She learned to snowboard on the Scottish Highlands and she'll soon be heading to the mountains of Utah for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Lesley McKenna started skiing on the slopes of Aviemore, Scotland when she was 12 years old. She won the British Ski Championships in 1994 - but a year later, Lesley decided she'd like to try snowboarding. She picked up the sport really quickly and by 1997 she was the top female snowboarder in Britain. Since then she's won three more national boarding titles.
Not very many of the world's top snowboarders come out of Britain. There's not a lot of snow there, and the most popular sports are soccer and eating fish and chips. Lesley is obviously an exception. She's not only the top boarder in Britain, she's ranked third in the world in the half pipe and will be one of the favorites for a medal in Salt Lake City.
Lesley and her friend, Melanie Leando (who is also on the British snowboarding team), are now trying to set up ski and snowboard camps in Scotland for kids. Lesley figures that if better programs and facilities are set up in Britain, more British kids will start skiing and boarding. That could mean a British snowboarder winning an Olympic medal in the future won't be as rare as an American winning a World Fish and Chip Eating Championship.
Great Scot, Lesley!
