Editors Note: Courtney Frerichs is a Nixa, Mo. native who recently competed for the U.S. Olympic team in the 3000 meter steeplechase at the Rio Olympics. From qualifying to the Olympic finals, Courtney is sharing her story with Ozarks Sports Zone. Courtney finished 11th this year and is considered a strong candidate to return to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
August 21: Home From Rio
I’m finally home from Rio after an amazing experience at my first Olympic Games! I’ve spent the last few days reflecting on the trip and I still catch myself wondering sometimes if all this actually happened. The last year has been such a whirlwind and I can’t believe my childhood dream of competing in the Olympics has come true. Competing for the USA on the biggest stage was everything I dreamed about and then some.
Leading up to the race, I just tried to keep things as close to what I would normally do in preparation for a big race. It’s always hard to know how the prep in the few days before a race will be especially in a new place, but I just tried to focus on controlling what I could control and rolling with it when things weren’t exactly how I would have wanted them to be (things such as food, running locations, etc).
My professional coach had opted for my team to stay outside the village in a hotel near the USA training facility. It was really nice to be away from all distractions and just focus on the task at hand. Most days I would go for my run on this bike path along the beach, then head to the USA training facility for drills, treatment, and food. After that I would spend the day resting or sometimes I would go over to the park next to our hotel and get a cappuccino at the café. We watched a lot of the other Olympic events on tv, but didn’t go to any events until after competition. The sailing venue was right outside my hotel so sometimes I would walk over to the beach to watch, but other than that we laid low until competition.
View from the U.S. training facility
My family arrived two days before I competed and I was so excited to have them there. They were staying close to me so it was nice to be able to meet them for meals or a walk on the beach. I’m so thankful I was able to share this experience with them.
After five days, it was finally race day! I thought I would be super nervous with this being my first senior international competition, but I was just really excited! I knew I had a good chance to make the final and I wanted to give it my all to accomplish my big goal of being an Olympic finalist. My prelim was in the morning, which was different than what I was used to (most distance races are in the evening in the US). I ate my usual Fruit Loops (which I brought from home) and had a cup of coffee and I was good to go! On my warmup I could just tell that that day was going to be a good one. I felt relaxed and ready to go. While I was under the track getting ready to go, that’s when I realized, oh my gosh, I’m racing in the Olympics! I was so giddy after that. Running out into the stadium in the USA uniform was so surreal. I had never raced in such a big stadium.
The race went out surprisingly slow considering we were in the third heat. I tried to stay calm and relaxed. I was tripped in the first 100 meters, but I just reminded myself that I needed to keep my composure. Races at this level are a lot more aggressive than I am used to so it was definitely a new experience. The race plan was to stay relaxed and in a good position until around 1k to go and then to try and push the last 1k. Right before this point, one of the competitors lost her shoe and stopped running in the middle of lane 1 causing a pile-up. I managed to react very quickly, got around it, and all of a sudden I found myself leading. It was very shocking as I had not expected to be leading at any point, but I felt a surge of adrenaline and began pushing the pace to ensure I would make a strong effort to be in the top three to qualify for the final. With 400 meters, the favorite in my heat took off as expected and I looked to see where I was in comparison to fourth place. I realized I had quite a bit of time on fourth and decided to conserve energy and just keep pace and not push the last 400. I came across the line in third place and qualified for the final!
As soon as the prelim was over, the recovery process began. Because the races were so close together (48 hours) it was extremely important I did everything I could to rest up to try and be my best in the final. This meant ice bathing, massage treatments, and resting.
The marathon was the day between my prelim and final, so I got the opportunity to watch it because one of the main loops was right outside my hotel. Two of my teammates, Amy Cragg and Shalane Flanagan, were running so it was really fun to be able to support them.
Going into the final I felt pretty good. I could definitely feel that I had run a hard effort, but I felt that there was still some life in my legs. Getting to the final was the ultimate goal of my Olympics, so the fact I was even there was just so exciting to me. The morning of the final, I prepped the same as I had for the prelim and ran out into the stadium with a smile on my face, ready to see what I was capable of.
