Nephew of local couple in Olympic games

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 8, 2002

At least one U.

Friday, February 08, 2002

At least one U.S. Olympic athlete has a connection to Freeborn County. Dan Campbell, a member of the U.S. Olympic Team in the biathlon competing in Salt Lake City, is the son of Wayne and Gladys (Wasmoen) Campbell. Gladys Campbell is a former resident of Emmons.

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Other members of Dan Campbell’s family still live here, like his uncle and aunt Lynn and Pam Wasmoen, and numerous cousins in the Wasmoen clan.

Campbell himself has not been down here all that often, but now that he’s gotten into deer hunting, he might be a more frequent visitor. According to his uncle Lynn Wasmoen of Emmons, he shot his first deer here last November, on the first weekend of the hunting season. That was also the last time Wasmoen saw Campbell.

A hunting expedition Campbell went on later that month didn’t turn out as well. According to family members, Campbell went out further west to go hunting with his best friend and some other acquaintances. He had to leave early in order to get to a competition in Canada. On the way back the vehicle with the others overturned and his best friend was killed. Despite the tragedy, less than a month later Campbell still managed to qualify for the Olympic team.

&uot;If you ever met the kid he’s one of the nicest guys, quiet and serious, but sometimes he gives you a little grin,&uot; said Wasmoen.

&uot;He’s really nice, a quiet man. He’s had quite a struggle getting there, so it’s good to see him succeed,&uot; said Tom Wasmoen, a cousin on his mother’s side of the family. Mary Carstens is another one of Gladys Campbell’s cousins still living in the area.

Campbell has done most of the preparation for these Olympic games on his own, without any support from the U.S. Olympic Team.

&uot;Nobody even knew who he was,&uot; said Lynn Wasmoen.

&uot;For awhile he lived in the back of his pickup,&uot; he said.

But now that Campbell has earned a spot on the team he’s been getting much more help and attention from both the team and the media.

&uot;Dan’s quite a competent young man, an excellent athlete, not very big, but very talented,&uot; said his uncle.

&uot;It’s fun to see someone you know in the Olympics. It will make it more interesting this year,&uot; said Tom Wasmoen.

Campbell got started in skiing back in elementary school when his mother, Gladys, enrolled the whole family in a community education cross-country class in Hastings. Things took off for him in high school, when he competed and won awards in cross-country skiing. Later on he attended a summer ski camp run by his current coach, Piotr Bednarski, and learned about biathlon. In biathlon, athletes ski a preset course carrying rifles and stop periodically to shoot at targets. They are judged on both speed and on the accuracy of their shooting.

Family members from here are going to see Campbell compete. Lynn and Pam, and their daughter Molly Wasmoen will be driving out to see him race Feb. 20.

&uot;At first I said ‘No, we can’t’ but then after I thought about it I told myself it’s in the United States. Next time he competes it will be in some other country,&uot; said Wasmoen.

Now they have shirts made up and a banner, though they had to be careful about what they were planning on bringing with them. Security will be very tight and there are lots of rules about how big camera bags can be, and the size of banners, he said.

They can only stay for a couple of days, but are glad to be going and plan on having fun.