Jordan Greenway hasn’t gotten his college degree yet, but he’s making history. The 20-year-old is the first African-American in the USA’s ice hockey team at the Olympic Games:”I dreamed of it as a child, but I didn’t think it would happen before I graduated from university,”said the striker, who will be competing in the Pyeongchang tournament against Slovenia on Wednesday (21.10am OZ/13.10 CET).
The fact that the psychology student absolutely wanted to graduate now benefits him. Greenway had already been bred last year at the NHL draft of Minnesota Wild. But he decided against professional ice hockey and for the university. Because the NHL decided not to participate in the South Korean Winter Games, the best college players, among others, were chosen.
Greenway grew up in Canton, New York, near the Canadian border. Ice hockey was therefore the number one sport in his childhood. Besides his younger brother JD, he was the only colorful puck hunter in the area.
His mother Shannon Sullivan is overjoyed:”I have tears in my eyes,”she told CNN:”My son is playing at the Olympics – and he is breaking the race barrier. It’s indescribable,” Greenway himself hopes that he won’t be the only African-American in the US Olympic hockey team,”I hope I’m the first of many,”he said.
For him personally, the first ones don’t have to be the last Olympic Games – even if the NHL returns to Beijing in 2022. The striker, who was drafted in the second round, is regarded as a great talent and was already U18 and U20 world champion.