CALLAN CHYTHLOOK-SIFSOF BORN– YUPIK/INUPIAT CHAMPION SNOWBOARDER
Born in rural Aleknagit, Alaska, Callan learned to snowboard on nearby hills. When her family moved to Girwood, Alaska, she began formal training. She started competing in snowboardcross in 2005. By 2006, she earned a place on the United States Snowboard Team based on her results at World Junior Championships. In her first World Cup competition in Japan, in 2007, Callan landed a bronze medal. She ended the season as U.S. National Champion and Junior National Champion. Despite an injury in 2009, Callan trained for the World Cup in 2010 and was the first Native Alaskan named to the U.S. Olympic Team. She competed in snowboardcross in the Vancouver Olympics. In February 2014, during the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia, she came out publicly as gay, saying she did so in support of ongoing Olympic protests of Russian anti-gay laws. “It’s important to come out and take a stand and show the world that it’s not OK to be a bigot.”
Sources: “Chythlook-Sifsof, Callan,” Tread of Pioneers Museum. Retrieved 12/18/2019, http://treadofpioneers.org/article-bio.php?id=13 Wikipedia Photo: Courtesy of U.S. Ski & Snowboard
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