Travis Jayner (born May 9, 1982 in Riverview,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

-born American

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

who is a member of the US Olympic Team for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. He earned a bronze medal in the 5000-meter relay with teammates

Apolo Ohno Apolo Anton Ohno (; born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fa ...

, J.R. Celski, Jordan Malone and Simon Cho. He is currently the Short Track Speedskating Elite Athlete Representative for the US Speedskating Board of Directors.

Early life

Jayner's father, Jack Jayner, was a U.S. and North American short track champion in high school, and Canadian short track champion 11 years later, early in his business career as an architect. In 1975, he founded a speed skating club in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and introduced Travis and his brother Alex to the sport when they were five years old. Born to unilingual English-speaking parents, Jayner successfully completed the Early Total French Immersion Option of Frank L. Bowser Elementary School in Riverview,

– in which only French is spoken in Grades 1, 2, and 3. He cultivated this grounding with speed skaters from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

whom he met regularly at youth-age competitions, training camps, and sport summer schools, both in Quebec and New Brunswick cities, achieving fluency in French by the end of high school. He avidly participated in many sports including

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

, high-jumping and

ball hockey Ball hockey is a team sport and an off-ice variant of the sport of ice hockey. The sport is also a variant of one of several floor hockey game codes; more specifically, it is a variant of street hockey. Ball hockey is patterned after and clos ...

(as

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

) – earning high school letters while maintaining academic honors. Jayner graduated in 2000 from Riverview High School. Accepted by both McGill and Concordia Universities, he promptly moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and took an apartment off-campus (with

skater Olivier Jean) to be near the National Training Center in the

Maurice Richard Arena Maurice Richard Arena () is a 4,750-seat multi-purpose arena at Olympic Park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in 1962. It is named in honour of Maurice Richard. The rink was renovated in 1994, the arena includes a multi-media exhibiti ...

. They were coached by Dany Lemay and Yves Hamelin. Off-season they inline road-raced often – including the 24-hour team event on the city's Formula One high performance auto track. During these years Jayner's academics focused on engineering and urban studies while, as a skater, he moved up the ranks, participating in several CanAm competitions. As a result of contacts established at these cross-border invitational meets, Jayner played host to Ryan Bedford (of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

) and Jordan Malone (of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

) in Montreal – showing them around town, introducing them to the local short track skating scene and advising them on dealing with the French language – during times when they sought diverse independence in their training programs and experience. At the 2003

Canada Winter Games Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in Bathurst/ Campbellton, Jayner represented his home province of New Brunswick, winning a silver medal in the men's short track 3000m.Canada Games Medal Winners - New Brunswick
/ref> In 2004, circumstances resulted in Jayner's move to

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in Midland County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 42,547 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland metropolitan statistical area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City ...

– where Ryan Bedford and his family returned hosting favors. Jayner subsequently skated and dryland-trained in the summer in

Marquette, Michigan Marquette ( ) is the county seat of Marquette County, Michigan, Marquette County and the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. Located on the shores of Lake Superior, Marquette is a major port known primarily for shippin ...

, with

Shani Davis Shani Earl Davis (; born August 13, 1982) is an American former Speed skating, speed skater. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis win a gold medal in an individual event at the Winter Olympic Games, winning the speedskating 1000 m ...

– who was active in both short track and long track pursuits at that time. That fall, Jayner accepted an invitation to train at the USA National Center in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

– in a program directed by

Derek Campbell Derek Campbell (born April 14, 1980) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey player. Career Born in Nepean, Ontario, Campbell began his career playing for the junior OHL team, the Belleville Bulls. Campbell spent two seasons as a Bul ...

Professional career

In September 2005, Jayner qualified for his first World Cup Team – a tour of 4 competitions – the final two being Olympic Qualifier events – determining the Nation Quotas for the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. The USA qualified a maximum Olympic squad.

References

External links

* * *
Travis Jayner's video blogs on Vimeo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayner, Travis 1982 births Living people American male short-track speed skaters World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in short-track speed skating Short-track speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics People from Riverview, New Brunswick 21st-century American sportsmen

Early life

Professional career

See also

References

External links