Olympians Made Here: Wisconsin to Tokyo
July 27, 2021 | General News, Men's Cross Country, Men's Swimming & Diving, Men's Track & Field, Women's Basketball, Women's Cross Country, Women's Hockey, Women's Rowing, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Women's Track & Field, Lightweight Rowing, Andy Baggot
For several of UW’s Tokyo 2020 Olympians, Madison’s the best place to be to dream and train for greatness
BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — As a late-afternoon rain had just shifted gears from a drizzle to a downpour, Zach Ziemek went about the task of chasing his dream.
One of the premier decathletes in the world, Ziemek was at the secluded throws area of the Dan McClimon Memorial Track, his energies focused for the moment on the intricate nature of the shot put. Clad in a T-shirt and sweatpants, he spent a sizeable chunk of a half-hour launching the 16-pound steel ball under the watchful eye of his long-time coach, Nate Davis.
After each throw, Ziemek would stroll to end of the landing area, retrieve the shot and stop to exchange thoughts with Davis, who was hunkered under an over-sized golf umbrella. Outside of rain plopping around them, the only noticeable sound was the hum of distant rush hour traffic on Highland Avenue.
Seventeen days later, Ziemek and Davis drove to Chicago and boarded a direct flight from O'Hare Airport to Tokyo, Japan, site of the Summer Olympics. It will be their second appearance on the biggest sporting stage in the world, having qualified and competed for Team USA in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Five years after finishing seventh in the 10-event decathlon, Ziemek has his sights set on the podium, preferably the spot with the best view.
"We're right where we want," he said. "I feel very good about winning a gold medal."
Ziemek is one of 16 Wisconsin student-athletes — future, current or former — who qualified for the Tokyo Games. That's the most UW competitors in a single Summer Olympics, surpassing 2016 when there were 12.
We're proud of our #Badgers that are competing at @Tokyo2020!
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) July 22, 2021
🥇 » https://t.co/gbhqzMh9ab#Tokyo2020 // #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/k0ZDZ2wAIq
The current list includes two alternates, two scheduled to compete for UW in 2021-22, four Olympic veterans, seven competing for countries other than the U.S. and nine who won NCAA titles with the Badgers, either individually or as part of a team.
Lauren Carlini (women's volleyball) and Vicki Opitz (women's rowing) are the alternates.
Love to see @vickyopitz in the Olympic spares race#TokyoBadgers || #TokyoOlympics
— Wisconsin Rowing (@BadgerRowing) July 22, 2021
📷 - @usrowing pic.twitter.com/T51t45VLhs
Phoebe Bacon (women's 200 backstroke) just completed her freshman season, while Vigit Aslan (men's 800 freestyle) is an incoming freshman with the UW swimming and diving programs.
Ziemek, Mohammed Ahmed (men's 5,000 and 10,000), Kelsey Card (women's discus) and Alev Kelter (women's rugby) have qualified for multiple Olympics, including Ahmed, who's done it three times.
Ahmed, Kelsey (Jenkins) Harshman (softball) and Georgia Ellenwood (women's heptathlon) will compete for Canada; Olli Hoare (men's 1,500) and Morgan McDonald (men's 5,000) are competing for Australia; Aslan is swimming for Turkey; and Rae Lin D'Alie (women's 3x3 basketball) is representing Italy.
Ziemek, Bacon, Card, Ellenwood, Hoare, McDonald, Alicia Monson (women's 10,000) reigned as NCAA individual champions during their college careers, while Ahmed and Kelter were members of national titlists in men's cross country and women's hockey, respectively.
Two other UW products competing in Tokyo are Rose Lavelle in women's soccer and Madeleine Wanamaker in women's rowing fours.
Good luck to @roselavelle! ⚽️🇺🇸 https://t.co/8Jupe3TdgB
— Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) July 23, 2021
Since qualifying last month, Ziemek and Card chose to spend their entire pre-Games training period in Madison. There are some obvious reasons for that, starting with the fact Ziemek can work with Davis and Card can do so with Dave Astrauskas. Davis and Astrauskas are UW assistant coaches specializing in multi-events and throws, respectively. Davis will accompany Ziemek to Japan, but Astrauskas will stay back, communicating with Card via Skype.
Ziemek said sleeping in his own bed, being with family and training daily with Davis are major advantages.
"Once I leave, there are new factors and the longer I'm gone the more they come into play," Ziemek said, mindful of a 14-hour time difference and all the coronavirus headlines.
Ziemek had a harrowing experience at the trials that underscores what can derail even the most seasoned world-class athlete. His approach to preparing for the two-day event, staged during a major heat wave, was to hydrate as much as possible.
"I knew it was going to be hot, maybe 120, 125 (degrees) on the track in the stadium," Ziemek said. "I thought to myself to just have water and Gatorade and slowly sip on it all morning and into competition. I didn't want to be dehydrated out there. I found out later you can drink too much and push out all your electrolytes and your sodium. It's the same effect, if not worse, than dehydration."
Ziemek experienced intense muscle cramps from his calves to his torso, triggering waves of nausea and vomiting that left his legs feeling like boulders. With the calm guidance and resolve of Davis and on-site assistance from sports medicine personnel, Ziemek willed his way through the trials, finishing third with 8,471 points.
"I just fought," Ziemek said, noting that he's since learned that other athletes have experienced the same fate. "That was a huge lesson for myself."
