Travis Jayner
Encyclopedia
Travis Jayner is a Canadian
-born American
short track speed skater
who is a member of the US Olympic Team
for the 2010 Winter Olympics
in Vancouver
. He earned a bronze medal in the 5000-meter relay with teammates Apolo Ohno, 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.
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, New Brunswick
, Canada
, 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
, New Brunswick
- in which only French
is spoken in Grades 1,2, and 3. He cultivated this grounding with speed skaters from Quebec
who 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
, soccer, cross country running
, high-jumping
and ball hockey
(as goaltender
) - earning high school letters while maintaining academic honors.
. Accepted by both McGill
and Concordia
Universities, he promptly moved to Montreal
and took an apartment off-campus (with Quebec
skater Olivier Jean
) to be near the National Training Center in the Maurice Richard Arena. 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, Travis played host to Ryan Bedford
(of Michigan
) and Jordan Malone
(of Texas
) 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.
In 2004 a convergence of interests, circumstances and opportunities resulted in Jayner's move to Midland, Michigan
- where Ryan Bedford and his family returned hosting favors. Travis subsequently skated and dryland-trained in the summer in Marquette, Michigan
, with Shani Davis
- who was active in both short track and long track
pursuits at that time. That fall, Travis accepted an invitation to train at the USA National Center
in Colorado Springs, Colorado
- in a program directed by Derek Campbell
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
short track speed skater
Short track speed skating
Short track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m...
who is a member of the US Olympic Team
United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics
The United States participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The U.S. team had a historic Winter Games, winning an unprecedented 37 medals. Team USA's medal haul, which included nine gold, marked the first time since the 1932 Lake Placid Games that the U.S....
for the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. He earned a bronze medal in the 5000-meter relay with teammates Apolo Ohno, J.R. Celski
J.R. Celski
John Robert "J. R." Celski is an American short track speed skater and two-time medalist in the Winter Olympics.At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Celski won bronze in the 1500 m and the 5000 m relay. His bronze medal in the 1500 m was a result of two Korean skaters crashing into each...
, Jordan Malone
Jordan Malone
Jordan Malone is an American short track speed skater who is a member of the US Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He is from Denton, Texas, and is an alumnus of the Texas Tech University Independent School District....
and Simon Cho
Simon Cho
Simon Cho is an American short track speed skater who was a member of the US Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.-Early life:...
.
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 trackShort track speed skating
Short track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m...
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, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, 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
Riverview, New Brunswick
Riverview is a Canadian town in Albert County, New Brunswick, Canada.Riverview is located on the south side of the Petitcodiac River, across from the cities of Moncton and Dieppe. Riverview has an area of , and a population density of...
, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
- in which only French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
is spoken in Grades 1,2, and 3. He cultivated this grounding with speed skaters from Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
who 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
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.The complete rules are extensive...
, soccer, cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, high-jumping
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
and ball hockey
Ball hockey
Ball hockey is a team sport and a variation of the sports of ice hockey and street hockey, where the game is played on foot in which players use sticks to direct a ball into their opposing team's net. When that occurs it is referred to as a "goal". At the end of the time allotted for the game the...
(as goaltender
Goaltender
In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...
) - earning high school letters while maintaining academic honors.
Flying the Coop, Twice
Jayner graduated in the year 2000 from Riverview High School (Riverview, New Brunswick)Riverview High School (Riverview, New Brunswick)
Riverview High School, or simply RHS, is a public high school in Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada. It is part of the province's school District 2, offering education to students from grade nine to twelve. As of 2011 the school holds roughly 1,200 students through grade nine and twelve...
. Accepted by both McGill
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
and Concordia
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
Universities, he promptly moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and took an apartment off-campus (with Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
skater Olivier Jean
Olivier Jean
Olivier Jean is a Canadian short track speed skater from Lachenaie, Quebec currently residing in Montreal. He is a well known figure for his dreadlocks and for listening to reggae which he says makes him skate faster.Jean skates in every distance for the Canadian team and is a member of the...
) to be near the National Training Center in the Maurice Richard Arena. 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, Travis played host to Ryan Bedford
Ryan Bedford
Ryan Bedford is an American speed skater who competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics.-External links:...
(of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
) and Jordan Malone
Jordan Malone
Jordan Malone is an American short track speed skater who is a member of the US Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He is from Denton, Texas, and is an alumnus of the Texas Tech University Independent School District....
(of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
) in Montreal - showing them around town, introducing them to the local short track
Short track speed skating
Short track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m...
skating scene and advising them on dealing with the French language - during times when they sought diverse independence in their training programs and experience.
In 2004 a convergence of interests, circumstances and opportunities resulted in Jayner's move to Midland, Michigan
Midland, Michigan
Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan in the Tri-Cities region of the state. It is the county seat of Midland County. The city's population was 41,863 as of the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area....
- where Ryan Bedford and his family returned hosting favors. Travis subsequently skated and dryland-trained in the summer in Marquette, Michigan
Marquette, Michigan
Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...
, with Shani Davis
Shani Davis
Shani Davis is an Olympic Champion speed skater from the United States.At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis became the first Black athlete to win a gold medal in an individual sport at the Olympic Winter Games . He also won the silver in the 1,500 m...
- who was active in both short track and long track
Long track speed skating
Speed skating is an Olympic sport where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as short track speedskating, inline speedskating, and quad speed skating are also called speed skating...
pursuits at that time. That fall, Travis accepted an invitation to train at the USA National Center
United States Olympic Training Center
The United States Olympic Training Centers are three campuses created by the United States Olympic Committee as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lake Placid, New York; and Chula Vista, California. There is a U.S. Olympic...
in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
- in a program directed by Derek Campbell
Derek Campbell
Derek Campbell is a Canadian professional ice hockey player, currently playing for the Hull Stingrays in the EIHL.- Career :...
.