'World Class': Locals react to Ocala/Marion Olympic 'skatesisters' Brittany Bowe, Erin Jackson

Sports fans locally and nationally are praising Brittany Bowe for giving Erin Jackson — a U.S. speedskating teammate and fellow Ocala resident — a chance to compete in the Winter Olympics.

"Without even getting on the ice, Brittany Bowe wins the day, the week and the month," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Lori Nickel wrote, summarizing the thoughts of many. 

Jackson slipped during the U.S. Olympic long-track speedskating trials and was not going to make the team, even though she's the top-ranked competitor in the 500-meter event. 

From 2018:Erin Jackson remembers her Ocala roots

Bowe, Jackson, Mantia:Ocala's Olympic speedskaters get the key to the city

From 2016:Brittany Bowe gets ready for the 2018 Olympics

Bowe gave up her spot in the 500-meter event to Jackson. Bowe still will race in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter competitions.

ESPN, The Guardian,The Wall Street Journal and other major media outlets have publicized the story.

Then there's the local reaction.

"This is the only 'gold' that our world needs! Thankful, truly thankful!" Bowe's mother, Debbie, wrote on her Facebook page, which was filled with friends weighing in with tributes.

"Debbie Bowe, you’ve raised a world-class Olympian and more importantly a world class human," Omar Linares wrote.

"What great sportsmanship, sacrifice, and KINDNESS!" Angie Tedder Crawford wrote.

Before speedskating on ice, Brittany Bowe played basketball and competed in inline skating

Bowe played basketball at Trinity Catholic High School in Ocala and was a three-time Star-Banner girls basketball player of the year. She then played hoops at Florida Atlantic University, graduating in 2010.

Before any of that, she was a champion inline skater, winning 26 world medals, including eight golds, according to a Star-Banner account in 2016. She and fellow inline skaters Joey Mantia and Jackson were among many who trained with coach Renee Hildebrand, had decorated careers as inline skaters and then transitioned to the ice to compete in the Olympics.

One night back in April 2016, Bowe stopped by the Skate A Way South track, off East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala, to do some inline skating with current members of the Ocala Speed team.

"It means a lot to these kids because of hearing about her and things like Facebook and seeing her on TV, they know how big she is," Hildebrand told the Star-Banner at the time.

Bowe skated in the 2014 Winter Olympics, finishing eighth in the 1,000 meters and 14th in the 1,500. She was back in 2018, helping the Americans win the bronze in the Women's Team Pursuit.

Erin Jackson went to school in Ocala and then the University of Florida

Jackson attended Shores Christian Academy, Howard Middle School and then Forest High School, where she was in the EMIT (Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology) program. From there she went to the University of Florida, where she graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from the Materials Science & Engineering program.

“It’s been really awesome to see all that support flowing in from back home,” she told the Star-Banner back in 2018 when she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team. She wound up placing 24th in the 500 meters.

Brittany Bowe, Erin Jackson and Joey Mantia received the key to the City of Ocala

In April 2018, after the Winter Olympics, the City of Ocala held a celebration on the downtown square and gave Bowe, Jackson and Mantia the key to the city. (It was Bowe's second; she got a key after the 2014 Olympics.)

"You've shown what Ocala and Florida and the U.S. has to offer," then-U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho told the Olympians, according to the Star-Banner's account of the day.

"It's crazy that three kids from Ocala just skated in the Olympics," Bowe said.

"Being there was awesome," Jackson said of the Olympics.