Jennifer Rodriguez (born June 8, 1976) is a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or t ...

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skatin ...

. She started her career as an artistic roller skater, winning multiple national championships and placing second and third at world championships. Later she switched to

inline speed skating Inline speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called ''inline racing'' by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is similar enough to ice ...

and became world champion in 1993. Her inline speed coach was Bob Manning. In 1996 she made another career move by giving it a try on ice, in order to have a chance to make the Olympic team. This was a success, and she participated in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

, 2006 and

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

, winning two bronze medals in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

in 2002. She is also known by the nicknames Miami Ice and J-Rod. She was previously married to American speed skater K. C. Boutiette, who was the first to switch from

to ice skating and motivated Rodriguez to do the same.

References

Jen Rodriguez's U.S. Olympic Team bio
... with features and photos
ISU profile

*

External links

*
"The Concierge Questionnaire-Jennifer Rodriguez Interview"
1976 births American female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in speed skating Sportspeople from Miami Living people 21st-century American women {{US-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References

External links