Faye Thelen On Her Fifth Olympics As Proof That Moms Can Chase Big Dreams Too

Five months out from the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, Faye Thelen made the decision most people would call impossible. She was six weeks postpartum and decided to go for her fifth Olympic berth.

She remembers the nagging thoughts of “there's absolutely no way. It's not possible. No one can do that."

But with two kids in tow, she quieted the inner voice trying to convince her she no longer belonged and mustered the confidence to walk into the USANA Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah for her first full team training camp in years.

Within minutes, the program director walked over with open arms.

He said, "I just want you to know we fully and one hundred percent support you, whatever you choose to do. And we do have a lot of resources that people don't really know about, because we've never really had to pull them out of the woodwork. So if you need any support as you’re thinking about this comeback, just let me know."

His words threw her off guard in the best way.

"It was such a different conversation than I was expecting. Realizing that I had people to support me regardless of whether or not I have children was so refreshing. I had so many doubts about even being in the room that day, but that conversation was my turning point."

Her Why

Her oldest child, Theo, was born in 2023. She had competed in what she thought was her final race while pregnant with him. Then came her daughter, and her mentality shifted.

The Milano Cortina Games were right on the horizon. Her home city of Salt Lake had gotten the 2034 bid. A feeling she still can’t fully explain took over.

"The thought of being able to share the Olympic experience with my young family was something that I really wanted to do. And it's something that I didn't know I wanted until I was pregnant with my daughter…and that was my full motivation for returning to sport. That I felt like I'd be doing myself and my family a disservice not trying."

Six weeks postpartum, she made a decision to go for it. The Games were 5 months away.

"In the past, my tunnel vision towards a specific goal or outcome made it easy to kind of burn out and overpressure myself. I never really got into that headspace this time. I didn't have time to. It was just fun.”

Letting go of the tunnel vision freed Thelen to enjoy the process and rely on decades of training, not worrying about missing a session here or there.

"It's so much more what's above your shoulders that impacts your results than your actual fitness levels. Not to say that fitness doesn't matter, but you can be competitive and be fit enough. I've learned that it's okay to miss sessions and it's okay to miss things. I can still be super successful on a snowboard if I'm confident in my head.”

When it was all over, she finally could articulate what the journey was really all about.

"For the longest time, I thought I needed to teach my kids that they can do anything, that they can chase every dream they have. But after the whole journey ended, I think I realized that it was actually to remind myself that even though I am a mother, I'm still allowed to have dreams. And that I still do hard things. My whole Olympic experience was with them, for them, because of them. And it made me a better mom for them too."

What's Above Your Shoulders

Faye Thelen made her Olympic debut at 17. She was the youngest snowboard cross athlete at the 2010 Vancouver Games. At the 2026 Milano Cortina games, she was the oldest.

“The roles have totally reversed. I try to remind the younger girls that I was you at one point. I know it's really hard to believe and you never think you're going to get here, but you will."

The past five quads have brought about cycles of growth learned the hard way. Navigating expectations after her first Olympics, finding her footing through her second Olympics, and learning what actually wins races by her third Olympics.

"You can't teach any of it, it honestly has to be learned the hard way. You have to go out there, race after race, and figure out how you can be consistently solid. In my early days, if I made a mistake, I let it ruin my race. But the athletes who win can adjust and adapt accordingly all the time. Once I learned that, I started having a lot more success — race to race — because it didn't matter if I made mistakes here or there because I could always make up for it."

The question isn't whether you'll make mistakes. It's what you do in the seconds after. The athletes who've stood on an Olympic podium — or like Thelen, in the start gate across five Olympic cycles — refuse to let mistakes define them.

Proving to herself that she could do hard things meant embracing the imperfections of the journey towards a goal that rewards perfection. What she didn't expect was how clearly that same lesson would show up in motherhood.

“I don't feel like I sacrificed time with my kids to chase my dream. I don't feel like I wasn't showing up for my sport. I feel like I ended up doing both, and it ended up being kind of the healthiest thing for everyone."

Most of us aren't chasing a fifth Olympics. But we're all navigating the tension between conflicting responsibilities. Thelen's answer isn't a perfect system or a rigid routine. It's a mindset that the things pulling you in different directions don't have to cancel each other out. Sometimes they combine to build a story that’s better than you thought possible.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

I'm Amy Wotovich, and I'm on a mission to personally interview 100% of the 2026 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team. How do elite athletes train their mindset, overcome failure, sustain dominance, and compete with confidence? Follow the journey to find out as Faye Thelen is one of 304 athletes sharing their unfiltered answers.