Following her Olympic gold medal win in Paris, Kristen Faulkner ’11 spoke with David Millian ’89 in the Cochran Chapel about her journey to success.
Students, faculty, and alums filled Cochran Chapel to hear Olympic Gold Medalist Kristen Faulkner ’11 discuss her careers as a professional cyclist and venture capitalist. Joined by David Milligan ’89, the two conversed about Faulkner’s upbringing, hardships, and defining moments leading up to her success. Hailing from Alaska, Faulkner is the first American woman to win Olympic gold in two disciplines within the Olympic games; she is also the first American woman in 40 years to medal in road racing. At Andover, Faulkner was involved in Varsity swimming, rowing, and cross country.
Throughout Faulkner’s discussion, sacrifice became a common theme that resurfaced throughout her journey. She explained the difficulty of the decision to risk her career as a venture capitalist, but also acknowledged gratitude to those who supported her in pursuing her Olympic dreams.
“I graduated [from Harvard] with great grades. I got a lot of job offers when I graduated. I had a career trajectory in my job, and here I was leaving my job to make almost no money in a sport that no one in my family had ever heard of or ever done. No one in my circle thought that I would make it to the Olympics really… I was doing something where there was pretty much no external validation, and it was a huge risk,” said Faulkner.
She continued, “I had pizza with my brother one night and… he said. ‘Is this a goal or is this a dream?’ I said, ‘It’s a dream,’ and he said, ‘Why are we even having this conversation then? If it’s a dream you have to go do it.’ I feel so grateful that I have a brother and a family member who was very supportive. If you have a dream, what’s more important in life than pursuing your dream?”
Continuing on the theme of sacrifice, Faulkner highlighted the sacrificial nature of road racing. Mentioning that cycling is often viewed as an individual sport, she explained the immense team aspects that it requires.
“A lot of people don’t know that… before the race, the lead director picks a leader for the race, and all her teammates are going to sacrifice their race to help her win. So even though there’s a whole team working, it’s one person who’s going to win. The whole team is helping them. Your teammates will sit in front of you to help you save energy. They will chase down any attacks. They will sit next to you on the climb and give you water or bells or bottles or anything you need… If you crash your bike, they will give you their bike so you can keep going. Everyone is collectively working together to make this win happen,” said Faulkner.
Paul Murphy, Instructor in Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, was formerly Faulkner’s Girls Varsity Swim coach back in 2011. He recalled an anecdote Faulkner made about a conversation with her psychologist while deciding whether or not to chase her cycling career, stressing the importance of pursuing things that make one feel alive.
“I liked when she was talking about her psychologist and how, at one point, she [said], ‘How do I leave venture capital? How do I leave a big-money-paying job for something that I love to do, but is making no money?’ He [responded], ‘Kristen, people spend their whole lives looking for things that make them feel alive.’ You found something. You need to follow that.’ I found that to be pretty awesome… I thought everyone needs to hear that every once in a while. That if you find something, not everyone knows what that thing is, but if you feel good about what you’re doing, and it makes you feel alive, there’s value in that,” said Murphy.
Seeing that Faulkner had succeeded so late in her athletic career, Kaylee Xie ’28 also found inspiration from Faulkner’s accomplishments. She applied it to her own perspective on opportunity and athletic experience.
“The fact that she started less than a decade ago and is racing against athletes that have been training for so long… [her career] is definitely very inspiring. Sometimes, when you watch athletes on TV, you always hear they started from a very young age and then had this major success as a teenager. There’s this pressure to start young and be good throughout your career. But, it’s cool to see someone who started later on but still found that same degree of success. So, even if you’re not in the best place right now, there’s always room to grow and places to go. You should never stop trying,” said Xie.
Clara Isaza-Bishop, Faulkner’s former Spanish teacher at Andover, expressed her appreciation for Faulkner’s return to campus. Reflecting on the event, she felt inspired and highlighted Faulkner’s influence both within and beyond the Andover community.
“It’s amazing to have a gold medalist, but also we always say, our motto is to [support] kids from every corner. Though she’s from Alaska, her legacy is here. [She’s] someone who works really hard, has an ethic of work, is not afraid of trying new things, and meeting new, different people. It was nice to see her, and she was the same kid inside. She didn’t change,” said Isaza-Bishop.
