This year’s Olympics in Rio featured 14 athletes from Georgia. The athletes on the roster participate in events ranging from track and field, swimming and table tennis.
A key athlete in these Olympics was Kristi Castlin from Atlanta, who finished as the bronze medalist in the 100m hurdles.
Kristi Castlin’s journey to the Olympics began at Chapel Hill High School in Douglas County at age 14. Born and raised in Atlanta, Castlin was originally a talented cheerleader and took up track when she realized she was faster than all her classmates. Castlin chose to run the hurdles because not many girls went out for the event and she knew she could make her own mark. Castlin immediately made her presence felt when she won gold at her first Georgia State Championship and then went on win three more state championships, setting her school, county, region and state records with a time of 13.73.
“Castlin was always happy, very competitive and any excuses she could have made, she used it to drive her to become the very best,’’ said current Chapel Hill track coach, Kelly Williams. “My favorite memory of Castlin was when she won two medals at her first state championship (in 100m hurdles and long jump).”
Castlin graduated with a 4.0 GPA and went on to attend Virginia Tech, where she became an Atlantic Coast Conference champion, ACC record holder, school record holder and a four-time NCAA runner up. Ranking in the top 10 in the world for 100m hurdles, Castlin showed her drive and determination to become the very best.
Other Georgians competing in Rio and making their Olympic debut include: Yijun Feng in table tennis (Alpharetta), Gunnar Bentz in swimming (Atlanta) finished first in the 4x200m freestyle relay and Jenny Arthur America’s first olympic athlete in weightlifting (Gainesville).
In addition to those athletes’ first Olympics, Georgia has several athletes who have been to multiple Olympic games. The list includes Maya Moore (Atlanta), who just claimed her second gold medal in basketball and helped to extend team USA’s streak of 6 gold medals in women’s basketball, Glenn Eller (Columbus), who set an Olympic record in double trap setting, will compete in shooting and Christian Taylor (Fayetteville) who has a personal record of 18.21m in the triple jump, which ranks 2nd on the all time list. Taylor won the event for the second Olympics in a row.
Georgia may not have the most athletes representing their home state but it had several athletes bring home a medal.
