Shauna Rohbock is inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame
Olympic bound bobsled racer, Shauna Rohbock poses for a portrait at Olympic Park in Park City, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010. PATRICK SMITH/Daily Herald
United States Shauna Rohbock, left, look at Valerie Fleming as they celebrate, wrapped in American flag, after clinching the silver medal in the Women's Bobsled at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Cesana Pariol, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2006. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
MARIO RUIZ/Daily Herald
Shauna Rohbock, a former graduate of Mountain View High School and BYU, as well as a silver medalist in the 2006 Winter Olympics, was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. Rohbock was one of six individuals that were inducted in a ceremony at the Grand America Hotel on Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Rohbock was one of the greatest all-around athletes ever to compete in Utah County prep sports and at BYU. And as eye-popping as her accomplishments were in soccer and track and field, her taking up the bobsled in her mid 20’s, and excelling at such a fast rate to be on the USA National team by 2002, truly make her a remarkable athlete.
During her acceptance speech, Rohbock related how her first trip on the bobsled was not exactly all that thrilling as after the ride she had vertigo symptoms. But she kept with it and made the national team as it prepared for the 2002 Olympics as a brakewoman. However, she suffered a leg injury just before the trials and was replaced on the final team and didn’t get a chance to compete in the Salt Lake City games.
That proved to be a critical piece in Rohbock’s development in the sport as she decided to be a driver so “she could control her own destiny” in regards to being in the bobsled.
“It’s a huge honor to be here and being inducted into the Hall of Fame,” said Rohbock.
Rohbock had plenty of great female role models to look up to and even had a chance to play professional soccer with one of them.
“I had the typical pictures of like Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy and all the fab five on my wall — Jackie Joyner Kersee — I think they were a huge influence to me and great athletes, and later getting to play with Julie (Foudy) and finding out what an amazing person she is was pretty cool. It’s great to find out that who you idolized as a kid that they are a great human being as well.” Rohbock added.
During her acceptance speech Rohbock also thanked her high school soccer coach Mike LaHargoue and college soccer coach Jennifer Rockwood and singled out her parents, the Army Reserve, her two children and her wife Valerie Fleming for their unwavering support. Fleming was the brakewoman for Rohbock in 2006 when their bobsled team won the silver medal in Turin, Italy.
As a prep soccer player, she held the career record in goals scored until that record was most recently broke by Whitney Wangsgard of Grantsville High School. Rohbock still holds many BYU soccer records including goals scored career (94 goals in 90 games played) and single-season goals scored with 25. She’s also sixth all-time in goals scored in the NCAA.
In track and field she set Utah prep records in the 100 hurdles, javelin, and high jump and was both a high school and college All-American in the heptathlon.
Rohbock currently still serves in the Utah National Guard as a Master Sergeant, helps coach women bobsledders for the United States as well as the men for the Brazillian team, and was appointed to serve on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. Rohbock currently resides in Park City.
Other inductees to the 2019 Utah Sports Hall of Fame class included U.S. Olympian Jim Shae (gold medalist in Skeleton in 2002), Utah State University benefactor Jim Laub, former University of Utah Athletic Director Dr. Chris Hill, and swimmers David and Richard Barnes.
The Barnes brothers were the first two Utahns to swim the English Channel. Richard Barnes, who was a captain on the BYU swim team in the 1990’s, completed the swim in 2005 while his brother did the same in 2006. Richard is an attorney while David is an emergency room physician. Both reside in Salt Lake Valley.