Going for the Gold: Shannon Bahrke

The "Going for the Gold" series kicked off our One-Year-Countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We will feature a different 2010 U.S. Olympic or Paralympic hopeful each week with a vodcast on the first and second Friday of every month.

Shannon Bahrke, freestyle moguls skier, is anything but low key. In addition to skiing, the 28-year-old enjoys racing cars, riding motorcycles, windsurfing, waterskiing and biking.

If it's high energy, Bahrke's going to give it a try.

During competitions, Bahrke wears characteristic glitter eye shadow. Her favorite color is pink, and for the past year she has sported pink streaks in her white-blond hair. She's been quoted as saying that she will dye all of her hair pink if she wins gold in Vancouver.

The 2010 Games would mark the skier's third Olympic appearance. Bahrke, who hails from Tahoe City, Calif., won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Two years later, however, she fractured her jaw in a World Cup competition. Then she tore her right ACL during training. Still, she managed to qualify for the 2006 Winter Games in Torino but wound up 10th.

At the 2007 World Ski Championships she placed second in dual moguls and fourth in moguls. She also placed second overall in the 2007 World Cup standings.

Although she wasn't out on the slopes in 2008, Bahrke wasn't just sitting around. She founded a roasting company with her fiancé, Matt Happe, called Silver Bean Coffee. The company sells ski-themed coffee blends, such as Last Chair Decaf Blend and Powder Blend.

Silver Bean Coffee also has blends named after Bahrke's fellow skiers and animals from her supported charity, Best Friends Animal Society. Part of the proceeds from each bag are donated: $1.25 goes to the respective skier and $5 goes to Best Friends, which helps place dogs and cats that are considered "unadoptable'' into caring homes.

Currently, there is one roasting location in Salt Lake City, but Bahrke and Happe are looking to expand the company after they get married and following the 2010 Olympics.

Now she is focused on making the Winter Games one more time. In March, Bahrke captured gold in the dual moguls at the U.S. National Championships, despite having only competed in one event last season because of a knee injury.

The 5-4, 120-pound skier isn't the only Bahrke to be out on the slopes. Shannon's sole sibling--her brother, Scotty--is an aerials skier. Like Shannon, Scotty also has a shot at competing in the Winter Games next year. He placed sixth last year in a World Cup test event at the freestyle venue in Vancouver.

In Vancouver, Bahrke is looking to one-up her 2002 Olympic silver medal and to avenge her 10th-place finish in 2006. Don't be surprised if you see her after the Winter Games with a gold medal around her neck and a full head of hot pink hair.

Tags: Going for the Gold, Skiing, Team USA, U.S. Ski and Snowboard, Vancouver 2010