Devin Logan taking a different approach in second Olympic games
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Devin Logan was video chatting with family last month when her 5-year-old niece delivered one of those wise-beyond-their-years lines that kids occasionally say.
Signe, the daughter of Devin’s oldest sister, Nicki, who lives in Jamaica Plain, had just finished bath time and was running around in her Wonder Woman robe with a foam sword in tow. Nicki asked Signe what she wanted to tell Devin before the freestyle skier left for these PyeongChang Winter Games, where she will compete in both slopestyle and halfpipe.
“She’s just like, ‘Aunt Devin, you don’t need this cool costume or this cool sword. You can win the Olympics without a costume. You can just be yourself and do it. I know you can do it,’ ’’ recalled Logan in a recent telephone interview.
Just be yourself. The three-word phrase is one Logan, from West Dover, Vt., has spent the last couple of years trying to apply to her life and her skiing. At the Sochi Games, where the then 20-year-old took home slopestyle silver, she was put through the media and pressure gauntlet that churns every four years for Olympic athletes. She struggled with letting her true self come through. She was prepped for what it would all be like, but “you don’t actually know until you experience it and go through it yourself,’’ she said.
Now 24, she has a different perspective, a different mental approach. Part of the progression comes with age and experience and appreciation for a growing immediate family. She has embraced her role as aunt to her four nieces and nephews, all of whom are younger than 5 years old. Logan will tell you it is because they see her as more than just a skier. She will tell you that they have helped keep her grounded, that they are a source of motivation for her, knowing they are looking up to her. But Nancy Logan, Devin’s mother, has a different theory for why the self-described fun-loving and goofy Devin has taken to the role with aplomb.
“You know why? Because she can act their age and play with them. She can be 6 years old again,’’ Nancy said with a laugh in a recent telephone interview before later adding, “She has a special attachment with [my] grandchildren, that’s for sure.’’
As the youngest of five kids, Logan’s family serves as both as a support system and humbling mechanism. Growing up in the Logan household, run by Nancy, a single mom, came with a phrase to bring each other down a few pegs when necessary: Don’t let your head get too big for the door. “[Her siblings] are behind her in anything she needs, but they’re also there to ground her,’’ Nancy said.
“She could call up any one of her brothers or sisters at any time of the day or night and either have them talk to her or something like that. That’s what family . . . it’s all about that.’’
Devin credited her mother as a big reason she is in position to compete at two events in the Olympics, calling Nancy “the toughest woman I know,’’ and expressed gratitude that Nancy will be getting on just her fourth flight in the last 19 years to watch her compete here.
“At the end of the day, if I can make my mom happy, that’s the dream come true,’’ said Devin, who will compete in the slopestyle final on her 25th birthday. “Just want to be the good person that she raised me and my brothers and sisters to be.’’
The other part of Logan’s progression comes from marrying her natural talent with a stronger work ethic and a better knowledge of how she best trains. When the halfpipe team went to New Zealand last summer for a training camp, Logan decided to remain behind in Park City, Utah. She wanted to focus on her fitness and her stamina and utilize the Olympic training facilities to work on her right side spins, her unnatural way of spinning, specifically the right side 720.
“I’m very uncomfortable with it,’’ she said.
And she wanted to give her body the proper chance to recover and to get adequate rest, because competing in two events is physically and mentally exhausting.
“I’m finding that sleep is my best friend as my recovery,’’ she said.
The decision paid off when she was able to take the training to the snow.
“The first one I did, I put it right to my feet and that’s the boost of confidence you need in skiing because there are those doubts,’’ she said.
Logan’s evolution on the snow is apparent to both her coach and her mom.
“She’s definitely matured into a true professional,’’ said Mike Jankowski, head coach for US snowboarding.
“To be in the position that she is to be able to do some of the things she does has helped her grow up, has helped her mature, but there’s still my little baby down in there,’’ Nancy said.
Logan’s teammates Maddie Bowman and Brita Sigourney both said Logan’s presence and energy on the slope can have a rolling effect on the rest of them.
“She’s always there to pump you up if you’re having a bad day,’’ Sigourney said. “She’s honestly such a good teammate and friend on the hill and off the hill. It’s really a pleasure to get to go to the Olympics with her.’’
That is likely a testament to Logan’s work the last year and a half with a sports psychologist. They have worked on how she can reassure herself before competitions, to remind herself that she is there to have fun, that she has put in the work to be there, that she has the ability to ski well and remain herself at the same time. But the reminders only work if they are in her own words. She will not believe it otherwise.
“And in my own words, ‘You [expletive] got this,’’’ she said.
