Jasmine Jones, the Jeannette native who competed in this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, remembers the moment a childhood dream 15 years in the making came true.
Jones, 29, was on her first Olympic journey last month with the U.S. women’s bobsled team. German athletes were dominating the first three heats of the competition.
But at 3:05 p.m. local time on Feb. 21 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Jones — a Hempfield Area High School alumna one trainer has called “the most naturally strong female athlete I’ve ever worked with” — felt something shift.
“It was surreal,” said Jones, recalling the moment during a surprise party for her Sunday at a South Greensburg restaurant. “I didn’t get the feeling of being an Olympian ‘til that final day of competition. And then it was like, ‘OK. We’re really going to do this.’ ”
Then came the push.
On the two-woman bobsleigh Jones was brakeman, the athlete who sprints and pushes the vehicle before takeoff. She exploded with force, her legs churning as she forced a bobsleigh more than three times her weight down the first 50 meters of the track.
Her time? 5.17 seconds.
“I knew that push was really solid,” Jones said, smiling wide Sunday as she clutched the Olympic bronze medal draped around her neck. “I just felt it in my bones: this is going to be a good heat.”
That heat spelled victory for Jones and her teammate, Kaillie Armbruster Humphries. They won a bronze medal in the two-woman bobsled event, finishing third behind two German teams.
More than 150 friends, family and well-wishers Sunday afternoon trekked to South Greensburg and packed the Morelands at Waterworks restaurant to celebrate Jones’ ascent to the Olympic-medal podium.
The initial shock when a throng of supporters shouted “Surprise!” around 3:45 p.m. left Jones almost unable to complete a sentence.
“Wow, wow,” she mouthed repeatedly, smiling as people hugged her and snapped photos on their smartphones.
Decorated poster boards and the stucco-colored walls in the restaurant overflowed with heroic photos of Jones — several of her competing in a Team USA uniform or others where she dons camouflage in her role as a U.S. Air Force officer.
“Sooooo proud of you, Jazzy! To God be the glory,” someone scribbled below one photo.
“Way To Go, Jasmine,” another sign declared.
The fanfare and bombast contrasted with the carefully spoken woman at the center of it, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Jones’ uniform Sunday consisted of a simple blue sweatshirt, bleached, light-denim jeans and well-worn, white Nikes.
Patriotic fervor greeted the Team USA medalist at every turn.
Three red, white and blue bows and a bouquet of matching flowers filled Jones’ guest-of-honor table. Family members, some sporting heather-gray T-shirts marked “Team Jones” in bold red ink, circled tables covered in blue and white — and accented by fire-engine-red napkins folded into tight triangles. Gift bags in tiny translucent pouches came with red-and-white candy — and a tiny U.S. flag.
After the volume inside the restaurant dropped below a roar, Christine Graves, Jones’ mother, unfurled an enormous U.S. flag bearing a triumphant image of Jones.
“It feels exhilarating,” said Graves, 63, of Hempfield Township, as she spoke with TV crews who turned out to cover the surprise party. “She has always had a village. And this shows her village is strong!”
Graves also took the long view, celebrating her youngest child’s journey from aspiring sixth grade athlete to championship-winning track-and-field star at East Michigan University.
She also laughed about how brief Jones’ actual competition felt in comparison to travelling 4,000-plus miles to join her daughter in Italy — courtesy of a GoFundMe campaign where supporters donated more than $13,500.
“What took 10 seconds actually took years to achieve,” Graves said. “Fifteen years ago, she had a dream. And God helped bring it to fruition.”
Trainer Arron Panigall told reporters he wasn’t surprised at all by Jones’ Olympic success. The Greensburg man, who co-owns the Virtus Barbell facility, started years of strength conditioning with Jones when she was just a high school freshman.
Panigall is the trainer who called Jones “the most naturally strong female athlete I’ve ever worked with.” He recalled when the aspiring athlete, then in college and weighing about 130 lbs, rose from a seated position and “box-squatted” with 500 lbs of weights on her back and shoulders.
“The Olympics has been her dream forever — and it was something you could just see in her from the beginning,” Panigall, 43, said. “I’ve never seen a more determined athlete in my life.”
“She is incredible,” added Nicole Bohince, 39, of Greenburg, who co-owns Virtus Barbell with Panigall. “Jasmine is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met.”
Today, Jones and her daughter call Lake Placid, N.Y., where The Olympic Center sports complex is based, their home. Jones is focused on training for the Olympics Winter Games in 2030 — and also a budding Air Force career.
But Jones said there’s still something new and exciting to her about bobsledding. She did it for the first time in 2018. Just a year later, she was chosen to join the sport’s American national team.
“That first time I went down (on a bobsled), it was with a newer driver,” Jones said Sunday. “I wasn’t expecting the speed. And I wasn’t expecting the adrenaline.”
“But I did think, ‘Yeah, I really like this.’ ”