TIME Magazine<\/a>, and when Emily was heading to Turin four years later, she was cast as America\u2019s great hope \u2014another Hughes champion-in-the-making.<\/p>\nHer seventh-place finish at the Olympics that year was disappointing, but it was not the thing that would define Emily Hughes. She had other assets \u2014 her brain and her passion to succeed \u2014 to fall back on. She remembers her dad always emphasizing that she is a \u201cstudent-athlete\u201d and that \u201cstudent\u201d always comes first. Her parents never gave her or Sarah breaks on studying, even when they were training five hours a day. And given the choice to enroll in the regular chemistry class or an honors course, Appell recalls, Emily insisted she take the advanced class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always brought my books everywhere,\u201d she says. \u201cI was going to every competition lugging this backpack around, or you know, doing homework in the car on the way to the rink. It was always important to keep my grades up.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Sarah, who is now 29, she found a new path from the Olympics too. She\u2019s executive vice president of business development at the Kingsbridge Ice Center, a $350 million project to build the world\u2019s largest ice skating complex in the Bronx.<\/p>\n
Both sisters refuse to have one-dimensional careers.\u201cI was always impressed by how tough Emily was when we were younger,\u201d Sarah says. \u201cShe would kill herself working, working, working, but somehow, she always found some time to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo accomplish big meaningful things,\u201d Sarah adds, \u201cyou need to be focused but allow enough distractions to make it a fun and worthwhile journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>(Left) Emily and Sarah Hughes pose with then-Today Show host Katie Couric in 1994. (Right) The sisters smile with Emily\u2019s coach Bonni Retzkin at the Kathie Lee Christmas Special in 1995.<\/span>Courtesy of Sarah and Emily Hughes<\/span><\/p>\nsource:http:\/\/fortune.com\/2015\/01\/12\/olympian-google-hughes\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emily Hughes may not have placed first at the Olympics like her big sis Sarah, but she\u2019s quickly on the rise in Silicon Valley. Nine years ago, Emily Hughes was at the 2006 Olympic games in Turin, Italy, skating before millions of TV viewers. Today, Hughes is in the trenches at Google GOOG 0.74% working […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
How one Olympian's failure helped her land a job at Google - Inventrium Magazine<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n