Sports Heroes Who Served is a series that highlights the accomplishments of athletes who served in the U.S. military.

Three women in the Army National Guard competed in several Winter Olympics.

Kristina Sabasteanski 

Kristina Sabasteanski competed in biathlon at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Games she had the honor of being one of the eight American athletes chosen to carry the World Trade Center flag into the opening ceremony. 

Sabasteanski graduated from Castleton State College in 1991, skiing on the cross-country team all four years, and was awarded the Sharon Brown Memorial Trophy in 1989. After college she joined the army, became a sergeant, participated in the Army World Class Athlete Program and raced biathlon on the World Cup Circuit. Sabasteanski was also a talented archer, with a Level II certification from U.S. Archery.

While in the Vermont Army National Guard, Sabasteanski earned a masters’ degree in occupational therapy from the University of Southern Maine. 

She then became a professor at the University of Southern Maine, and director of the Pineland Farms’ Veterans Adaptive Sports & Training Program. She created the VAST Program in 2012 to assist veterans with physical disabilities.

Andrea Nahrgang

Andrea Nahrgang competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathlon at Salt Lake City.

Nahrgang, who had trained full-time since high school, paid her way by joining the Minnesota Army National Guard and becoming a member of the Army’s WCAP program. 

She said that Army boot camp taught her discipline, which came in handy for not just being a soldier but for persevering through some tough physical training required to make it to the Olympics.

Shauna Rohbock

Shauna Rohbock is a soldier in the Utah Army National Guard. Among her many bobsledding awards is a 2006 Winter Olympics silver medal in the two-woman bobsled event. The 2006 winter games were held in Turin, Italy.

While attending college in 2000, she set several Brigham Young University Cougars women’s soccer records, scoring 95 goals in 368 shots during her 90-game career. Her 95 goals places her sixth on the National Collegiate Athletic Association career scoring list.