The first part of the race was again surprisingly slow. This caused for a lot of traffic in the beginning races and I found myself having a harder time with it just because I had never experienced a race like this. Emma soon took the lead to push the pace and that strung things out. From there I tried my best to hang at the back of the chase pack and made a push the last lap. I crossed in 11th place, two seconds off my personal best. Being so close to top 10 and my personal best was a little hard at first, but then I reminded myself of what I’d accomplished this year by even making the team. A year ago I was ranked 7th in the USA, this year I finished 11th in the world. Once I put it in perspective, I held my head high, knowing I gave it my all.
Right after I crossed, Emma came running over to hug me and said, “I got bronze!” I couldn’t believe it. What an amazing accomplishment for the USA female steeplechasers! The first medal in the event for the USA. I was so proud of her and so happy I got to share that moment with her. Emma’s first games were in 2012 where she finished 9th in 9:22, almost the same as my finish. Seeing all the work she’s put into getting where she is now gives me a lot of hope. Emma has been a huge role model for me and I’m excited to try and follow in her footsteps.
I spent the rest of the day after the race with my family. It was the first day I got to be a tourist in Rio! We decided to go to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain. The view was absolutely incredible. We then went down to Copacabana beach to check out that area.
My parents left the next morning, but my fiancé and his family stayed until I left. I finally got a chance to be a spectator and experience more of the side of the Olympics everyone pictures it being like. We went to the track in the morning to watch some of the early events, including my friend Shelby who qualified to the final in the 5k. From there I headed to the Olympic Park to watch some other sports. The day after my final was the last day of gymnastics and I was fortunate enough to get tickets! It was so much fun getting to watch the gymnasts compete. I got to see the women’s floor finals along with the men’s high bar and parallel bar finals. Getting to see Aly and Simone compete made my day!
The morning of my last day in Rio I spent at the track. It was a great day of distance running and it was so much fun getting to support the other U.S. athletes. I got to watch my teammate, Evan Jager, win a silver medal in the men’s steeplechase. It was so amazing to get to see him achieve his goal. I have watched him work so hard, so it was really special to see him do so well!
After the track, I headed to the Olympic Village to finally check it out! I figured I at least needed to explore it to get the full experience. It was really neat to see so many different athletes from all countries.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Nike house. A lot of sponsors have hospitality houses for the athletes and families, and since I am sponsored by Nike I had the opportunity to relax at the Nike house. It was an amazing setup!
For our last night, Griffin and I headed down to Copacabana to see if we could get beach volleyball tickets. We weren’t lucky enough to get any tickets with the U.S. and both Brazilian teams playing, but it was so much fun being around the stadium! It was definitely a very lively and exciting atmosphere.
My Olympic experience was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have asked for better support through the entire journey. It’s crazy sometimes to think about the amount of hours put in over four years for a ten minute race, but the second it was over, I was already ready to start preparing for the next one. Competing at the Olympics was an even greater experience than I imagined and I only hope one day I can get back.
Throughout this entire journey, I have been so proud to be from such a supportive community. Between all the kind messages I have received, to the recognition, and receiving a key to the city of Nixa, I am so grateful to have grown up in the Ozarks. I can’t express it enough, how thankful I am for everything! It’s been a crazy and wonderful ride so far, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next!
Courtney Frerichs
SUNDAY AUG 7: Rio bound!
It’s been a week since I finally came down from the mountains, and I am now less than 24 hours away from heading to Rio! The fact that I am so close to heading down there makes it seem a little more real that I am heading to the Olympics. The time between the trials and the Olympics has been so long so I’ve really had to put my head back down and get focused. But now the work is done and it is almost time for the fun part!
