Trials and Tribulations

I have been a resident athlete at the US Olympic Training Center for 7 years now. While that is nowhere near a record, it is long enough to get to know many other athletes from different sports. That’s one of the best things about the OTC, being in an environment where you are surrounded by like minded people all pursuing the same dream.

There are 8 resident sports at the OTC and numerous other that come in as “camps.” All in all, I probably have friends in 12 different Olympic sports right now. Each sport has its own way of qualifying for the Olympics. Pentathlon essentially uses solely an international system, meaning you win your slot oversees by competing against other countries. Swimming would be the diametric opposite where a swimmer could win Olympic Trials without having ever set foot outside the country or competed against internationals. Most sports fall somewhere in between pentathlon and swimming and have a relatively complicated selection process. Because of this, most of us at the OTC quest our friends in other sports to learn about their qualification system and what it will take for our friends to qualify.

While I was fortunate enough to secure a slot last summer, most Olympic selection takes place during the spring of the Olympic year. This creates a fairly strange environment around athletes as tensions rise, and suddenly teammates find themselves pitted against each other for a final Olympic slot. In every case, it seems there are great athletes who will be left off the team because there are only so many slots. As an athlete already qualified, it’s hard to balance the excitement of knowing you are going with interacting with your friends, who have worked just as hard as you, who did not make the cut. Having been in their shoes four years ago, I can tell you that it’s not fun to watch the Olympics you thought would be yours come and go without your participation.

Olympic team selection is really a mixture of emotions. I train with and am friends with our top two fencers; one made the team, the other, a returning Olympian, did not. In weightlifting, I had friends I have known and respected for years make the team, and some who did not. Triathlon, which concluded its final Olympic selection last weekend, qualified two good friends of mine, but left many more off the team. And wrestling can be described as nothing short of carnage. My new business partner, a returning Olympic Bronze Medalist, failed to make the team. More World Medalists failed to qualify than I can count, including several friends of mine.

But all elite athletes know that qualifying for the Olympics is tough, and there is a lot of excitement around watching every sport pick their Olympic Team. This week, I have two friends and fellow graduates of the Air Force Academy competing in Track and Field Olympic Trials. Both have a good chance of making the team. Needless to say, I am watching NBC every night this week to check in on them.

So Olympic Trials season is a real roller coaster for athletes, even if you have already qualified. It reminds you how great it is to win your slot on the team, but it’s also humbling to see other great athletes who you respect not make it. For every athlete celebrating after winning an Olympic berth, there are five who go home and try to find the courage to train every day for another four years on the chance they will make it next time. It’s a strange set of emotions to go through. Having now been on both sides of qualifying for the Olympics, I try to celebrate with my friends who qualified and be respectful of those who did not, knowing their sacrifices and dedication were as great as mine.