The Olympic Trials

The Olympics is one of my favorite sporting events to watch. Every four years, people from around the world gather in one place for a friendly competition. The Olympics is time of peace and goodwill when people can put aside their political and religious differences and just have fun competing against one another. I hope you watch them this year.

The Olympics won't start until August, but the US Olympic Trials are happening now.

The United States is almost unique among the other countries when it comes to the Olympics for it is one of the few countries which requires athletes to compete for spots on the team through the Olympic Trials. During the trials, as in the Olympics themselves, amazing things happen, like athletes performing better than they ever have and beating people they aren't supposed to be able to beat.

This year, for example, in a sport where more competitors are between the ages of 18-25, a 41 year old woman, Dara Torres (about Ms. Dunn's age) won the 100 meter freestyle in swimming. A man named Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meter dash ever recorded (not a world record though, too much wind). And then there is Jordan Hasay.

Hasay just finished her junior year of high school. She is 16 years old, but looks about 12 or 13 for she is very slender and is barely over 5 feet tall. She has hair down to her waist. She is also one of the fastest high school distance runners in the country. She started running in 4th grade when she found that she "could beat all the boys".


Hasay went to the trials as a spectator. Then, two runners dropped out of the 1500 meter race. She entered, even though it isn't her specialty, for she is used to longer distances. She finished 7th in her first race, barely qualifying for the semifinals.

In her semifinal heat, Hasay ran most of the race in the pack, hanging around in about 9th place about 20 yards behind the leaders. Then, with about 300 meters left, she kicked. She said later "the last 300 I just wanted to give it all I had and see what I could do." She passed 4 runners and finished 6th. She's qualified for the finals (the top 6 qualify). Her time? 4:14.5, a national high school record.

"It was incredible on that last lap. I could just hear the crowd scream. It was so exciting."

It's things like this that make the Olympics, and the Trials, great.

For more on Jordan Hasay, go to: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/dave_krider/10/25/10.25.notes/index.html