Caitlin Patterson and Emery Lehman, both civil engineering graduate students in the Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals program, are competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Winter Games kicked off in Beijing on Friday after months of international controversy over human rights abuses and complications due to COVID-19.
Patterson and Lehman have both competed in the Olympics before.
Patterson, a nine-time U.S. Cross Country Champion skier from Vermont, participated in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
And Lehman, a long track speed skater from Illinois, competed in the 2014 Games in Sochi – where he was the youngest male skater – and the 2018 Games in PyeongChang.
Both studied civil engineering in their undergraduate days – Patterson at the University of Vermont and Lehman at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
The pandemic will make this year a different experience, both athletes told the Hub.
“It’s certainly going to be a unique Olympics, but I’m excited to feel a little bit more in my element, having been to one Olympics before,” Patterson told the Hub.
“Also, my brother will be there with me, same as in 2018,” she said, “I’m happy that we’re both returning to the Olympics and can soak in this unique experience again.”
Patterson’s brother, also a two-time Olympian in cross-country skiing, works part-time as a mechanical engineer in Alaska.
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As athletes and students, Patterson and Lehman have a lot of work to balance.
“It takes a lot of discipline,” Lehman told the Hub.
“Especially over the summers, when we have much longer training sessions. My plan of attack for the program is to chip away at it. I do as much as I can to carve out some time and get things done. I’m also up front with my coach. If I need to take an extra day to do schoolwork then, so be it,” he said.
