It wasn’t always obvious that Caitlin K. Cahow ’07-’08 would go to the Olympics. But she’s competing in her second Olympic games in Vancouver, playing defense for the American women’s ice hockey team after taking home the bronze in Torino four years ago.

“Caitlin is an interesting story,” said Brian Schulz ’01, a broadcaster for U.S. College Hockey Online. “She started as a forward [at Harvard] and struggled.”

Halfway through her freshman season in 2003, Harvard Women’s ice hockey head coach Katey Stone switched Cahow to defense, where she “developed into a tremendous athlete and hockey player,” Stone said.

Her sophomore year, Cahow had a “breakout season” and “got on the radar for the national team,” Schulz said.

By 2005, Cahow was ranked third in the nation for defensive scoring, and that same year, she won Harvard’s Joe Bertagna Award for Most Improved Player and was named to the all-tournament team at the NCAA Frozen Four.

Former teammate M. Nicole Corriero ’05 praised Cahow’s “deceptive speed,” and Harvard athletics spokesman Timothy J. Williamson pointed to her demonstrated power on the ice.

She has an “unbelievable” personality, Corriero said, adding that the team immediately took to Cahow during the recruit trip.

“She was so easy going, so easy to get along with, and up for anything,” Corriero said, recalling that Cahow could often be seen watching a friend’s game or going to an a cappella concert.

The daughter of a figure skater-turned-endocrinologist, Cahow played hockey while attending boarding school at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn.

In addition to playing hockey, Cahow played lacrosse her sophomore year and graduated with a degree in social and biological anthropology after taking time off to train for the 2006 Olympics.

Cahow plans to attend law school in September.