One of them was born and raised in Utah, two of them moved here just for training. One competes in downhill skiing, one in freestyle moguls and the other in short-track speed skating. One started skiing as a way to get out of the house, one began in gymnastics before transferring sports and one moved from jumps and spins to racing. But 22-year-old Megan McJames, 25 year-old Heather McPhie and 21-year-old Katherine Reutter have one thing in common. They all represented the USA in the Vancouver Winter Olympic games.

Growing up on the downhill

Megan, a Park City native, started skiing when she was three years old. With both parents working as ski instructors at Alta it was a natural choice for Megan. "It was either sit in the house all day or go skiing with my parents," she said. Megan started skiing competitively when she was 8 and hasn't looked back since. "When I joined the Park City ski team I knew I would be competing on the World Cup tour with a chance to go to the Olympics," Megan said. "I didn't know how realistic it was but its been a very fun road" In her first Olympic games Megan competed in the Ladies Slalom but didn't finish her event.

Gymnastics transfers to the hill

Heather had a different route to the Olympics. She started as a competitive gymnast but switched sports when she was 12. "It was a great experience but a huge time commitment," Heather said. "Five days a week, three hours a day and I was ready for something new." When she gave up gymnastics her parents didn't know what to do with an energetic 12-year-old, so they signed her up for the Bridger Freestyle Ski Team, where she has used her gymnastics background to excel at the moguls. Also competing in her first Olympic games Heather places 18th in the women's moguls.

From grace to speed

Katherine Reutter earned her fifteen minutes of fame before the Olympics ever began, appearing on the Steven Colbert show a few eeks before the Vancouver games. Katherine's career on ice began with a figure skating class she took with her mom when she was four-years old. It didn't take long to figure out that she didn't like the jumps and tricks but wanted only to go fast. The transition wasn't an easy one though, as she had many coaches tell her she didn't skate like a speed skater, which only motivated her more. "Coaches told me I skated like a figure skater so from day one I wanted to do whatever it took to look like a speed skater," Katherine said. Katherine began competitively speed skating at age nine and moved to Utah in 2007 to further her training. The work paid off, as in her first Olympic games Katherine earned two medals a silver in the 1000 m and a bronze in the team 3000m relay.

Olympic experience

Regardless of the outcome the experience and memories of their first Olympics will last a lifetime. "Walking into the Opening Ceremonies was a surreal experience and I will cherish being an athlete in the 2010 Olympics for the rest of my life," Heather said. Megan echoed the same sentiment. "It was really cool. I went up for the Opening Ceremonies and the patriotism was unbeliebable," Megan said. "There were 215 athletes chanting 'USA' and I was just really happy to be a part of that." Being on the podium was an out of this world experience for Katherine but she said representing her country was the greatest feeling in the world. "I couldn't believe it when I was on the podium. It didn't occur to me until seconds before my name was called that this was, that this was actually happening," Katherine said. "The best part about the Olympics was representing my country, holding my flag above my head like only a chosen few are blessed to do was unreal."

Looking ahead

All three athletes are hoping to compete again in 2014 in the Olympic games to be held in Sochi, Russia. "As long as I am still enjoying what I am doing, and healthy, I plan on competing in Sochi in 2014," said Heather. "I feel I am just getting to a new level in my skiing and am looking forward to continuing to compete and push myself, and the sport of Freestyle Moguls." Katherine had plans for a career in theater but now hopes to go into Journalism when her career as a skater comes to a close. While Heather can't see herself doing anything but skiing, Megan hopes to one day her own coffee and pastry shop to showcase her baking skills. For now though she is content to ski her way around the world. "I feel really lucky that my job right now is traveling the world skiing with my closest girlfriends."