Meet Jessica Kooreman, short track speed skating Olympian from Michigan

Jessica Kooreman has spent her life on skates.  

She is competing in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m race.  According to Team USA, Kooreman, 34, will be the oldest short track speed skater to compete in the Olympics in 20 years. 

Since the 2014 games (when she was known as Jessica Smith), Kooreman married her husband Mike Kooreman, a retired short track speed skater. He will be attending the Olympics as a staff member for the US long track speed skating team.

Event: Short Track Speed Skating -- 1,000m race and 1,500 meter race.
Hometown: Melvindale
Training Center: Salt Lake City, UT
Olympics: Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018

Her parents started her at the roller rink when she was two and she traveled the world competing, getting on the podium at the world championships and Pan American Games. Her dream of competing in the Olympics brought her to the ice. 

Kooreman, who is from Melvindale, just missed making the Olympic team in 2010, then punched her ticket for three events for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. She finished fourth in the 1,000 m race and sixth in the 1,500 m race during that Olympics. The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang will be her second Olympics.

MORE: Melvindale native to compete in her second Olympic Games

^{Speed skater Jessica Kooreman poses for a portrait during the Team USA PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics portraits on April 27, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)}

The state of Michigan will be represented by 14 athletes including: 

• Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani -- Event: Ice Dance
• Madison Chock and Evan Bates -- Event: Ice Dance
• Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue -- Event: Ice Dance
• Jessica Kooreman -- Event: Short Track Speed Skating -- 1,000m race and 1,500 meter race
• Megan Keller -- Event: Defender for Women's Ice Hockey
• James Wisniewski -- Event: Defender for Men's Hockey
• Chad Billins -- Event: Defender for Men's Hockey Team
• Jim Slater -- Event: Forward for Men's Hockey Team
• Kyle Mack -- Event: Snowboarding Slopestyle and Big Air
• Ryan Pivirotto -- Event: Short Track Speed Skating
• Nick Baumgartner -- Event: Snowboardcross