Since the last blog, I have left altitude training camp (yay!), been to Houston for 24 hours, and then have spent the last week in Madison, WI. Houston was an absolute blast! We had our Olympic Team processing there so we received the rest of our Olympic gear. I left with two suitcases of gear from Nike and Ralph Lauren, a new watch, some Oakleys, and got fitted for my Olympic ring. They treated us so well at processing and really got us excited for the adventure we are about to embark on. Processing allowed us to also meet some of the other athletes in other events. I got to meet some of the men’s volleyball team which was really neat. Kerri Walsh Jennings was in my meeting which was so cool. I was definitely star struck!
After Houston, my teammate Emily and I traveled together to Madison. Our coach decided that we needed a week of humidity training before heading to Rio and looked to find somewhere that had weather close to Rio. I have definitely felt the humidity here after having lived in a dry climate for the last year! It has been so nice to finally get some sea level training in! I feel like I can finally take a deep breath. Living at altitude all year has definitely helped me and there are a lot of great benefits to it, but there is a lot of benefit to also going to sea level for training. We are able to hit our race paces much easier here than we can at altitude. I have really been able to see all the work I put in the last few weeks during my workouts at sea level.
This last week was my last week of hard training and today was my last hard workout before the prelim! I still cannot believe I am less than a week away from racing in the Olympics! I have one more long run tomorrow and then from then on, it’s all about resting and doing short easy runs to get the legs feeling good.
Since we spent the last week in Madison, unfortunately we did not get to walk in the Opening Ceremony. I think it was a good call by my coach though, in order to help me have the best performance I can at the Olympics. With the track events being so late into the games, it isn’t good for us to get there too early since it it’s a lot harder to train in Rio. It also makes for a very long day and with how intense our training is, we need all the rest we can get. My team all got together for dinner and we sat and watched it though and wore some of our USA gear. It was fun to watch it all together and really got me antsy to get down there to be a part of everything!
Bolivar business cheering for local Olympian
I can’t thank everyone enough for all the support from the community! My dad’s office, Teters, had a wonderful party for my family. Many people have sent me pictures of the banner in Price Cutter and of some of the signs around Nixa. It’s so touching to be from a community that cares so much! The shirts to help my family are so great as well. I am so thrilled about everything and am so thankful for all the help my family is receiving. I feel so lucky that I am going to have them in Rio with me.
Next time I write, I will finally be in Rio and finally be able to share the full experience with everyone! As a little side note, for anyone wanting to see Rio through my lens, feel free to follow me on Snapchat to follow my journey! My username is courtfrerichs8
Thanks again everyone for all the support!
Courtney
SATURDAY JULY 30: Qualified for the Olympics
It’s been three weeks since I made my first Olympic team, and I still find myself in disbelief! Life since then has been about as crazy as the race at the trials, but things have finally slowed down…for now. I have decided to use this first post to to talk about the race, life after the race, and a little preview for what the next three weeks or so will look like. Hope you enjoy it!
The Olympic Trials steeple final was hands down, the most stressful race I have ever been in. One race determined whether my childhood dream came true or not- at least for four years that is. Despite this stress, I seemed to be the calmest I’d ever been going into a championship race. I felt like I was in a great place mentally. Up to that point the year had been almost picture perfect- winning an NCAA team title in cross country, getting engaged, winning the individual NCAA steeplechase title and setting the collegiate record, and signing a professional contract with Nike- so I felt like no matter what happened, I was going to walk away with my head up because I had so much to be happy about. I had my family, my fiancé, and my best friend there, who were going to love me regardless of the outcome; I had nothing to lose. I went into the race with one thought in my head- the team motto at UNM this year – “Expect nothing, achieve everything.”
The race went out at a decent pace, but not super fast which meant we were going to be set up for a fast finish. I tried my best to find the top group because I knew it would dwindle down to about 6 or 7 girls pretty quickly. With 1k to go I found myself in this group and feeling like I had a good chance still. Over the next 200 meters, my mindset completely changed and I now found myself feeling panicked. During that 200, the American record holder, Emma Coburn, had taken over the lead and dropped the pace significantly. I hadn’t been in a race where I was not in the lead at this point all year and I found the pace change to be something I was not ready for. For the next 300 meters I was in very dark place mentally as I kept falling further off being in the top 3. Coming out of the second to last water jump though, I suddenly found myself in 4th with a lap to go- the worst place possible in my head. I came to the decision that I was going to dig deeper than I ever had before because I was not going to get 4th that day.
