Pyeongchang, South Korea • Like most mothers, Jean Schaefer didn’t get to talk to her son as much as she would have liked. He was 37 and he traveled for work and they stayed in touch mostly through text messages. So when winter started, she let a small part of herself believe she might see him at their usual meeting spots: Lake Placid, Whistler, the Olympics.
This week, at a bobsled track tucked into the mountains of South Korea, reality has been the coldest thing a mother has had to endure.
“It’s difficult watching the sledders come down and know that Steve isn’t there,” Schaefer said.