Woman chases Olympic dream in ‘As Good As Gold’

Have you ever dreamed of competing in the Olympics? Sometimes as I sit and watch the young athletes of the world going through their paces during the Winter or Summer Olympics, I think, "I could do that.” (OK, I’m 48 and sedentary, but I can dream!)

I suppose nearly everyone, at some time or another, wonders if they might have the mettle to compete in some event or another. I personally always wanted to be a figure skater or a crack marksman (or is it markswoman — anyway, I wanted to shoot well).

Kathryn Bertine’s dreams of competing in sports internationally had been all but packed away when ESPN approached her with an idea: They would pay her to try to qualify for a spot in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and to write about her experiences. And in her new book, “As Good As Gold: 1 Woman, 9 Sports, 10 Countries and a 2-Year Quest to Make the Summer Olympics,” Bertine describes her off-beat and sometimes hilarious effort to find a sport, any sport, in which she might be good enough to compete.

Already an accomplished former figure skater (she traveled with several different skating shows) and an experienced cyclist, Bertine set out to find the sport at which she was good enough to qualify for the United States Olympic team. She tried team handball, rowing, open water swimming, the modern pentathlon (which includes shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and cross country running), track cycling, racewalking, and the luge (yep, that really dangerous, really fast sled flying down the course sport).

She finally found her niche in road cycling and she felt like she was good to go. Only one problem — she couldn’t qualify to race for the United States because her times were slightly too slow.

So Bertine set out, with the encouragement of ESPN, to find a country, any country, for which she could compete. The tiny Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis turned out to be the country of choice, as they allowed her to obtain dual citizenship in order to represent their country. And most importantly, she documented her journey all along the way in a series of articles for ESPN magazine. Now she has turned those recollections into a funny, sometimes sad memoir of her quest.

“As Good As Gold” is an interesting look at the journey many make to fulfill their dreams of competing in the Olympics. Although at times Bertine turns her journal into something of a whine fest of how hard the journey was and how much she hurt, she also takes time to recognize the true athletes she encounters along the way and the immense sacrifices they endure to fulfill their dreams.

Bertine fell short in making her goal of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but according to her website, www.kathrynbertine.com, she has her eye set on the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. It will be interesting to see if she makes it.