[Vision2020] Vandal Olympian

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the University of Idaho Alumni Office at:

http://www.uidaho.edu/alumni/stay-connected/vandal-olympian
 
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Vandal Olympian
She’s Danish, she’s British, she’s a Vandal; but when alumna Jessica Draskau-Petersson lines up for the Olympic marathon in London on Aug. 5, it’s her dad who will be the guiding hand in her race.

Draskau-Petersson will be running under the Danish flag to give her father -- a ’50s Danish rowing standout --one last hurrah before Alzheimer’s disease takes him away from her and fulfills a dream solidified on the trails of the Palouse.

A dual citizen of Denmark and the Isle of Mann, a self-governing British Crown Dependency Draskau-Petersson was at a crossroads in 2000. She had finished law school in the United Kingdom, but couldn’t see herself as a London corporate lawyer. She wanted to find a bigger meaning for her life.

During her search, she won the Ella Olesen scholarship, which annually provides for a student from the Isle of Man to attend the University of Idaho and earn a master’s degree in international politics and law. Olesen, a long-time U-Idaho registrar, provided a scholarship fund for students from her native island to experience Idaho. 

“I loved my time at University of Idaho and met amazing people from all over the world,” said Draskau-Petersson. “I loved the spirit of the place. There was always something going on, and someone up for fun.”

It was during her time on the Palouse that took her interest in running marathons to a new level. After watching the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001 unfold with her American classmates, Draskau-Petersson said she “was proud of how the University of Idaho community rallied” together, to honor victims during a triathlon.

“If we stick together and work together even in difficult times we can make something positive happen...even on a little scale,” said Draskau-Petersson.

Her friends loaned the athlete a bike and compelled her to enter a sprint triathlon in nearby Walla Walla, Wash. In her own words, she “became addicted.” Soon after, she entered Ironman Utah and Ironman Coeur d’Alene. Draskau-Petersson finished fifth overall among pros and amateurs combined in the 2003 Ironman Coeur d’Alene.

Since graduation, Draskau-Petersson competed as a professional triathlete in 13 Ironmans, but she endured multiple injuries from automobiles hitting her bicycle. In 2008, she resigned herself to knee surgery and then shifted gears into a career in human resources. Ironically, she spent two years working at London’s Olympic Park, one of the main sites of this summer’s Olympics, while it was still under construction.

With a daily reminder of the upcoming Olympics, Draskau-Petersson saw the seed of an idea begin to form. Draskau-Petersson’s father, a native of Denmark, had developed Alzheimer’s disease. She wanted to give him something to look forward to and represent a country she lived in for the first 13 years of her life.

After contacting the Danish Olympic Committee and informing them she would like to compete on behalf of her father’s nation in this year’s Summer Olympics and running this April’s London Marathon in 2:34:56, Draskau-Petersson is ready to hit the ground running at the Olympics.

True to form, Draskau-Petersson has made the transition from working stiff to world-class athlete in record time. A few weeks ago, she did the 9-to-5. Now, she trains from dawn to dusk.   Tears in her calf muscles haven’t stopped her. On Aug. 5, this Vandal will carry the unconquerable spirit of Idaho with her in the women’s marathon. She runs not for fame, fortune or glory -- but for the love of her father.

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Jessica Draskau-Petersson



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Came a tribe from the north brave and bold . . .

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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