Young Olympian’s main goal is to set example for others > UMF’s Seba Johnson making 2nd trip as Virgin Islands representative

As you read about, and watch, the Winter Olympics beginning Feb. 8 in Albertville, France, here’s another athlete with Maine connections for you to follow: Seba Johnson.

An 18-year-old freshman at the University of Maine-Farmington, Johnson calls Kittery home, but she is a native of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is the Virgin Islands she will represent in France – as a skier.

This is Seba Johnson’s second Winter Olympics.

She was the youngest Olympian in Calgary in 1988 where she finished 28th of 64 in the giant slalom. And although she hopes to improve on that finish this year, her main goal is to set an example for aspiring young athletes – especially aspiring young athletes who happen to be black, female, and vegetarian.

“In the United States, there are just a few black skiers,” Johnson said during a telephone interview from her Kittery home where she was packing for the trip to France.

“Once we had a race between all of us, and I was the best, but they are up and coming. I am also a complete vegetarian and want to show vegetarians can be just as strong as other athletes.”

But Johnson’s objectives in France are even more focused.

“I just want to beat all the little countries, like Chile, and I just want to be proud and happy with my run and put everything I can into it,” she said.

Besides making Olympic history in ’88 as the youngest competitor and the first skier to represent the U.S. territory in the Winter Olympics (along with Virgin Islanders entered in the bobsled and luge events), Johnson has the chance to set another record for most Olympic appearances.

That record, of four, is held by the late Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie and two other women. With alternating years for the Winter and Summer Olympics, Johnson could, if she stays in the sport and stays healthy, compete a third time in 1994 when she is 20; at 24 in 1998; and at 28 in 2002.

But that is a long way off and Johnson’s thoughts are more immediate: competing in France and finding sponsors to help defray the expenses of international competition.

Johnson has led a rather nomadic life in pursuit of her sport. She moved to Maine with her mother when she was 7 and started skiing at that time. Although she has her high school diploma from Traip Academy in Kittery, she has studied out West and in Europe as well.

A unique Olympian, Johnson has been featured often on television’s Cable News Network, interviewed by the major television networks, and featured in a New York Times article and national ski magazines.

Tom Reynolds, who runs the Ski Management Program at UMF, considers Johnson a “delightful and exceptional” young lady. “You have to be, to do this,” he said. “Seba has worked hard. She is extremely dedicated to skiing.”

Johnson has trained out of Carrabassett Valley Academy at Sugarloaf/USA as well as the Lake Tahoe area and in Europe. She is a World Cup competitor who planned to be a downhill racer until a crash in 1989 made her decide to stick with giant slalom.

She is proud of her heritage and proud to be a black skier. According to her mother Sue, Seba Johnson is the first black female World Cup racer.

“Seba wears her race very well,” Reynolds said. “She wants to do things for the Virgin Islands and for the black community. She is very sincere, and she is a very good representative for this school.”

Johnson encourages young people in the Virgin Islands to compete in winter sports by visiting there and talking with local school children.

“They’re really interested,” she said of her sport. “It’s fun to talk with them. I put my equipment on and talk about skiing, and they don’t even know what snow is.”

Johnson is looking forward to this Olympics.

“I have more of an idea of what to expect this time,” she said. “I have friends in racing in the Olympics from all over; Russians, Americans, and Europeans. The skiers will be staying together, and they’ll be welcoming me. I’m really excited.”

As for her scholastic and ski future, Johnson has some major decisions to make. She enjoys UMF, but is considering transferring to a western college where she could ski competitively. She also entertains thoughts of attending Howard University, a predominantly black school in Washington, D.C., and majoring in communications. But, she said, she would have to quit skiing if she went there and, right now, skiing is a very important part of her life.

Because she is representing a small territory that cannot help her financially, Johnson spends much of her time trying to raise funds for her competition.

Anyone wishing to help make her Olympic and world competition dreams come true can write her at 13 Cromwell Street in Kittery. Following the ’92 Winter Olympics, Seba Johnson’s next major stop is the 1993 World Alpine Championship in Japan.