When it comes to conversations on sports and society, it’s clear that women remain a marginalized group. Women athletes receive less media attention, lower wages, are offered fewer positions in decision making roles, and are heavily scrutinized in ways that their male counterparts do not have to contend with in large part to the continued power of sexism within our society.
But that hasn’t deterred women from overcoming challenges and succeeding. One of those athletes is Winter Games Olympic hopeful, Mystique Ro. The 26-year-old, Black biracial woman currently trains in Skeleton, a sport not known for athletes like Ro. To be honest, I knew very little about Skeleton until sitting down to speak with her.
She describes Skeleton as the human version of “penguins sliding on their stomachs” down mounds of snow. Athletes hurtle headfirst on a sled down a track at a pace that can exceed 90 miles per hour, experiencing up to 5Gs of gravitational force (more than the force astronauts experience during a rocket launch) (Praderio 20181); all with their chin a few inches above the ice.
Ro, who grew up in Nokesville, Virginia is a unique addition to the world of Skeleton. As the sport grew in popularity in European countries, it remained largely white and male-centered.
And Ro is neither.
One of eleven children (eight boys, and nine girls including Ro and her twin sister), Ro is the daughter of a US Marine father from Korea and a Black mother who encouraged her to participate in sports, driving her to games whenever she could. Ro recounts that while her life wasn’t a mirror image of the movie Cheaper by the Dozen, many of her siblings also participated (and continue to participate) in sports, making them an athletic family—basketball, football, track and field, and now Skeleton.
The first time she left her large family bubble was when she decided to attend Queen’s University in Charlotte, North Carolina. There she participated in track and field during her time as an undergraduate student. It was during this time that she caught the attention of the USA Bobsled & Skeleton Federation. US Bobsled maverick Elana Meyers Taylor personally reached out to her college track and field coach, allowing Ro to receive information about upcoming “tryouts.”
Originally, she considered bobsled.
“I thought skeleton was crazy, ‘who would want to do that?’” said Ro.
She competed in the combine and attended the Rookie Push Championships in Lake Placid, NY in both bobsled and skeleton. In the end, she was directed to Skeleton because she notes she was “too small” for bobsled. Ironically, she came to love the daredevil sport of skeleton and stuck with it.
With dreams of competing in the Olympics, she continued to practice in preparation for the combine, “Honestly, in that moment, I didn’t know anything about sliding sports (bobsled or skeleton), but I didn’t care—this was a chance, so I took it.”
Growing up, Ro didn’t really pay much attention to professional athletes, her father’s traditional cultural values taught her that “idolizing such figures was sinful.” Nevertheless, there were still women she looked up to and admired. In high school, Ro struggled with her naturally thick and curly hair, but an image of Sonya Richard-Ross rocking her big curly hair in the spotlight “confident and just powerful looking, was really inspirational.” For Ro, seeing other woman athletes of color, particularly a Black athlete, played a major role in influencing her own trajectory as an athlete.
“I saw Carmelita Jeter run through a finish with calves and thighs flexed, muscular, and strong. I saw Serena Williams deliver a killer return and her arms were built and muscular. It could be a coincidence that these women are Black, but they had a number of features I was bullied for and made fun of,” said Ro. “I was too muscular, I looked manly, guys didn’t like how I looked, my hair was unruly, etc. But these women, and so many more, made it to the highest levels of competition in a sport they were passionate about with the same features as me. That was the beginning of me embracing my body.”
Accepting who you are
For many Black sportswomen, being regarded as too “anything” is a common theme. The intersection of racism and sexism in sport remains palpable, manifesting sometimes in particularly ugly ways. Nevertheless, Ro made it her mission to serve as a role model for other athletes in her sport, regardless of background and identity. And she unabashedly tells them about the reality they will face.
“This sport takes time (years) to understand, you will come in at the very bottom. No one is beating you down, it’s just where you start. It’s a lot of speed, a lot of g-force, a lot of bruises and bleeding, demands a lot of your time, you might miss a wedding or a birthday or a funeral, you might not get that promotion on work at time.”
She feels they need to know the truth in order to make an educated decision.
Skeleton, like most competitive sports, is rife with issues. For some it’s money (skeleton can be very expensive, with some season costs close to $8000 that athletes must fund themselves). For others, team culture can be an issue. Though Ro acknowledges that she is not always immediately recognized as Black, when she is, the anti-Black sentiments are sometimes made very apparent. From athletes referencing the movie Cool Runnings as a joke in her presence, or having athletes sneer about Black athletes such as Colin Kaepernick kneeling, it’s a constant situation she faces. In fact, Ro was once cornered in her room at the Lake Placid Olympic Training center by a fellow athlete who threatened to make her “career in skeleton very difficult by getting in the coaches’ ear because I missed practice once day (a friend passed away).”
“Winter sports are some of the least diverse sports, in my personal belief. With that lack of diversity, there is a lack of understanding and in turn, ignorance.” Some athletes questioned how long it would be before she quit because of the bad hits she was taking. Others argued that she didn’t belong there and wouldn’t “get it” (sliding).
Despite the snide remarks about her racial/ethnic identity, such as “what is she anyway?” Ro doesn’t bend to the negativity. Instead, she fights, battling against egos, bullying, and both sexual and racial harassment.
“The key is to work smarter not harder, so finding sponsors and donors who believe enough in your story and stats to support you is very important.”
Ro’s story is layered and inspirational for other up and coming athletes of color as well as women athletes. In the Fall of 2021, Ro gave a virtual lecture in my course “Plantation Politics: The Black Sports Experience”. She chronicled her story as a competitive athlete for my students at Virginia Tech. Her words left a mark on me then and continue to do so now. Currently in Lake Placid, Ro has the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in her sights.
“I’m going to try my best to make a sport, but I want us to succeed and do well overall. As much as I would love to be on the team, I want the best of what we have to offer to compete.”
Ro is a true team player and a young pioneer in the sport of skeleton. And best of all, she is well on her way to becoming one of the many “badass women in sport,” that she so admires.
References:
1- Praderio, C. 2018 (Feb 16th). Everything you need to know about the skeleton the Olympic Sport that sends athletes hurtling headfirst down an icy trac at 90 miles an hour. Insider. https://www.insider.com/what-is-the-sport-skeleton-winter-olympics-2018-2
