A Very, Very Early 2020 Olympics Preview
8/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball, Women's Track & Field, Wrestling, Olympics
By Brad Rudner
Like it says at Canham Natatorium, 'It's Not Every Four Years. It's Every Day.'
With the Rio Olympics in the rearview mirror, it's time to get a very, very early preview of the 2020 Games in Tokyo. A lot can happen in four years, but here are some current and former student-athletes fans should keep an eye on.
Sierra Romero, Softball (USA)
Each sport has its own symbol for greatness. For hockey players, it's the Stanley Cup. For golfers, it's the green jacket at The Masters. For swimmers, wrestlers, rowers and the like, it's an Olympic gold medal.
For the last eight years, softball players didn't really have a pinnacle. In 2005, the IOC voted to remove softball and baseball from the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, a decision they reversed earlier this month much to the delight of softball supporters everywhere, including former Wolverine great Sierra Romero.
"When it went away, it was like a stab to the heart," Romero said. "It was like, 'OK, what am I supposed to do now?' After high school, you go to college and then try and play in the Olympics. Not having it as an option kind of sucked."
A SoCal native, Romero specifically remembers going to see Team USA play UCLA in Westwood. The players that took the field in those games -- including all-time great Jennie Finch -- were role models for the younger generation of which Romero, at the time, was a part of.
"Going to the Olympics and playing for gold is something people dream of doing," said Romero, who won a silver medal with Team USA at last summer's Pan American Games in Toronto. "I didn't want to be upset if it didn't get back in, but in the back of my mind, I was pushing, hoping that it would. What softball player doesn't want to represent the United States and play in the Olympics?"
Though it's four years away, playing for Team USA in Tokyo looks like a real possibility. After winning virtually every Player of the Year award in existence last season, Romero just finished her first season playing for National Pro Fastpitch's USSSA Pride in Kissimmee, Florida.
Not unlike most rookies, she spent much of her rookie year learning to adapt to the professional game -- the speed, the harder-hit balls, breaking out of slumps and keeping streaks alive.
"I thought I knew anything and everything about softball after leaving Michigan," she admitted. "I've learned the sport is a lot faster than I thought it was. Playing at the NPF is going to elevate my game to another level."
Expect her to compete for a spot on the U.S. National Team at some point in the future. She's not likely to be the only member of her family to do that; her younger sister, Sydney, a sophomore at Oklahoma, will likely be in the mix, too.
Could half of Team USA's infield in Tokyo be made up of Romeros? Sierra has thought about it.
"The second I played my last game with her on the same team in high school, I couldn't help think, 'The Olympics could be our next chance,'" she said. "As long as my body will hold up, I'll play; 2020 is only four years away, and Sydney will be fresh out of college. There's a chance."
"This is great for the sport of softball and its growth. There are a lot of good players that can be put on that team. I'm excited to hopefully get that opportunity."
Adam Coon, Wrestling (USA)
Adam Coon is shooting for the stars.
In addition to his lofty career aspirations of both playing football and becoming an astronaut, Coon intends to immerse himself in training after completing his undergraduate degree, all the while keeping an eye on Tokyo -- and on gold.
"As I started to get older and started getting better, it became more and more attainable," Coon said of potentially being an Olympian. "I don't want to just be an Olympian. I want to be an Olympic medalist -- at the top, preferably."
It's been his dream ever since he watched Rulon Gardner dethrone Russian wrestler Aleksandr Karelin at the 2000 Games in Sydney in what remains as one of the biggest upsets in modern Olympics history. Coon got close this past spring, finishing runner-up to Robby Smith in the 130kg/286-pound Greco-Roman division at Olympic Trials. Only one wrestler from each weight class got the opportunity to compete.
He was No. 2 in line, and now, he'll have to wait four more years for another opportunity.
"In some ways, it was good because it means I'm right there," Coon said of the matches with Smith. "But coming up just short, it was a little crushing. I wasn't good enough yet. Four years from now, hopefully the strides I've made will be enough."
Make no mistake -- Coon is a very good wrestler. In three years at Michigan, he's 82-13 and two-time NCAA All-American. This time, it was simply a matter of experience. Smith is a much more seasoned Greco-Roman wrestler, having spent over a decade at the Olympic Training Center, whereas Coon, being a collegiate wrestler, really only trains that way for a few weeks out of the year.
