Lea Ann Parsley (born June 12, 1968) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

skeleton racer Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled (or -sleigh), down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. The sport and the sled may have been named from the bony appearance of ...

from

Granville, Ohio Granville is a Village (United States)#Ohio, village in Licking County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,646 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. The village is located in a rural area of rolling hills in central Ohio. It is e ...

. She was the first female skeleton athlete to win a world cup medal for the United States and earned a silver medal in the women's skeleton event, a first in Olympic history, during the 2002

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 ...

Olympic Winter Games. She was also one of eight athletes chosen to carry the World Trade Center flag into the

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Biography

Personal life

Parsley was born in

Logan, West Virginia Logan is a city in Logan County, West Virginia, United States, along the Guyandotte River. The population was 1,438 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Logan County. History What is now Logan was initially called "Islands of the Guyandot" ...

and is a descendant of the McCoy family of the famous Hatfield-McCoy feud. She grew up in

where she served as a volunteer firefighter for 20 years and was inducted into the

Granville High School Granville High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Granville, Ohio. It is accredited by the State of Ohio Department of Education. GHS is a member of the Licking County League. Ohio High School Athletic Associat ...

Athletic Hall of Fame.

Athletic career

Collegiate

Parsley was a two sport scholarship athlete at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

competing in basketball and track and field. As a basketball player she was named second team All-Southern Conference, led the nation in free throw percentage her senior year and is one of only 14 female players in school history to score over 1,000 points. In addition she was All-Southern Conference in high jump and javelin and held the school record in the javelin. For her efforts on and off the field, she was twice named the Marshall University Female Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the Marshall University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

Olympic

In 1998 she earned a position on the U.S. National Skeleton Team and competed for six years on the international world cup circuit. Her 1999 second-place finish in Norway was the first-ever women’s world cup medal for the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and she went on to earn a total of seven world cup medals along with numerous top 6 finishes. She placed fourth at the 2000

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

, was the 2004 US National Champion and the silver medalist at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. Her career ended as she attempted to qualify for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. She and several other teammates were struck by a runaway bobsled during a training session in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Canada on October 19, 2005. The bobsled, which failed to brake after crossing the finish line, ejected out the end of the

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

and struck Parsley and teammate

Noelle Pikus-Pace Noelle Pikus-Pace (born December 8, 1982) is an American retired skeleton racer who began her career in 2001. She won five medals at the FIBT World Championships, competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and won the silver medal in the ...

. Pikus-Pace, who was the reigning overall world cup leader at the time, suffered a compound fracture of her right leg that took her out of the running for a 2006 Olympic bid as well. Parsley suffered soft-tissue injuries to her right leg that severely hampered her ability to compete in the US team trials less than 72 hours after the accident. She stayed with the team however as an assistant coach and was part of the 2006 US Olympic Skeleton Team coaching staff.

Firefighting career

Parsley began working as a volunteer firefighter in 1985 and earned top graduate honors from the Ohio Fire Academy as a professional firefighter cadet in 1995. She was named the State of Ohio Firefighter of the Year in 1999 for her part in the rescue of a mother and daughter during a residential house fire. During her career as a structural firefighter, she served the Licking County Ohio area as a member of the Specialized Rescue Team, Hazardous Materials Response Team and the Licking County Honor Guard. She is currently a member of the Ohio Interagency Wild Fire Crew.

Academic career

While attending

Parsley earned a bachelor of science degree in adult health education (1990) and later earned a second bachelor's degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

(1992) in nursing. In 1994 she received a master's degree in nursing from The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and went on to complete her doctoral degree in community nursing in 2003.

Footnotes

References

Biographical profile

Skeletonsport.com profile

Sports Profile

FIBT profile

External links

*
Rival Films Video Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsley, Lea Ann 1968 births Living people People from Logan, West Virginia American female skeleton racers Marshall Thundering Herd women's track and field athletes Marshall Thundering Herd women's basketball players Ohio State University alumni People from Granville, Ohio Skeleton racers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in skeleton University of Virginia School of Nursing alumni Olympic skeleton racers of the United States Basketball players from West Virginia Track and field athletes from West Virginia Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics