Jacob "Jake" Harkey of Banner Elk, North Carolina, has served as a Special Olympics coach for 17 years. He has experience coaching Special Olympics athletes in Alpine skiing, athletics, basketball, cycling, soccer and tennis. He will represent Special Olympics USA as head cycling coach. As a detective for the Boone Police Department, Jake is active in the Law Enforcement Torch Run® for Special Olympics North Carolina. Jake attended the Special Olympics World Winter Games PyeongChang 2013 as an assistant Alpine skiing coach, the Special Olympics World Winter Games Austria 2017 as a head Alpine skiing coach and the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 as an assistant cycling coach.
Jake enjoys competing as a Unified partner, skiing, mountain biking and spending time with his daughter Ada and wife, Lauren, who also volunteers as a Special Olympics coach.