Gwen Jorgensen – EY tax accountant and Olympic triathlete. Pic credit: gwenjorgensen.com
Gwen Jorgensen, CPA, is like many young accountants aged 26. She majored in accounting on the way to receiving her bachelor degree. She interned with a Big 4 firm. She stayed in school, earning a masters degree in accounting. Then she took a job with the Big 4 firm.
Jorgensen’s degrees are from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She has two years of experience with Ernst & Young in Milwaukee.
Most accounting majors, though, aren’t D1 athletes in two sports, or even one. Jorgensen competed for UW on the swimming, track and cross country teams. She started college as a walk on swimmer. After two years, she tried out for indoor/outdoor track. She excelled here, being the 2009 Big 10 champ in the 3,000 and 5,000. She earned All American status with three trips to the NCAAs. Wow!
She left school at age 22 to pursue a career in accounting. She has this to say about her experience, “I specialize in Taxation and love to read, research, and interpret the Tax Code/Law. I’ve been blessed to work for a great firm. I learn an incredible amount everyday at work and enjoy learning! It’s a great career.” She also says, “I love accounting.”
In an interview with NBC, she was asked, “How do your fellow CPAs feel when you tell them you’re striving to be an Olympian?” She responded,
They’ll Google me every once in a while. And they’ll be like, Gwen, did you see this? But I try to keep the two separate. I really enjoy going to work and just kind of being able to relax and get my mind off of training and be somewhere else. And I just really enjoy to have that second life.
Jorgensen was recruited to the sport by USA Triathlon because she was an elite collegiate athlete. Her rise from 2010 rookie triathlete to 2011 World Cup champion (18 months) has been meteoric.
Jorgensen’s event will take place on Saturday, August 4, at the 30th Olympic Summer Games in London. She will be one of 55 female triathletes competing for the gold. The Olympic triathlon consists of a 1,500m swim, a 43km bike ride and a 10km run. The race is completed from start to finish with no breaks. The transitions between the swim, the bike and the run are part of the race.
The race course is in Hyde Park. A map of the course shows that she will bicycle past Buckingham Palace. NBC asked her about the Hyde Park course.
Going to London 2012, you’ve had a sense of what that Hyde Park course is. So does that give you an advantage or a leg up?
Yeah, being able to do the Hyde Course Park a year in advance is a huge advantage. I think all the big players were there, and everyone was able to see it, but just having a year now to prepare for that specific course, and to be able to visualize and do specific workouts towards that course- it’s a huge advantage.
How is the course set up for you? Does it play to your strengths?
The course does play to my strengths. I’m pretty lucky. It’s a relatively flat, non-technical course. There’s not a lot of hills, there’s not a lot of one-eighties. The corners are very sweeping corners, so it’s not a very difficult on the bike, technical-wise
Jorgen is also a social media savvy accountant. She has or is on:
I am embedding two videos that will teach you about the special accountant who is Gwen Jorgensen. The first, Accountant to Olympian, provides a good introduction to her.
The second video, from a series called Qualified, covers how she handles the stress and pressure of training for the olympics.
Some might consider her an Olympic favorite because of her world cup championship. I consider her an Olympic favorite because she’s an accountant.
In the coming weeks, I hope to bring you much more about Gwen Jorgensen. Anyone want to start a fan club?
Debit and credit – – David Albrecht
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Wow… She is such a talented girl!!! Accountant as well as Olympic athlete, good to know about her.
I am amazed to know about an accountant who is also an Olympic athlete. I appreciate the hard work of the EY tax accountant.