Joanne Reid aims to continue family's Olympic legacy

The surname may be different, but Team USA biathlon hope Joanne Reid has a rich family history at the Olympic Winter Games.

Her mother, Beth Heiden, won speed skating bronze at Lake Placid 1980 with Beth's brother, Eric, claiming a historic five golds at the same Games.

Incredibly, Reid was unaware of those achievements until they went to Madison, Wisconsin, where she was born before growing up in Palo Alto, California.

"I didn't know that my mom was any sort of athlete," Reid told TMJ4. "Or famous in any way until I arrived in Madison and there was a house called the Heiden Haus.

"I have two brothers and all three of us were standing there going, 'Mom, why does that house have grandma's name on it?'"

Uncle Eric, who later raced in cycling's Tour de France, swept every event from 500-10,000m to become the first athlete to win five titles at a single Winter Games.

But the Heidens are modest about their accolades with Reid saying, "I see him now and again but, you know, he's really busy, Doctor and real job and stuff."

After just missing out on the top 20 in the individual event at PyeongChang 2018, Reid is hoping for better at Beijing 2022 to help educate Americans about the sport she loves.

Family matters to Beijing 2022 biathlon hopeful Joanne Reid

Now 29, Reid only converted to biathlon in 2015 having been an NCAA champion in cross-country skiing.

Reid's grandfather, Jack Heiden, was a source of great encouragement and passed down the first rifle she used in competition which she called "Forget-Me-Not".

Despite living with Alzheimer's, he was still alive when she realised her Olympic dream in Korea.

She said: "My grandpa, this was really meaningful to me, he hung on so he died one week after Pyeongchang.

"He made it though. I don't know, probably wasn't super-aware obviously by the end. But that was really special for me to do that."

Family plays an integral role for Reid with her mother - a graduate in structural engineering - building parts for her rifle.

At PyeongChang, Reid was 22nd in the individual and 86th in the sprint.

She also helped Team USA to 13th in the 4x6km relay and 15th in the mixed relay.

Her best result came at the 2019 World Championships in Oestersund where she took 10th place in the mass start, although she has struggled to recapture that form of late.

The closest the USA have come to the Olympic podium in recent times was four years ago when the men finished sixth in the 4x7.5km relay.

And while the relay may well be Reid's best chance of winning a medal, reaching the podium is not the be-all and end-all for her in Beijing.

Biathlon is far from well known in the United States, and she desperately wants people to know more about the sport combining cross-country skiing and shooting.

Reid said, "The thing is, it's not occasionally. It's all the time. At least 95 percent of the time you tell people in the U.S. that you're a biathlete, they go, 'So is that running and biking, or is that biking and swimming?'"

With Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall's team sprint gold at PyeongChang boosting interest in cross-country skiing in the United States, Reid hopes to give biathlon a similar shot in the arm.

When is Joanne Reid competing in the biathlon at Beijing 2022?

Joanne Reid could take part in numerous races in Beijing.

The mixed relay is on Saturday 5 February at 17:00 Beijing time (01:00 Pacific Standard Time in California) with the women's 15km individual two days later at 17:00 Beijing time.

The women's 7.5km sprint is on Friday 11 February at 17:00 with the 10km pursuit two days later at the same time.

The women's 4x6km relay is on Wednesday 16 February at 15:45 Beijing time (23:45 PST on Tuesday) with the women's 12.5km mass start rounding out the fortnight on Saturday 19 February at 17:00 local time.