Mixed Race Studies

Kelly Curtis — The First Black US Skeleton to Compete in the Olympics — Comments on Media Attention Surrounding Her Biracial Heritage

The Independent
London, United Kingdom
2022-02-16

Meredith Clark, U.S. Lifestyle Reporter
New York, New York

Kelly Curtis is first Black athlete to represent Team USA in skeleton

Kelly Curtis — the first Black athlete to compete in skeleton at the Olympics — has commented on the media attention surrounding her biracial heritage

Curtis is making history at the 2022 Winter Olympics as the first Black athlete to represent Team USA in the sport of skeleton. The 33-year-old athlete made headlines for her trailblazing career, and now she’s opening up about the media attention surrounding her race.

“Welp, I didn’t expect my first Olympic Games to create such a buzz around my genotype,” Curtis wrote in an Instagram post. “I think it’s okay to claim this space being bi-racial, Black and White at the same time. Not half and half.”

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[Kelly] Curtis is biracial. “My skin tone challenges the notion of being Black in America and what that carries,” she added.

She knows when the world sees her, people may not view her as someone who fits their preconceived notion of a skeleton athlete, an Olympian or a Black woman.

“I’m either not Black enough (an actual thing a teammate has said), or I need to speak on behalf of all Black Americans,” she said.

All of that debate is “exhausting,” Curtis added. So she has decided to just focus on what lies ahead for herself, and for anyone else who wants to see what this “crazy” sport is all about.

Jaclyn Diaz, “Meet the first Black skeleton athlete to compete for the U.S. at the Olympics,” National Public Radio, February 10, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/10/1079798400/kelly-curtis-first-black-skeleton-olympian.

Meet the first Black skeleton athlete to compete for the U.S. at the Olympics

National Public Radio
2022-02-10

Jaclyn Diaz, Reporter

BEIJING — Skeleton is a heart-racing, adrenaline-fueled event where a single racer flies face-first down a frozen track, sometimes going more than 80 mph, belly-down on a sled.

Kelly Curtis is quick to acknowledge this sport is “crazy.” That doesn’t make her love it any less.

The event has been a mainstay at the Winter Games since 2002. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, just three Americans will compete for a medal — and Curtis is one of them.

As soon as Curtis shot herself down a topsy-turvy track in Beijing on Friday, she made history.

Curtis is the first Black athlete, man or woman, to represent the U.S. at the Olympics in skeleton. The 33-year-old is also the only member of the U.S. Air Force at this year’s Winter Games.

Curtis joins a small group of Black athletes competing for the U.S. at the Beijing Olympics…

Read the entire article here.