South Lake Tahoe athletes celebrated at Walk of Champions unveiling

"Today is a very special day," South Lake Tahoe Mayor Wendy David said as she opened the unveiling ceremony for the Walk of Champions Friday. "Local athletes are honored for giving South Lake Tahoe recognition on the international and national stage."

Champions Plaza and the statue were unveiled last fall, and now they are joined by the first group of selected athletes to receive an engraved paver in the Walk of Champions. The statue show athletes reaching for the golden ring something the athletes being honored have done with hard work, dedication, passion and a community that supports them.

Standing in front of that statue, David was joined by John Rice, General Manager of Sierra-at-Tahoe, in handing out the personalized crystal awards and speaking about each awardee.

"We take the rocks out of their paths," said Rice as he spoke of Sierra and the rest of the community supporting their dreams. "With a community like this I see a whole lot of pavers."

Those honored athletes present Friday:

• Jamie Anderson - Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe/Meyers. Two-time Olympian with two golds and one silver. Most decorated X Game snowboarder with 15 medals. Was 13 when she qualified for first X Game, 16 when she won her first gold there."A great human being," said Rice.
• Maddie Bowman - Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe/Meyers. Two-time Olympian with a gold medal. Nine-time medalist at X Games with 5 golds. "one of the best freestyles," said Rice.
• Hannah Teter - Moved to South Lake Tahoe one year before she took the world stage by storm. In 2003, Hannah was the youngest member of the U.S. Snowbard team at age 13. Has been in the Olympics three times and is a global ambassador for Special Olympics. "She's using her star power to do good," said John Rice.
• Travis Cabral - Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe. Olympic freestyle skier in 2006. Was National Champ at age 15, World Cup champ by 16 and had four World Cup victories. Is now a sergeant with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, married with four kids.
• Glen Plake - Grew up in Al Tahoe neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe, his dad Jim was the SLT Fire Chief.He skied at Heavenly and named the pioneer of extreme skiing in American by ESPN. In the US National Ski Hall of Fame.
• Juan Torres - Born and raised in South. Lake Tahoe. He is the World Light Welterweight Kickboxing Champion, in the International Kickboxing Hall of Fame. Known as Juan "Ghost Warrior" Torres as opponents often said he was like fighting a ghost, punches never landed. Torres recently moved back to SLT from Las Vegas.

Those honored athletes unable to attend:

• Shaun Palmer - Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe. Taught himself to snowboard and built his first board. Won an Espy in 2001 for Extreme Athlete of the Year, X Game and World Cup alumni with seven gold medals. Owner of Palmer Snowboards. One of forefathers of extreme sports
• Jonna Mendes - Moved to South Lake Tahoe at age 4. Two-time Olympian, bronze medal in the Super G, spent nine seasons on the World Cup.
• Elena Hight - Born in Hawaii and raised in South Lake Tahoe. Trendsetter in the world of snowboarding being the first woman to land a double cork, first of either sex to land a double alley oop backside rodeo while at the X Games. Two-time Olympian.
• Travis Ramos - Raised in South Lake Tahoe., 2001 World Cup winner and 2002 national champion in freestyle moguls. Now an artist living in Reno.
• Kyle Smaine - Born and raised in South Lake Tahoe. "An amazing athlete," said Rice who said Kyle couldn't make it as he was surfing in Costa Rica. Earned his first World Cup title last year and is a "super kid with a bright future."

"We have tremendous local pride, how incredibly lucky are we?" said David.