From panic to determination during the last 800 meters
All of a sudden I seemed to find a second wind and I quickly found myself catching my teammate, Colleen. We went over the water jump in unison and as we approached the last bend we moved into 2nd and 3rd. I had tunnel vision toward the finish line and had no idea whether Colleen was still next to me or not. I told myself to focus on getting over the last barrier clean and then to channel my inner sprinter to finish hard. I looked up with about 15 meters to go and realized Colleen and I were clear and a huge smile broke out across my face. The moments following the race were so surreal and some of the most amazing moments of my life.
.@courtfrerichs8 kicked her way to a PR and the Olympics! #TrackTown16 -> https://t.co/bzNgdCksrz
ð· @TaFphoto pic.twitter.com/6P1wJp9gFN
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) July 8, 2016
We received our American flags and got to take our victory lap. The victory lap was one of the coolest moments of the whole experience. We were the last race on the track, so all the fans were able to come down by the track where we got to take pictures and sign autographs. It was so amazing how many people wanted to share the moment with us despite the rain. I finally got to the corner with my family and it was just so special that I got to share that moment with them. Seeing my coach was an amazing moment as well. He deserves so much credit in getting me this far!
I didn't sleep last night. @steeple_squigs @courtfrerichs8 race had me feeling all kinds of feelings. #proudmama â¤ï¸ pic.twitter.com/gQvsAvu97L
— Shalane Flanagan (@ShalaneFlanagan) July 8, 2016
We went to the award’s ceremony and received our medals and then went out for pizza with my family and Colleen’s family. It was an incredible night celebrating with my friends and family. Colleen and I were roommates the entire trip, so that night we hardly slept. We were just so ecstatic and still couldn’t believe we had qualified for the Olympics! We woke up early the next morning and the first thing we said was, “Oh my gosh, it actually happened…we are going to the Olympics!!” We went to team processing later that morning and got our uniforms. The moment when we received them things started to really sink in.
The rest of the trials was so much fun! I spent lots of time with my family and friends and really tried to soak in the experience. Things were definitely overwhelming, but in a good way!
After the trials I spent a few days in Portland with Griffin, my fiancé. It was a good opportunity for us to explore our new home together and look for an apartment. It was on to Albuquerque for a few days after that to spend time with my friends and coach as well as move out of my apartment. I am definitely going to miss Albuquerque and all my friends there, but I am so glad I got to have the opportunity to be in Albuquerque for the last year.
From there, I packed up my bags to be on the road for six weeks. I have been in Park City, Utah for almost two weeks now with some of the other Bowerman Track Club, my new professional team, teammates. It has been a lot of fun training with them and a great opportunity to be surrounded by others also going to Rio as well as be in an environment that is a little calmer since I am back to full training. On Saturday (July 30) I will head to the Olympic Team processing in Houston where we will receive the remainder of our Olympic gear! After that we are spending a week in Madison, WI for humidity training. Madison’s weather is pretty close to Rio’s since it is winter in Rio. Finally, on August 7th I will head to Rio! I am so excited for the next few weeks and still can’t believe I am getting the chance to fulfill my childhood dream! I can’t thank everyone enough at home for all the kind messages and support I have received during all of this. It’s been absolutely incredible and I can’t imagine the journey without everyone. I’ll do my best to update everyone as frequently as I can with the blog and I look forward to spending some time back in the Ozarks after Rio!
Courtney
We are kinda excited for the Olympics @BowermanTC ðºð¸ðºð¸ðºð¸ðºð¸ðºð¸ðºð¸ pic.twitter.com/tuEGu8fXEb
— Shalane Flanagan (@ShalaneFlanagan) July 28, 2016
