Steamboat has produced more Winter Olympians than any town in North America. That might be why so many of them stayed or returned here, to make a life and raise a family of their own. If they weren’t born in Steamboat, they were promising young athletes who came here for the sole purpose of training with SSWSC, many of whom have stayed here to help carry on the tradition.

We caught up with four of Steamboat’s esteemed Winter Olympians to talk about life as a world-class athlete, and what happens when—and if—they hang up their skis. This is Bobby Aldighieri’s story.

Bobby Aldighieri

For Bobby Aldighieri, being at the Olympics as a coach meant as much to him as it did as an athlete. After all, it was during his five-year tenure as a coach for the Canadian National Freestyle Team at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics that he tasted real victory. He’d taken a team from mediocrity all the way to the top, and to becoming the successful overall program that it is today.

“Coaching has always been a natural fit for me,” he says. “It’s something I’ve always been really passionate about. Over time, I feel more inspired to pass it on.”

Originally from New Jersey, Aldighieri attended Killington Mountain School with the dream of one day competing in the Olympics. “From the time I was young, it was something I really wanted to do. I persisted and sacrificed a tremendous amount to get there, so when I found out I made the US Team, it was a pretty emotional moment for me.”

Aldighieri spent 7 years on the US Ski Team. He won a World Cup gold medal in 1988 and went to the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France. He competed on the Professional Ski Tour for three years before he retired from the U.S. Ski Team and moved to Steamboat to become the head moguls coach for the SSWSC. “For as much as I enjoyed skiing, I wanted to give that to these kids – the joy of the process, of training, of sharing my knowledge on the technical side of things,” he says.

In 2001, while living in Steamboat with his wife, Jessica Gray Maniaci, he was recruited to coach the Canadian National Team. He coached for the National Team for 5 years, including two years as head coach. He took a brief break from coaching and worked for Prudential, selling real estate for a few years, before moving to Whistler to coach the Canadian Development Team.

And then SSWSC came calling again.

In 2014 when Erik Skinner stepped down as Freestyle Program Director, Aldighieri decided to make the move back to the Yampa Valley. “It felt serendipitous,” he says. “My wife was born and raised in Steamboat, and it’s nice to back in our old house and united with our friends.”

Now that he’s back in Steamboat doing what he loves he’s also got another new job that might be a good fit for his skill set: raising his first child, infant son Enzo.