Jennifer Rodriguez (born June 8, 1976) is a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cubans, Cuban desc ...

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

. She started her career as an artistic roller skater, winning multiple national championships and placing second and third at world championships. Later she switched to

inline speed skating Inline speed skating is the roller sport of racing on inline skates. The sport may also be called ''inline racing'' by participants. Although it primarily evolved from racing on traditional roller skates, the sport is similar enough to ice spee ...

and became world champion in 1993. Her inline speed coach was Bob Manning. In 1996 she made another career move by giving it a try on ice, in order to have a chance to make the Olympic team. This was a success, and she participated in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, winning two bronze medals in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in 2002. She is also known by the nicknames Miami Ice and J-Rod. She was previously married to American speed skater

K. C. Boutiette KC Boutiette (born April 11, 1970) is an American speed skater from Tacoma, Washington, and a four-time Olympian. He was first of the wave of inline speed skaters who made the transition from inline to ice in order to have a shot at going to the ...

, who was the first to switch from

to ice skating and motivated Rodriguez to do the same.

References

Jen Rodriguez's U.S. Olympic Team bio
... with features and photos
ISU profile

*

External links

*
"The Concierge Questionnaire-Jennifer Rodriguez Interview"
1976 births American female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in speed skating Sportspeople from Miami Living people 21st-century American women {{US-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References

External links