Two Alabama athletes are heading to Tokyo

How can you have a story about Alabama athletics without championships competed for at the highest level. And it doesn’t get any bigger than the Olympic Games.

Last year’s Tokyo games, disrupted by the ‘Rona, are being staged this summer — though the decision is controversial for sure. For the better part of six months, citizens of the island archipelago have protested on practically every street corner as to whether even host the games at all. There is some signs that resistance may be letting up, but Japan is still very much mired in midst of another crippling wave of infections. Even the nationalist government, which view the Games as a soft power coup in an era of rising ASEAN tensions, has recognized the scope of the problem, banning foreign visitors from attending. It is a compromise that has found few supporters.

It is against that controversial backdrop that the Alabama Crimson Tide will send two of its student athletes to the games.

A full dozen Alabama track and field athletes will be participating in Trials, including 2021 NCAA champion Robert Dunning (110-meter hurdles) and 2021 NCAA Championships 100 and 200 meters medalist Tamara Clark.

In swimming, Alabama’s Rhyan White placed second to earn a spot on Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics.

White, who posted the second fastest time out of prelims with a 58.88 before going 58.99 in the semifinals, cranked out a 58.60 in the finals, finishing in second, 12 hundredths of a second ahead of third place and just a quarter of a second behind Regan Smith.

Already having punched her ticket is Alabama Gymnastics’ senior, Shallon Olsen. The Surrey native was Canada’s youngest competitor ever in 2016, and she held serve to make the team again in 2021. Canada is skipping the Rio Olympic trials, but you can catch her on NBC, as Gymnastics is undoubtedly one of the biggest draws of the summer games.

Best of luck to all of Alabama’s Olympians and would-be Olympians. Go represent yourself, your nations, and your alma mater well.

Roll Tide.
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