Team USA luge star Chris Mazdzer has competed in three Olympic Games.
However, an experience completely away from the Olympic spotlight is what could perhaps help to bring him his first gold medal at Beijing 2022: learning how to dance in front of millions of people.
Mazdzer took part in the 26th season of Dancing with the Stars in U.S. in early 2018 shortly after becoming the first American to win a medal in men’s single luge when he took home the silver at PyeongChang 2018.
‘Little different mindset’
“I mean, talk about terrifying,” Mazdzer told NBC Sports. “Like, cool, 10 million people are about to watch me.”
The season Mazdzer was on included athletes from various disciplines and eras. The Lake Placid native made it all the way to the episode before the finale with his professional dance partner Witney Carson, ousting the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Johnny Damon.
There were five other Olympians that took part: Jamie Anderson, Jennie Finch, Mirai Nagasu, Tonya Harding, and Adam Rippon.
“I was only training for a couple days before those dances, where with luge, I’m like ‘I’ve been doing this for 20 years, I got it,’” Mazdzer said. “Little different mindset.”