The most senior military member on the U.S. Olympic team likely has stories for days. Aside from being a veteran bobsledder, he’s an Army captain in military intelligence.
Chris Fogt, 34, of Orange Park, Florida, is about to head to his third and likely final Olympics. He earned the bronze medal in Sochi in the four-man competition.
Like New York Army National Guard Sgt. Nick Cunningham, Fogt was also a track star before turning to the ice. He was a sprinter at Utah Valley University before he was recruited to bobsledding in 2007.
At that point, he’d been in the Army for two years — a choice he made, in part, because of his dad’s 33 years of service as a reservist.
After competing in the 2010 Vancouver Games, Fogt deployed to Iraq for a year to help train Iraqi intelligence agencies on how to track terrorists via technology. He said with the help of the World Class Athlete Program, he was able to train full-time while there so he could stay in contention for future bobsled competitions.
“There is no way I would be as successful in this sport without the military’s support,” Fogt said in a 2013 Army interview. “I feel like the Army’s training and experience has made me mentally strong and drives me to excel. Being around Soldiers, both in and out of the World Class Athlete Program, always inspires me to strive for excellence.”
Fogt took about three years off after competing in the Sochi Olympics. But last year, while three-quarters of his battalion was deployed to Kuwait, he stayed behind in the U.S. because he was the rear detachment manager. So, he decided to get back into bobsledding.
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That decision has paid off, since he’s heading to one more Olympics. Fogt said after Pyeongchang, he plans to go back to the Army full-time.
Fogt has a degree in business management and is married with two kids.
Good luck to him and all our military Olympians!
