In 254 days, France will be opening up their city to the world for Paris 2024. As we countdown to these summer games, there is so much more that happens for these athletes in their journey to this opportunity that only comes every four years. 

During Olympic competition, there is always this rush of adrenaline, nerves, excitement, especially when watching high flying moves, such as swimming and diving. So to start things, I first interviewed Tahoma swim and dive coach, Theresa Castaneda, with questions ready to break some early curiosity for fans in water sports.

I first asked, what is your favorite part when watching swimming and diving at the Olympics?

When tuning in for the games, Castaneda mainly enjoys watching long distance and relay races, since those were the events she competed in as an athlete in this sport. Along with the new edition of Mixed relays, in her opinion it was “interesting the logic that some of the teams did.”

For our contenders, there are many steps taken in the road to what is considered the pinnacle of an athletes career, one of those includes a pit stop at Oil Stadium which is where we can expect to see over 1,500 athletes meet in Indianapolis for Trials, some of those anticipated favorites that Castaneda gave, consist of Katie Ledecky, Katie Grimes, Nic Fink, and Caleb Dressel. All of which have already experienced competing in the games now back for more, and one just became the first 2024 qualifier which was Grimes. We’ll see who will make a splash onto Team USA.

When the majority think of the Olympics and its entire history, we know that Track and Field was one of its first sports to show a form of athleticism, coordination, team work and strength.

Over these past decades, United States has been one of the worlds top countries in this sport. During this years World Athletic Championships held in Budapest, Hungary throughout late August, the American squad gave quite a show, collecting a total of 29 world medals, along with new historical records.

But an athlete who has made her statement this season is top sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who missed out on a trip to Tokyo 2021 her one month ban due to drug test results violating WADA rules, has now returned with her past mistakes behind her and stunned others at this years world championships after winning gold in the women’s 100 meter final dash, topping the podium with Olympic veterans from Jamaica, along with two more medals in the 200 meter dash and 4×100 meter relay.

Surrounding this topic in track and field, I took the time to sit down with Steve Kent, who is our pole vault, long and triple jump coach for Tahoma.

When asked about Richardson’s comeback, his response to my question, “now as the reigning world champion, do you think she can contend for gold in Paris 2024?” His take on it is that if she keeps up her streak of no injuries, staying clean and sticking to strategic training, she has a good chance at making a run for this team.

The Olympics is something everyone in the world looks forward to, and is a way for us to come together as one and put our differences aside. As we approach even closer, what are you most excited about these upcoming Games?