thoughts."
Watch: Notre Dame track star makes Olympic bobsled team in record time
The family pursued holistic treatment approaches after numerous doctor visits, and O'Brien's condition improved by the end of fifth grade.
"If you lost a child and they came back, it was like Jadin was back; it was very emotional," Leslie O'Brien said.
O'Brien's parents, Leslie and Kevin O'Brien, recognized her athletic potential early on.
"For her, she was naturally fast," Kevin O'Brien said. "I remember I was at my brother's house one time, and they were running around the backyard. I just remember her full-out sprinting, so she always had that gift, and she loved to compete."
When O'Brien learned she had made the Olympic team, her reaction was one of disbelief.
"I was so shocked and overwhelmed," O'Brien said. "When they said my name, my mouth dropped, and I said are you kidding me. I looked over at Elana and said is this serious. I called my parents, and I've never seen my mom scream so loud she screamed so loud she actually peed her pants."
Leslie O'Brien described receiving the call about her daughter making the team.
"She called, and she was like it didn't go well. She talked about other sleds, and then they picked who Elana's partner was going to be, and it was like Jadin O'Brien, and I was like WHAT oh my gosh, I screamed so loud I'm sure everyone in the neighborhood heard me," she said.
Kevin O'Brien added, "We were so proud we couldn't believe it."
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