"This is her moment, and we need to be there for her," said her father, Rick Despain, who lives in Chandler, Ariz. "My wife and I always tried to raise her to believe she could accomplish anything and she is. I'm a proud dad — you can tell."

After competing in Italy, Despain, who has earned an associate degree in psychology from UVSC, will continue studying at Brigham Young University.

She plans to spend more time in the classroom and less time at the luge track next year — as hard as that might be.

For now, the focus is the Torino Games. A gold medal would be nice, but that's not why she's going. She's thrilled for the chance to represent her country.

"I'm just there for the experience," Despain said. "A lot of the athletes have been doing it all their lives. I'm good enough to compete with the best, but I'm not good enough to beat them."

---

E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com