Beyond the Checkbox

Episode 42 | Living an Olympic Dream | ft. Shannon Abeda and Patricia Phillips

Dr. Ryan Todd Season 2 Episode 20

Shannon Abeda is a 2x Olympic athlete in Alpine Skiing, and the only Winter Olympian to represent the country of Eritrea. Just two weeks before the Olympics in Beijing, after three and a half years of training and preparation, Shannon got the devastating news that his funding through the Eritrean National Olympic Committee had fallen through, all but ending his hopes of returning to the Olympics. Enter Patricia Phillips, CEO of PBA Group of Companies, who spearheaded a last-minute sponsorship of Shannon to make his Olympic dreams a reality. This special episode covers Shannon’s amazing story of getting to Beijing, persevering through adversity on every turn, and touching on how mental health impacted his journey.