Jeff Batchelor's Olympic dream comes true - Commerce student competes in Vancouver

Members of the Queen’s community cheered on one of their own on February 17 as Commerce student and snowboarder Jeff Batchelor competed in the men’s halfpipe event at the Vancouver Olympics.

Students flocked to the Athletics and Recreation Centre’s Olympic Lounge and the Queen’s Pub to watch Jeff compete. His Olympic quest was covered in the Summer 2008 issue of QSB Magazine (see the magazine’s archive at business.queensu.ca). While he failed to advance past the qualifying round, family, friends and classmates were quick to send messages of support and encouragement to Jeff via his Facebook fan page.

Jeff, who took a year-long leave of absence from Queen’s to participate in the Games, turned in two top-five finishes in Olympic qualifiers, which earned him priority selection for the Canadian Olympic Snowboard Team.

Jeff’s journey on the Olympic qualifying circuit was also seen on the popular MTV/CTV reality show “Over the Bolts,” where he was a fan favourite. He is also profiled in the current issue of Vanity Fair’s online edition in its “Faces of the Games” feature.