Davis said survival in that moment came down to a coach believing in his athlete and vice versa.
"That is two guys who've worked together for seven years and traveled the world and are, like, great friends who just have a bond and a trust in each other," he said. "It's just understanding what's important now and not wasting time thinking about what's been lost or what the future holds."
Card, meanwhile, said she loves the throws facility at McClimon and is spoiled by the quality of the weight rooms at UW — she called herself "a snob" — while embracing the comfort she derives from being able to cook her own meals and be around family.
"I think it's been really helpful to keep training on familiar ground," Card said.
. @KelseyCard27 is off to Tokyo! Good luck 🍀👍 Kelsey!! pic.twitter.com/dsAJkfYLZ6
— Wisconsin Track & Field (@BadgerTrackXC) July 24, 2021
Bacon also returned to Madison after she qualified for Team USA by turning in the second-fastest time in the 200 back. The reigning NCAA champion in that event — the first freshman in program history to claim a national individual title — Bacon spent a week among UW teammates and coaches before jetting off to Hawaii for pre-Olympic workouts.
A day after securing a berth on Team USA, Bacon was back in the pool training like normal.
"I made the team," she said, "but that's just one step in the grand scheme of things. It just made me more excited to get back in the pool and keep training so I can perform as well as I can at the Olympics."
Bacon said she has two main motivations in Tokyo.
"I want to be up on that podium receiving a medal," she said. "I'm also swimming for my country now and I want to make my country proud. I don't want to let them down in any way."
Half of the 14 Olympic qualifiers from UW starred in track and field and/or cross country in college, including Ziemek, Ahmed, Card, Ellenwood, Hoare, McDonald and Monson.
Ahmed is one of four Wisconsin student-athletes in history to qualify for three or more Summer Olympics, joining rower Robert Espeseth, who had berths in 1976, '80, '84 and '88; rower Carie Graves, who qualified in 1976, '80 and '84; and Suzy Hamilton, who ran the 1,500 in 1992 and 2000 and the 800 in 1996.
Ahmed, from St. Catharines, Ontario, by way of Somalia, is among the latest international products to blossom as Olympians in the UW men's and women's track and field and cross country teams. Ellenwood is the other Canadian — she's from Langley, British Columbia — while Hoare and McDonald were recruited out of Sydney, Australia. Overseeing the Wisconsin programs is Mick Byrne, born and raised in Dublin, Ireland.
"I think there's something about Wisconsin that just makes you feel welcome," Ellenwood said. "I'm not sure if you're going to find something that aligns with your personality or there's such a big, diverse range of things to do. It's just a comfortable feeling when you walk into the school. Even if you do feel a little bit out of place, there's going to be a category where you find your way in.
"There's so many options there. That's the vibe I got when I visited the school at first. Then when I met some people, they reminded me a lot of Canadians. People from the Midwest are very nice and their mannerisms are quite similar and they accept you into their community.
"If you feel welcome at the school, everything else can be dealt with as long as you feel comfortable in that environment. That's why Wisconsin does so well and why so many international students want to go there."
One of the marquee stories from that track group relates to the fact that Davis developed both Ziemek and Ellenwood, one-time UW teammates, into world-class multi-event athletes.
Davis made the same recruiting pitch to both prospects. He told them early in their first meetings that he felt they could be NCAA champions and Olympians. Ziemek won the indoor heptathlon and finished second in the outdoor decathlon in 2016. Ellenwood won the NCAA crown in the seven-event outdoor heptathlon in 2018.
"The one thing they really have in common is they want to see if they can make it to the highest level," Davis said. "Sometimes you talk to kids and you tell them that in the right situation they could make the Olympic team or world team and they can't really wrap their head around it. They refuse to believe it until they meet some landmark that they have set, like 'I'll believe that when I make a U.S. championship or when I score at the NCAA meet.'"
Ziemek, from Itasca, Illinois, has vivid memories of that initial conversation with Davis in 2012.
"He said, 'I believe you can be this, this and this. He was showing me national marks, NCAA marks, the Olympics. I was 20 and I was thinking, "Why does this guy believe in me to do this?'"
Affirmation has come not once, but twice with Olympic berths.
"I've seen a path," Ziemek said. "It's awesome that we both have that thought. I can see it very clearly."
When Davis outlined his vision to Ellenwood in 2014, she smiled.
"The look on her face was like "Yeah, got it. I think so, too,'" Davis recalled.
"He's so passionate about the multi-events," Ellenwood said. "You don't often see that in either coaches or athletes, especially to his level. So when he's saying all that stuff, it makes you visualize what your potential is. When a coach sees that potential in you, you're like, 'Yeah, I want to work with you.' It makes you feel more confident. You know they're going to push you to the level you can be at."
Ellenwood would like to have had the option to train with Davis prior to qualifying for the Tokyo Games, but her travels were limited to her homeland due to the coronavirus. She wound up in Toronto working out with other multi-event specialists from Team Canada.
What's a realistic Olympic vision for Ellenwood, who's coming off her personal best score of 6,314 points?
"Obviously, I want to do top 10," she said. "I definitely know I'm capable of more now than I did a couple months ago."
Davis said he likes working with dreamers who share his views on diligence and attitude.
"What is that called in psychological terms? I don't know," Davis said. "They just believed that and that's what they did every day."
Players Mentioned
