As part of the Winter Olympics, Team USA will race headfirst down the ice on sleds Friday in the skeleton event. The race will feature a former Queens University of Charlotte student.
31-year-old Mystique Ro will compete in the women’s heat in Italy. Ro was part of Queens University of Charlotte's track and field team. During her time at Queens, she participated in a range of sports, including hurdles, sprints, javelin and heptathlon.
The former student-athlete also took theater classes during her time on the campus located in Myers Park. Former classmate Hiwot Hailu said she's excited to see Ro compete.
“I think it's incredible to see her get to achieve this, to know that it's not something that a lot of minorities, black people in this country, get to do,” Hailu said. "It's a sport that's not typically played by black and brown people."
After she graduated in 2016, Ro was invited to a U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton camp where coaches told her she was “a little small” for bobsled but encouraged her to try skeleton racing. Ro says she was initially terrified.
"They convinced me to give it another try, just you know, relax in it, be more accepting, and over time, we got really comfortable with it,” Ro said in a video from Queens University of Charlotte. "I just swapped spikes, pushing fast, running fast.”
Cherie Swarthout is the athletic director at Queens. Swarthout says the appearance of Ro, who is Black, on the world stage will impact future students.
“Anytime you can see someone that looks like yourself or comes from a similar background doing things that are exceptional — she's doing something that is clearly exceptional, you know — those types of role models create momentum for other folks,” Swarthout said.
In 2024, Ro became the first American athlete to win a skeleton race on the World Cup circuit in eight years.