In the lead up to Tokyo, Coon will consider wrestling both Greco-Roman and freestyle, an uncommon and challenging feat. It's a tough goal to reach, but he's got experience doing it, having won bronze medals in both styles at the 2014 Junior World Championships in Croatia.
Given what he's already done, counting Coon out would be a huge mistake.
"If you're a competitive person and someone tells you that you can't do something, you're going to do everything you can to prove them wrong," he said. "I've been doing it my entire life. You can't tell me it can't be done."
Erin Finn, Track and Field (USA)
For Erin Finn, the timing couldn't have been worse.
After redshirting the collegiate outdoor season to fully prepare for U.S. Olympic Trials, Finn suffered a foot injury in training that kept her out of the meet altogether. Her Olympic dream, one that she's had since she was a little girl, was on hold.
"When you have a goal taken from you without having a chance to meet it, that's very hard," she said. "More than anything, it made me realize how important it is to follow my dreams."
As a fourth-grader, Finn's mother, Lori, let her stay up late to watch the 2004 Games in Athens. Twelve years and a whole bunch of accolades later, Finn was in the discussion, at the very least, for a spot on Team USA in Rio.
But this year, she watched the action on TV. She's back to running -- though not yet to the level she was at pre-injury -- and is looking ahead, not behind.
That includes continued opportunities to train with Mike McGuire, her coach on the cross country course and on the track who has a history of sending student-athletes to the Games (see: Nicole Sifuentes).
As one Olympic cycle ends and focus shifts from Rio to Tokyo, Finn is anxious to get back to work. The disappointment may linger, but inside, the fire burns hotter than ever.
"I don't think I could've wanted it much more," Finn admitted. "If anything, this situation reinforced to me that this is what I should be doing. This is what I want to do with my life right now. This is my passion."
"If that was the low, I can't imagine what the high is going to be."
Maddy Steere, Water Polo (Australia)
Steere, an incoming freshman, nearly went to Rio but was one of the team's final cuts. Nevertheless, Steere has quite a bit of international experience, helping Australia's junior national team win a gold medal at the 2015 World University Games. She was the country's water polo Junior Athlete of the Year in 2014. Her college coach, Dr. Marcelo Leonardi, called Steere one of the 20 best players in Australia.
Felix Auböck, Swimming (Austria)
You haven't seen him in Maize and Blue yet, but you will. Auböck has already represented his native Austria at the highest levels, swimming three events in Rio. A mid-distance freestyler, Auböck comes to Michigan with long-course times that already threaten some long-standing program records.
Siobhán Haughey, Swimming (Hong Kong)
After an impressive freshman campaign and a head-turning performance in Rio, Haughey could be crazy good by the time 2020 rolls around. Heading into Rio, Haughey was seeded 28th in the 200-meter freestyle but dropped one-and-a-half seconds off her qualifying time to qualify for the semifinals, finishing 13th. Afterwards, she told the South China Morning Post, "I could go a lot faster."
Sura Yekka, Soccer (Canada)
Should Canada qualify for the 2020 Games -- and as one of the best teams in the world, they should -- the defense could potentially feature two Michigan players: Shelina Zadorsky (a member of Canada's Olympic roster in Rio) and Yekka. Though she's redshirting the season to fully train with Canada's U-20 National Team, Yekka, an All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection last season, figures to patrol the team's backline for three more seasons leading into the next Olympic cycle.
Kendall Brewer, Rowing (USA)
Rather quietly, the rowing program has had great success sending student-athletes to the Games (see: Felice Mueller, Amanda Elmore, Ellen Tomek), and Brewer could be next. She's currently representing U.S. Rowing in the women's four and women's eight at the World Rowing U-23 Championships in the Netherlands.
Taylor McLaughlin, Track and Field (USA)
McLaughlin is one of the rising stars for USA Track and Field. The sophomore is coming off a summer in which he won a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the World Junior Championships and also qualified for the semifinals in the same event at U.S. Olympic Trials.
Moritz Wagner, Basketball (Germany)
This may be a bit of a longshot, but why not? The sophomore-to-be has already improved a great deal over the course of a single season under John Beilein, both with his play and with his body, and he keeps growing. If the Germans need some size, maybe he'd get a look. Hey, Dirk Nowitzki can't play forever!
OTHERS: Cindy Ofili (Track and Field, Great Britain), Mason Ferlic (Track and Field, USA), Lauren Thomas (Field Hockey, Great Britain), Marcelo Borges (Soccer, USA)
Players Mentioned
