John Fennell

For the British historian, see John Lister Illingworth Fennell. For the British artist, naturalist and angler, see John Greville Fennell.
John Fennell
Personal information
BornMay 28, 1995 (1995-05-28) (age 29)
Evergreen, Colorado, U.S.
Sport
Country United States
SportLuge

John Fennell (born May 28, 1995) is an American-Canadian luger who has competed since 2011.[1]

He competed for Canada in the first-ever Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, where he finished 7th, and at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia,[2] finishing 27th.

He is the son of former Canadian Football League player Dave Fennell and mother Lynne Fennell.[3][4] His brother David Fennell Jr. played fullback on the Michigan State football team.[5]

In May 2014, several months after competing at Sochi, Fennell came out as gay.[3]

Fennell competed well at the Sochi Olympics, but since he did not finish in the top 10. As a result, in order to fulfil his funding needs, Fennell launched a fundraising campaign on the sports crowdfunding platform MAKEACHAMP on December 12, 2014.

In 2016, Fennell took advantage of his dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship and competed for a spot on the U.S. National team. However, during the 2018 U.S. Olympic trials, he crashed his sled and did not make the Olympic team.[6]

  1. ^ John Fennell at Canada Luge
  2. ^ Calgary's John Fennell makes first Olympic luge team Archived 2013-12-24 at the Wayback Machine. Calgary Sun, December 17, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Luger John Fennell tells the world he's gay" Archived 2014-05-29 at the Wayback Machine. Regina Leader-Post, May 28, 2014.
  4. ^ "Olympian wants to help tackle homophobia in sport ahead of pride parade | CBC News".
  5. ^ "David Fennell Bio - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on 2014-05-30. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  6. ^ "Olympian John Fennell's 2018 hopes just ended in the worst way, and he could use a hug". 14 December 2017.