Jordan Burroughs.Photo: Harry How/Getty
This year’s rescheduledSummer Olympicsin Tokyo are — as of Friday — less than six months away, promising more gravity-defying gymnastics, friction-fighting track and field stars and almost certainly a bevy of big-name American athletes such asSerena Williams.
They talked about the joys and challenges of competition, the “bliss” of overcoming what seemed impossible — and they gave a peek into their personal lives.
Here’s what you need to know and what may surprise you.
Jordan Burroughs
The 32-year-old wrestler, from Sicklerville, New Jersey, already has a gold medal, a feat he accomplished at the London Summer Olympics in 2012.
“I don’t want this to be the final chapter in my story,” he tells PEOPLE. “This is a comma, not a period, so I wanted to come back and do things my own way.”
Describing it as a “chance to redeem himself,” Burroughs says he’s also thinking of what kind of dad he is for his kids when he thinks about the kind of athlete he continues to be.
“I wanted to always embody the work ethic that they needed to see at home in order to be inspired to be their best when they have an opportunity to do so,” he says.
He doesn’t know yet if either Beacon or Ora will wrestle as they get older, though they both already have appropriately sized wrestling shoes and singlets. “I hope they wrestle, we’ll see,” he says.
Of all the places he’s competed around the world, he says it’s actually Iran where he is most thrillingly received. (He has more Instagram followers from Tehran, the capital, than any other city on Earth.)
“I feel like the Beatles freaking getting off a plane in London back in the ’60s when I go to Iran,” he says.
Erik Kynard.Patrick Smith/Getty
Erik Kynard
But afterward, he was right back in school at Kansas State University, finishing up a business degree: an Olympic medalist standing out (and standing tall — Kynard is 6-foot-4) in the student body.
“When you are the Michael Jordan where you’re from or at your university, you lose that anonymity associated with being 21 years old or 22 years old,” he tells PEOPLE, “and it’s a huge step into adulthood and the light of responsibility and not just representing your family or your own self but your country.”
Asked what it would mean to be a three-time Olympian, he says this:
“It won’t mean much, honestly, because I can’t allow myself to be limited to even my own accomplishments. It’s kind of like — you get the canvas, you draw the art and then there’s the masterpiece, now I’m moving on, what’s next? Because if not, you’ll be sitting back talking about something you drew or something you did eight years ago or four years ago and you’ll never accomplish anything else.”
“I’m like a grown man now,” he jokes. “I got a little goatee going on, a little beard, got a little bass in my voice.”
He’s matured, he says — not quite the fiery Olympic newcomer he was years ago — but he’s no less competitive (with the split-second ability to rattle off how many minutes and seconds he has in each day to work). His jumping he calls “a gift from God.”
Tom Schaar.Sean M. Haffey/Getty
Tom Schaar
Speaking about his accomplishments, Schaar, from Malibu, California, can sound amusingly low-key.
“I really didn’t know what was going on, honestly, I was just skating,” he says of his success as a 12-year-old. “I went to the contest and landed what I wanted to do, and they for some reason gave me first.”
But even he admits that nailing the 1080, on his fifth try, was “the biggest shock.” (The resulting appearance onTheEllen DeGeneresShowwas a bit anxiety-inducing,he told ESPNat the time: “I was trying to get used to [being on national television]. It was weird though.")
Schaar says that when he’s on a board, everything else kind of fades out — he doesn’t listen to music; he doesn’t have to cut through the chatter of his own thoughts. He’s mild about a focus fellow skateboarding champion Bucky Lasek once called “second to none.”
“I don’t know why, but when I skate I can’t really hear anything else,” Schaar says.
“I feel pressure for every contest, but I think it’s good,” he says. “If you’re not feeling any pressure, you probably shouldn’t be a competitor. It’s kind of the whole point.”
Brighton Zeuner.Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty
Brighton Zeuner
“I said, ‘Alright, I’m not going to think about it,’ and it happened,” she tells PEOPLE.
The next year, at 14, she did it again.
Born in Encinitas, California, Brighton says she got “into skating because of my older brother, Jack. He was always skateboarding, and I just thought it looked really cool.”
It was creative, it was fast and it drew her in.
Even with her wins since then, Brighton, now 16, says, “For me, contest skating isn’t about winning.”
“You have a whole audience watching … you should make it exciting, so my goal is to get a safety run first run and then try to put on a show for everyone — go as fast as you can and try your hardest tricks,” she says.
Brighton has been skating for nearly half her life and she doesn’t imagine she’ll stop anytime soon. It’s a competition and an outlet, but it’s also opened up her life.
“Skateboarding’s something I love and everything I do in the future, it’s probably going to be because of skateboarding,” she says.
“If I inspire girls or be a role model, it’s great, because I know I was definitely under the influence of many, many older girls and I know how it felt to really look up to someone and still do,” she says before adding, “But I try not to put myself over people.”
“I just want to be Brighton.”
To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visitTeamusa.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics this summer on NBC.
source: people.com
