They are Olympic trials.
And tribulations.
San Diego has an illustrious record of success in the Summer Games given its favorable climate and world-class training facilities, regularly winning more medals than many entire countries. But you have to get there first, and the past week was particularly cruel to prominent athletes with local ties.
In the space of six days, six medal favorites in four different sports all failed to make the U.S. team heading to Paris next month. Five competed in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021. Three won medals. Four have won individual world championships. All six were expected to be in Paris.
But unlike most nations, where Olympians are selected based on their body of work, the United States employs a merciless trials system in many sports that demands results on the day. Finish in the top three (or the top two in the case of swimming), and you’re in; don’t and you watch on TV no matter how glistening your trophy cabinet.
Sometimes the journey ends before the destination.
“There are days I feel truly proud of myself, and days where disappointment takes over,” Encinitas resident Michael Andrew, among the most decorated American swimmers in history, said in a social media post. “As an athlete, it’s devastating to be up one moment and completely off the next, but sometimes that’s the way sport is.”
That after he crashed out of the Olympic trials held in a temporary pool in a roofed football stadium in Indianapolis.
Earlier in the meet, he finished last in the 100-meter breaststroke final in 1:00.11, an event in which he holds the American record at 58.14 seconds. On Friday, he was fifth in the 50-meter freestyle, then less than an hour later finished last in the 100 butterfly semifinals.
The man who won a relay gold in Tokyo and was top five in three individual events – and has 18 career World Championship medals – was out. In all of his events in Indianapolis, he swam slower in the semis and final than the prelims.
“I left trials with a heavy heart,” Andrew wrote, “but know this is an opportunity to grow and push harder than ever before.”
That was just the first domino to topple.
Saturday in Hungary, at the final qualifying event for skateboarding, fellow Encinitas resident Jagger Eaton was attempting to become the first man to compete in both the sport’s disciplines — park and street — at the same Olympics. His international qualification points seemed secure in street, and he ranked No. 2 in the world in park.
Then he fell in attempting one of his signature park tricks, a kick-foot backside slide on the lip of the bowl, midway thought his first of three semifinal runs. He stayed on his knees for several moments before climbing to his feet and gingerly limping out of the bowl.
On his second run, he fell on the same trick.
On his third run, he fell on a different trick and finished last in the 16-man semis — and out of the final.
That cracked the door for fellow San Dieguito Academy alum Tom Schaar, who ranked fifth in the world but fourth in the United States. Schaar needed to finish first or second in Sunday’s eight-man final to bump Eaton, the biggest name in the sport, off the three-man U.S. team in park.
And he finished second, behind 2021 gold medalist Keegan Palmer of Australia.
“Somehow,” Schaar told the Olympic Information Service, “it worked out.”
Eaton’s chance at history was gone. At least he’ll still go to Paris in street, where he ranks fourth in the world behind three Japanese.
The next day on the other side of the world, North Park resident Annie Kunz settled into the starting blocks for the 100-meter hurdles, the opening event of track and field’s heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore.
She won the 2021 trials and finished sixth at the Tokyo Games, then struggled through a nasty bout of plantar fasciitis that wiped out the following season. She seemed healthy again and had completed a heptathlon a month earlier in Austria. She had run the 100 hurdles five times in April and May meets, all under 13.6 seconds.
But two weeks earlier she felt a twinge in her plantar fascia, then felt it tear during warmups Sunday morning.
She got over the last hurdle, hobbled across the finish line and collapsed to the track. Her meet was done 14.33 seconds after it started.
“I’m still trying to process everything,” Kunz, 31, posted on social media. “I’m not sure what’s next for me. Right now I’m just focused on healing physically and emotionally.”
That was 10 a.m. Less than eight hours later in Eugene, another prominent San Diegan was gone, too.
Rancho Buena Vista High School alum and fellow Tokyo Olympian Brooke Anderson had won the World Championships in the women’s hammer at the same facility two years earlier as well as the last two national titles. She had the longest throw in the world this year at 262 feet, 2 inches. She had the longest throw in Friday’s prelims at 250-3 on her first attempt, then passed on her next two to rest for Sunday night’s final.
She talked about being “more sure of myself and calm and collected,” about being “in a much better place technique-wise and mentally.”
“I just want one of those three spots, that’s it,” Andersen said Friday when asked about her distance goals for the final. “I don’t think there’s much more you can ask than to be part of the U.S. Olympic team. I’m happy with any placing on Sunday, as long as it’s top three.”
It wasn’t top three.
It wasn’t close.
Andersen fouled on all three attempts and was out.
Annette Echikunwoke won at 245-0. Throwing just 233 feet in Eugene would have gotten her on the team.
Anderson has eight of the top 10 marks in U.S. history, all over 258 feet.
That was Sunday. On Monday, Mt. Miguel High School alum Laulauga “Lagi” Tausaga-Collins stepped into the ring at Hayward Field for the women’s discus preliminaries. She is the reigning world champion and had uncorked a throw of 214-6 — the 10th longest in the world this year — a month earlier at the Triton Invitational at UCSD.
She fouled on her first of three attempts. Her second flew wildly left, over the long jump pit and across the track where a men’s 110-meter hurdles heat was getting ready to start. Her third attempt began heading left as well, and Tausaga-Collins could be heard screaming, “Go in, go in, go in, go in …. Nooooo!”
It sailed out of the sector and came to rest between hurdles in Lane 2 of the track.
A distraught Tausaga-Collins, who also fouled on all three attempts at the last Olympic trials, blew through the media interview area without stopping. A mere 188 feet would have advanced her to Thursday’s final.
“That’s why it’s the toughest team to make,” NBC announcer Trey Hardee said on the telecast. “She’s the reigning world champion. Every other country in the world, she’s almost assured a spot at these Olympic Games, but she won’t make it out of qualifying here in Eugene.”
Two days later, another prominent athlete with San Diego ties learned she isn’t going to Paris, either. The 18-player U.S. women’s soccer roster was announced; 34-year-old legendary San Diego Wave forward Alex Morgan, who has won two World Cups and an Olympics, isn’t on it.
Nia Akins can relate. Can sympathize.
The Rancho Bernardo High School alum is not a soccer player or swimmer or skateboarder. She doesn’t throw the discus or hammer, but she runs the 800 meters and had her heel clipped during the trials final three years ago, tumbled to the track, got up and finished last.
On Monday night, 2021 gold medalist Athing Mu was one who got clipped on the first lap, tumbled to the track, got up and finished last and off the team. And Akins was the one who broke from the pack on the final turn to win in a personal-best 1:57.36.
She’s going to Paris.
She’s going to Paris with perspective.
“Stuff happens,” Akins told media Monday night. “The sport is crazy and unpredictable and tough. Nobody deserves that. She didn’t deserve that today. I didn’t deserve that three years ago. It just happens.
“I wouldn’t be here today without that happening to me then. Honestly, it took me a while, but I’m super grateful for it because I learned a lot from it. … You just never know what’s going to happen in life. Nothing’s promised. I don’t deserve this win any more than anybody else did. It’s, like, a blessing. It happened. It’s just life, you know? It’s just unfair sometimes.”
