It all begins with an idea: The Young Guns

San Diego Business Journal
by Brad Graves

The Christophersons started their business, called Optimized Athlete, last year and have since put $20,000 into the endeavor. For the present, they are applying wireless health and genomics technologies to make sure the women’s sprint cycling team is in top shape when it goes into the Olympic Games, which begin on July 27.

They plan to use data collected from the Olympic cyclists during multiple weeks of training in Spain.

Sky Christopherson, 36, and Tamara Christopherson, 33, are building on the findings of the research community surrounding UC San Diego, where both studied after they retired from their Olympic careers. The new company’s supporters include Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute.

The two say that medicine is changing rapidly, and entrepreneurs can leverage those changes to improve athletic performance.

The Christophersons are intentionally vague when describing the services Optimized Athlete provides. Tamara Christopherson notes the competitive pressure on the Olympic team, and speaks of an obligation to protect the U.S. cyclists.

She said the company plans to make more detailed announcements once the games are over.

This is not the Christophersons’ first startup. The two also helped found Vicaso.com, a real estate photography service, at UCSD in 2006.

Tamara Christopherson may have said it best: Focus — or the ability to not give in to distraction — is a key part of doing business and being an Olympic athlete.

So is effort.

“Any good business,” Christopherson said, “could be informed by the hard work we see in the Olympic athletes.”