Despite becoming the youngest male athlete on the U.S. Olympic Team in Sochi in 2014 at 17 years old and subsequently winning silver and bronze Olympic Medals, Emery Lehman said he feels like he doesn’t stack up against other athletes who hail from Oak Park.
Nonetheless, Lehman was honored May 19 with what is believed to be the first Key to the Village ever awarded, officials said. The achievement was both an honor and humbling for him, Lehman said.
Village President Vicki Scaman read a proclamation honoring Lehman for his accomplishments before presenting him with the key during a Village Board meeting.
“As a speed skater, you have represented the United States on the world stage and earned a place among the elite athletes of this sport, all while embodying many of the values we hold dear here in Oak Park: dedication, humility and the courage to pursue excellence,” Scaman said.
Lehman said hockey was his first true love and he played three years at Oak Park and River Forest High School before graduating in 2014, but he started speed skating when he was around nine years old which kickstarted his four-time Olympian career.
He was still in high school when he took his first Olympic trip at age 17 to Sochi, Russia during the 2014 Winter Games. After his second Olympic trip in 2018, he took a year off to reset and played club hockey at Marquette University.
“It was just a long road going from trying to balance school and skating,” Lehman said. “I just really feel like I wanted to attack school and get that done.”
Though he wasn’t competing in races, he was still training, and after moving to Utah in 2020, the second chapter of his journey began. He started skating in team pursuit events which brought him medals and records.
He earned his first bronze medal during the 2022 Beijing Games and won a silver medal earlier this year. He and his team also hold the world record in Men’s Team Pursuit.
“We kind of changed the way the team pursuit events were skated around the entire world,” Lehman said.
His girlfriend, Mia Manganello, also a three time Olympian speed skater, met Lehman around seven years ago when they were teammates. Seeing him receive the key made her emotional, she said.
“In the moment, it definitely brought a tear to my eye just because I know how much it meant to him,” she said. “It’s amazing when the people you love and the community you love so much are able to give back and recognize you.”
“He deserves everything that he’s gotten and more.”
The two would train between three and eight hours per day on two separate teams, but the entire team became family, she said.
“He’s a very driven individual and very passionate about helping others and I’m excited for what’s to come for him,” Manganello said.
Manganello recently received the key to her hometown of Crestview, Florida for her Olympian journey in which she won two bronze medals. Manganello and Lehman retired in February and currently live in Chicago’s Logan Square community.
With the nature of tunnel vision that comes with playing sports, he doesn’t get a chance to reflect on his journey often, but, sometimes when he shares his story with others, he said, he takes a moment to cherish his accomplishments and think about how transformative his path has been.
“It’s definitely super cool and definitely something I’m super proud of,” he said, “but you definitely have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture to realize how special what we were doing was.”
chardy@chicagotribune.com
