SOUTH ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — Jana Novatski has waited years for this opportunity.
“I'm happy with myself,” said Novatski. “It’s been a long time going over there.”
Novatski, a South Abington Township resident, has once again been selected to represent team USA at the 2025 Special Olympic World Winter Games as an alpine skier.
Novatski was originally selected to compete for the U.S. Team just before the pandemic hit, but after a few of the women’s slots were cut, she was left off the final team.
She was selected again to compete for the U.S. Team in 2020, but the games were canceled due to the pandemic. Sweden was set to host the games in 2022 but ended up not having the funds to host the event, so they canceled it altogether.
“So far, Italy’s a go,” said Vicky Novatski, Jana’s mother.
Jana’s parents have taken her and her older brother skiing since Jana was five years old. It didn’t take long for her talents to get noticed.
“The one coach came down and one day he says, you know, she's just a natural skier,” said Allen Novatski, Jana’s father. “The very first time they had competition, and it was just the local high school and all that at Big Bear, that's where she won her, you know, her first gold medal. I was there and I was on the slope watching her come down and I'm saying, my God. That’s when I knew,” said Novatski.
The Novatski’s adopted Jana when she was five years old. She was found left on a train car heading to Moscow. After bringing her home, they were excited to share their love of the sport with her.
“If you’re a skier, it’s so exhilarating when you’re on top of a mountain early in the morning and the snow is so smooth –” Jana’s father began.
“And so beautiful,” Jana’s mother interrupted. “Sometimes we’d just pull over on a trail to enjoy the scenery and the weather,” she said.
“It’s exhilarating,” he reiterated.
“I feel good for her because it's, it's like once in a lifetime that you're going to get any kind of an experience there. And, you know, her life wasn't easy to start with. But now it– it's, I feel so good that we were able to, to continue this and that she did make it…finally make it,” said Novatski.