The threat of terrorism, Brazil’s dire financial straits, the specter of the Zika virus and reports of doping by Russian athletes have cast a pall over the 2016 Summer Olympics, opening August 5 in Rio de Janeiro, but Las Vegans have something to cheer for with three local athletes competing in the Games.
Vashti Cunningham, who became the youngest U.S. track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games since 1980, will compete in the women’s high jump.
Many see her as the face of the sport’s future. Vegas Seven named her Best Athlete in our 2016 Best of the City edition (July 21).
She set the world junior record in the high jump at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March in Portland, Oregon, clearing 6 feet, 6¼ inches. She also won the IAAF World Indoor Championships. The 18-year-old finished second to Chaunte Lowe, 14 years her senior, at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon.
The 6-foot-1 athlete is the daughter of former UNLV and NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham and Felicity deJager, a former ballerina with Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Randall Cunningham, who coached his daughter on the Nevada Gazelles track team, likes her chances for gold. “There’s no other way to train people,” he told The New York Times. “You give them a vision, and they have to keep it in sight.”
Women’s high jump qualifying is August 18, and the finals are August 20.
Watch for these other Vegas Olympians in Rio:
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Cody Miller courtesy of Bold Action media[/caption]
Cody Miller: The 24-year-old Olympic swimmer was born in Billings, Montana, but grew up in Las Vegas and graduated from Palo Verde High School in 2010. As a member of the Sandpipers of Nevada swim team, Miller set the national record in the 15-16 age division for the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke.
He placed third in the 200-yard individual medley at the 2013 NCAA Championships.
Miller, who swam at Indiana University and competed in the U.S. Olympic trials in 2008 and 2012, qualified for his first Olympic team with a runner-up finish in the 100-meter breast (59.26 seconds) at the trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
Miller was diagnosed with pectus excavatum (sunken chest) and began swimming at age 8 to help monitor his heart and breathing. He trains four to five hours a day, five days a week, swimming about 13,000 yards each day.
“We couldn’t be more proud of Cody,” Sandpipers head coach Ron Aitken says. “We watched him become a champion starting with his early days when he swam for Sandpipers of Nevada. Having an athlete come from Las Vegas and from our club is truly extraordinary.”
Men’s 100-meter breast heats and semifinals are August 6, with the finals August 7.
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Connor Fields courtesy of Facebook[/caption]
Connor Fields: A 2010 graduate of Green Valley High School, Fields is a BMX racer on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Cycling team in action August 17-19.
He’ll be competing in his second Olympics, having placed seventh at the 2012 Games in London.
“A whole lot of days, I would wake up unsure if I was going to have the chance to compete at the Olympics,” he says on Facebook. “After going through that, waking up early and pushing my body to the limit have never been so exciting.”
Fields started competing in BMX racing at age 7 after his mother saw a flier at a bike shop advertising the local BMX track. His parents, Michael and Lisa Fields, drove him to practice five nights a week and sometimes drove five hours so could race against higher levels. In high school, he began competing on the World Cup circuit, earning podium finishes in 2009 and 2010.
The racer enjoyed a string of three straight World Cup podium finishes and a national championship in 2012. He added back-to-back world championships in 2012 in Birmingham, England, and in 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand.
He won his fifth-grade geography bee with a portending final answer: Rio de Janeiro.
And at least two non-athletes with Las Vegas ties are also in Rio de Janeiro:
Augie Sanchez
The 38-year-old Las Vegas native was hoping to go the Olympics as a boxer in 1996 but lost to Floyd Mayweather in the trials. Now he’s going to Rio as an assistant coach on the USA Olympic boxing team. Sanchez, who has coached amateur boxers at Barry’s Boxing Center in Las Vegas for 18 years, traveled with the U.S. team for six months and helped coach at the World Olympic Qualification Event in Azerbaijan in June. Boxing starts August 6, with medals matches August 12-21.
Joseph Peila
A math teacher at Cowan Behavior School in Henderson, Peila will be pacing the pool deck as referee for men’s water polo at the 2016 Olympics. He played the sport in high school and college (Cal State University, Los Angeles), and works weekends as a certified national and international water polo referee. He also plays with the local club Team Vegas Henderson.
Peila emphasizes the importance of hard work to his math students, and now he can show them how that hard work pays off.
“The ultimate goal in life is to be happy,” Peila says. “In order to be happy, I need to work hard and try to make other people be successful and be positive.”
Water polo matches are August 8-18, with medals matches August 19-20.
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