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  • I'm glad they came to a decision like that so now we can readjust our schedule, readjust our training, and prepare for next year.

  • I think the hardest thing that I've realizedand it's same as an athleteis like, man, you spend too much time out of the pool, you start to lose things.

  • You start to lose the feel of the water, even just mentally.

  • You lose that edge, and to compete in Olympics in a few months, we wouldn't be at the... our peak.

  • And so it's good now to have that peace of mind.

  • Knowing "okay, we've got timeagain."

  • Now we're just prayerful that all of this whole pandemic can blow over, which it doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon.

  • You know, we all understand the circumstances.

  • It's hard to describe how I feel.

  • Karate is the first time being in the Olympics, and so you can imagine the excitement and all the things that I was looking forward to do.

  • Obviously, this is such an unfortunate environment where a lot of people's health are at risk, so I think it's really important that, you know, they put athletes and everybody else's health first and try to plan everything because the athletes aren't able to train.

  • Training and imagining myself performing at the Olympics is really, right now, the only thing that's getting me through all of this.

  • No matter how long they postpone it, the Olympics is still the goal.

  • I feel lucky that I can still go out for a run.

  • Like, you know, all I need is a pair of shoes, and I can go run anywhere.

  • I can do most of my gym stuff in my living room.

  • You know, we do some real lifts, like Olympic lifting and stuff, and we can't do that right now.

  • But, you know, for the most part, I just feel lucky that that I can go for my runs and I can do most of my training and try and just avoid, you know, getting sick as much as possible.

  • Team USA is doing a really great job of making sure we have mental health resources during such an unsure time, so I do really appreciate that.

  • So I used... took advantage of that opportunity, and I talked to a therapist just because I wanted to know how best to navigate this.

  • You know, I don't want to just, you knowtaking it day by day only works so much, so I got some really great advice, and she basically said, like, "What can we do now?"

  • What can we do later?

  • And what can we do never?

  • Andas far as, like, control.

  • So, like, I'm only focused on what you can do right now, right?

  • So, like, for me, I can train right now.

  • I can, you know, focus and do well in school right now.

  • You know, I can play with my dog and enjoy, you know, hanging out outside right now.

  • You know, later, you know, figure out how I'm going to financially deal with the aftermath of this.

  • I'm in a fortunate position where I can wait a year for the Olympics to happen, so I do have that flexibility, and I've planned for that in my life to be competing next year.

  • I feel for a lot of athletes who this was gonna be their last go.

  • And many of the athletics contracts are based around Olympic years and World Championships years.

  • So if you're already an accomplished athlete who's a global medalist, you're probably fine, but there's a lot of athletes who are at my level, who are trying to make a large breakthrough who really need those Olympic years to kind of get you those faster times, get you those better appearances.

  • If there's a possibility to delay the games by a year, and that's supported by the United States of America and the USOC, I think that I would look to them to support us as athletes through the difficult next year financially so that we would be able to get to those games and be a competitor there.

  • The games could actually be a really cool way to bring people back together and unite people and, you know, have that uplifting.

  • It always has that uplifting effect and, you know, makes people feel very patriotic and everything, but I think maybe now more than ever, we kind of need that.

  • We need, like, a rallying force.

  • We need something to celebrate.

  • We need something to cheer for and get excited about and say, you know, "Go, Team USA" about.

  • So I think it could be really special after tumultuous times.

I'm glad they came to a decision like that so now we can readjust our schedule, readjust our training, and prepare for next year.

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