Kimi Goetz

Other sports	She has represented the United States of America in short track, making her World Cup debut in 2014. She has also competed in roller speed skating at junior international level. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018; SportsDeskOnline, 16 Nov 2018; worldskate.org, 2010)
Famous relatives	Her partner Mitchell Whitmore represented the United States of America in speed skating at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Her sister Samantha represented the United States of America in roller speed skating at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. (teamusa.org, 16 Feb 2020; SportsDeskOnline, 22 Jan 2021; nj.com, 15 Sep 2010)

Reason for choosing this sport

Her father took her to a local roller rink when she was a child before she switched to the ice. "My dad would take me and my sister there [the roller rink] three days a week, and we have a little brother who's 10 years younger than me, so once he was old enough to skate, he started coming as well. So it was just like a family thing. I really had no intentions of switching to ice. A lot of the people that I skated with, they had already moved to Utah or moved to Milwaukee [WI, United States of America] and started ice, and I really just wasn't interested. But my sister had already been living in Utah because her now-husband was a skater, and I went to visit her, and I went to watch him practise, and I thought, 'I want to do this'."

Most influential person in career

Her partner Mitchell Whitmore. (Athlete, 09 Feb 2023)

Name of coach	Mitchell Whitmore, USA
When and where did you begin this sport?	She began inline skating at age five. She took up short track in 2013 in Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America, and switched to speed skating in August 2018.

Sporting philosophy / motto

"An expert at anything was once a beginner." (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018)

www.facebook.com/kimi.goetz

Injuries	While competing in short track she suffered a concussion at the US Olympic Trials for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, which ruled her out of the trials and ended her hopes of competing at the Games. She was off the ice for four months after the injury. (teamusa.org, 08 Jan 2019) She injured her back in 2016. The problem was eventually resolved in April 2018 after she underwent a medical procedure. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018) In 2011 a torn Achilles tendon kept her out of action for five months. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018)
Memorable sporting achievement	Qualifying for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. (tapinto.net, 10 Jan 2022)
Hero / Idol	US speed skater [and her husband] Mitchell Whitmore. (Athlete, 16 Nov 2018)
Hobbies	Cooking, baking, hiking with her dog. (Athlete, 09 Feb 2023)
Other information	HUSBAND AS COACH She is coached by her husband Mitchell Whitmore. "No one knows me better [than Mitch]. He knows what's going on outside of skating to know if he needs to push me a little more or pull back a little more based on how I'm eating and sleeping and recovering and feeling outside of the rink." (teamusa.com, 01 Mar 2023) INJURY ENDS OLYMPIC DREAMS She describes the concussion she sustained at the US Olympic Trials for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang as the worst injury of her career. "My biggest obstacle has been injuries. I've had my fair share, but the worst to overcome was a concussion during the first day of the 2018 [US] Olympic Trials. I fell in the warm-up because of an equipment problem and I wasn't able to compete in the trials. At the time it was the worst thing that could have happened, since I had a realistic shot at making the [2018 short track] Olympic team. I tried to carry on but I wasn't even close to being myself. I was in the locker room throwing up, over and over again, in between my races. It wasn't guaranteed that I would have qualified without that incident happening, but I think I had a great chance to be there in Korea. It took me four months of physical therapy before I was able to get back on the ice again." (teamusa.org, 08 Jan 2019; usatoday.com, 18 Feb 2018) SHORT TRACK TO SPEED SKATING After recovering from the concussion that ended her hopes of competing at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, she earned a spot on the US short track team in 2018/19. But her 2016 back injury flared up and she found that her passion for short track had waned, so she decided to switch to speed skating. "I think the underlying main reason [for leaving short track] is I'm not very good at racing. I'm not quite aggressive enough for the passing and the bumping, and maybe I didn't want to admit that at the time when I was skating short track. Looking back, I never would have gotten past a certain level because of my fear of that. It's intimidating because you think you know how to skate - and you don't. I think I'm at a World Cup level and then I go to being the slowest person on the team. I feel like I 'started over' when I switched from inline skating to short track, and again from short track to long track. It's easy to feel uninspired when you are learning something new and to feel 'behind', so that quote ['An expert at anything was once a beginner'] always made me realise that everyone at one point started from nothing." (olympics.nbcsports.com, 24 Feb 2019; teamusa.org, 08 Jan 2019, 16 Feb 2020; gr8nola.com, 01 Jan 2019) COOK BOOK In 2019 she produced the 'Mindful Meals Cookbook', featuring her own recipes. "When I moved from my parents' home in New Jersey to Salt Lake City to pursue speed skating I had zero kitchen skills. Shortly into beginning my skating career and chasing my Olympic dream, I realised I needed to learn ways to nourish my body to be prepared for training. Soon after, it hit me that my budget would be an issue to sustain this type of eating. I made this book for people like me, who are average at cooking, who have standard food budgets and who don't want to go to a speciality store to find ingredients. These meals are designed to require as little time and money possible and for the most part, are six ingredients or less and six steps or less." (Facebook profile, 02 Jan 2020, 30 Nov 2019; mindfulmealscookbo.wixsite.com, 2020) OCCUPATION She combines her speed skating career with working part-time at a finance company. (olympics.nbcsports.com, 04 Sep 2021)

Training Regime

She trains twice a day, six days a week.

twitter.com/GoetzKimi

Nicknames

"There were three Kimberlys on my inline team so one went by Kimberly, one went by Kim, and I got Kimi. It stuck as my skating name ever since. At school and work I go by Kim. My family call me Kimberly." (Athlete, 09 Feb 2023)