Sister and brother Cassie and Darcy Sharpe are competing in the winter Olympics in Beijing this month. The Comox Valley duo takes everything they learned on Mount Washington straight to the top of their sports.
They grew up on the mountain. Their dad, Don, worked as director of business operations. So learning to ski and snowboard was basically daycare.
“I’m surprised my dad never got fired for how much he had us around,” Darcy told the Toronto Star.
Their parents didn’t plan to raise Olympians for children. It kind of happened by accident. Don’s job meant the kids could spend a lot of time on the slopes, and they both really love their sports.
Their mom, Chantal, is a flight attendant with WestJet. When the kids got old enough to travel to competitions, that came in handy. “We’re not made of money,” she told the Star.
The siblings are excited to be at the Games together. “We all grew up on Mount Washington, and being in the Olympics with Cassie will be so special,” Darcy told the Times Colonist. “My family has been everything for me, and they’re a huge part of my journey,” Cassie told the Star. “It’s going to be weird (in Beijing) with no family and friends but, to have my little brother there with me, it’ll mean everything.”
This will be Cassie’s second Olympics. She won gold in halfpipe skiing at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. She’s competing this year after a scary knee injury last January. To make things worse, surgeons fractured her femur when they were repairing her knee.
Darcy is competing for the first time in two snowboarding events. He missed a shot at a medal in the slopestyle event, but he has another shot in the big air event.
Darcy also came back from a knee injury to compete in the Games. And he caught COVID a while back. “Should have stayed away from the after-party,” he joked with the Times Colonist.
Cassie told the Daily Hive that she was nervous at her last Olympics. But she says she has her teammates to help her.
“Between me and my teammates, we tried to make everything fun and not too stressful, not to put too much pressure on ourselves,” she said. “We would wear matching outfits every day and run around the village, and just be total dingbats.”
Here’s hoping that energy carries both these siblings to the top of the podium. And even if it doesn’t, it’s just really special to have such first-class siblings representing Comox Valley on the international stage.
