Believe It or Not She's Back: Army SGT Emily Sweeny Competes in the 2022 Beijing Olympics

Belief is a powerful motivator. Believing in an afterlife motivates many people to live a kind and just life. Belief in an ideal can change the way an entire society treats its members. And belief in the power of a torch light can facilitate healing of the body and mind in what some might call miraculous ways.

SGT Emily Sweeny is representing Team USA and WCAP in the 2022 Olympics in the Single Luge. She joined the Army National Guard in 2011 and serves as a member of the military police. The 28-year-old from Suffield, CT began her athletic career at the age of ten becoming an Olympic alternate at just 17 years-old. She was the Luge Junior World Champion in 2013 and holds seven World Cup medals (1 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze).

This is not Emily’s first Olympic appearance. While competing in 2018, Sweeny suffered a major crash. The accident left her with a broken neck, back and spirit. Never before had she feared the sport she loved so dearly. So how does one come back from such debilitating injuries? It’s not as easy as getting the all-clear from a team of doctors allowing Sweeny to resume training just six months after her accident. “I was really struggling with getting back into training,” Emily told Jonah Fontela for his article published on the US Olympic site in November of last year. “I felt so powerless and empty. But I’d look up at the torch and I’d think of the Miracle on Ice and all the hardships they had along the way and I’d get myself going.”

Sweeny was referring to the 1980 Olympic Games held in Lake Placid, NY (where she currently trains). It was the year of the Miracle on Ice. Emily’s aunt and uncle were in attendance at the historical men’s ice hockey game in which the US beat the Soviet Union in a major upset. The USSR went into those games with five consecutive prior gold medals while the US was competing with the youngest team in the tournament and mostly amateur players. The win was dubbed the top sports moment of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated nearly 20 years later.

Belief in the torch led Sweeny back to competition a mere nine months after her accident, earning herself a bronze medal at the World Cup in Whistler, Canada. Since then, she’s earned another two silver World Cup medals and will take to the track in Beijing on February 5th.

While her military career had its roots in stories of Sweeny’s grandfather Jack, who had been in the Navy, her Olympic inspiration comes from others who have competed including her older sister Megan. Six years Emily’s elder, Megan, a fellow luger, competed professionally from 2007-2010 including in the 2010 winter Olympics.

SGT Sweeny’s dedication to her country is an inspiration to us all. Believe in yourself. Believe in the ability to overcome the odds. Believe in a win for Emily and the USA.