Sports

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Margaux Isaksen has proven to be a quick study in the sport of modern pentathlon. Having first burst onto the national scene in June 2007 when she captured all three U.S. National Championship titles (senior, junior and youth). In February 2008, Isaksen made her first World Cup Final at the first World Cup stop of the season in Cairo, Egypt finishing 13th. She served notice that she was a serious contender for 2008 when she won the silver medal at the second World Cup stop of the season in Mexico City, Mexico. On June 1, 2008, the 16-year-old qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games when she received an official Olympic invitation from the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) for her ranking on the pentathlon world ranking list for the Olympic qualifying period. Isaksen secured her spot on the U.S. Olympic Team by being ranked second among American women in the UIPM World Cup standings. Having found early success in the sport of modern pentathlon, Isaksen moved to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. to train full-time in the fall of 2007. She is currently being home-schooled by her mother, Kathleen West. Before leaving her high school in Fayetteville, Ark. she ran cross-country and was a member of the Arkansas State Championship Cross-Country Team in 2007. She also ran cross-country in junior high school. She has proven to be an all-around athlete and does well at most sports. Was also consistently on the honor roll while in school and received the Presidential Environmental Youth Award which provided her the opportunity to attend an awards ceremony at the White House where she met and spoke with President George W. Bush. Upon completion of high school, Margaux is considering several colleges and hopes to study law. Margaux enjoys travelling, reading, hanging out in nature with family and friends and trying as many new sports as possible. She loves people, animals and the outdoors. She says she likes to learn things from others. She says that her mother (Kathleen West) and Margaret Mead are her role models because they enjoy her love of nature and cultures. They also see the value of studying the lives of other people and far away places. When asked what makes her unique, Margaux says that "All people are unique, but I guess I pride myself on my ability to set a goal and work towards that goal. I seem to have a real tenacity for being successful." Is the daughter of Kathleen West and the late Tommy Isaksen. Her stepdad is Steve Ferguson and she has a younger sister, Isabella.

About the Mask Artist: I am a Colorado Native and Mixed Media Artist. I have a creative itch. I have a disability; I turned to art to set myself free. I see the world around me and grow curious, then I read, then I go to work to get my vision and understanding out into the world through my art. Between reading and art I go everywhere and see everything. What a wonderful world. As running is to runners; art is to me. A need, a goal, a freedom.