University of Northern Colorado (UNC) was proudly represented at the 2024 Paris Olympics. An alumna and a faculty member’s daughter competed at the summer games, and although neither left with a medal around their neck, their experiences were still bright and golden.
Lift with All Your Might
On Aug. 7, Dietetics alumna Jourdan Delacruz, ’23, stepped up to the platform in the South Paris Arena 6 with a full crowd in attendance and hovered over a 6’6” long barbell bearing a total weight of 185 lbs. After a few deep breaths, she heaved the weight from the floor over her head in one continuous motion for a successful lift. In the sport of weightlifting, this is called a snatch, and it’s one of two lifts each athlete performs in competition. Each athlete gets three attempts at the lift, their heaviest successful weight counting toward a portion of their final score. On her second attempt, the 26-year-old tried to lift 87 kg (191 lbs.) and then 88 kg (194 lbs.) on her third and failed both, making her first attempt her best.
Completing the first round was already an accomplishment for Delacruz. She competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games but did not complete a successful lift.
After a brief intermission, the 12 athletes in the 49 kg (108 lbs.) competition took on the second of the lifts, the clean and jerk. In this event, athletes lift the barbell from the ground to the shoulders (the clean) and then lock it over their head (the jerk) to stand in a forward lunge position. Despite only having one successful lift in the last round, Delacruz remained calm and focused. She attempted to lift 105 kg (231 lbs.) and easily did. Her second attempt at 110 kg (242 lbs.) failed but her third attempt at 111 kg (244 lbs.) stuck.
Delacruz ended the 49 kg competition with a total of 195 kg — her best score in the snatch combined with her best in the clean and jerk — to claim fifth place in the world.
“It’s bittersweet. I definitely expected a better performance. I expected to be on that podium, but I’m not as sad as I thought I would be. I think that’s just because I’ve had an amazing Olympic experience and knowing that my friends and family are here waiting for me — that’s making it so much better. But I’m really proud of myself.”
Delacruz completed the competition with a smile, a bow and a wave to the cheering crowd.
“In a lot of ways, this feels like my last competition. So, it was just a moment for me to acknowledge the barbell, this sport and everything that it’s taught me and how much I’ve grown as a person in the last 10 years,” Delacruz stated on the USA Weightlifting website.
Raising an Olympian
While training for the Olympics can turn into a years-long commitment packed with sacrifices, School of Nursing Senior Lecturer Erin Cummins, MSN, ’12, says raising an Olympic athlete almost requires the same dedication and the emotions are just as high. Her daughter, Olivia Cummins, at age 21, was the youngest track cyclist to join Team USA in the Paris Olympic Games.
“We love to watch her race,” Erin said. “We love it more when she’s happy at the end of the race than when she’s not, but we don’t care about the winning and losing. She cares enough about that.”
Five women including Olivia formed the Paris 2024 USA Cycling Olympic Team. In the gold medal competition against New Zealand, the team finished with a time of 4:04.306, which is just a fraction of a second off the world record time, earning Team USA the first gold medal in Women’s Team Pursuit. However, Olivia did not compete in this race or the previous qualifying races.
“She basically would get ready for each round, but I think she had a pretty good idea after qualifications that she probably wasn’t going to race unless something happened to someone,” Erin said.
In track cycling, while five athletes comprise the team, only four compete in each round of races. Cyclists race on a bowl-shaped indoor track known as a velodrome, which is typically angled at 45 degrees. The teams have the option to switch out racers in between rounds, however, Team USA chose to stick with the same four athletes, which means that even though Olivia made the team and warmed up before each race, she did not compete and therefore could not return to Colorado with a gold medal.
“It was the kind of situation where there was no way, unless there’s a really good reason, to switch up the team,” Erin said. “It’s such a tough situation because she was right there. If she had raced there is little doubt that the outcome would have been different. Her coach said if she would have competed for any other country, she absolutely would have been on the track.”
While traveling to Paris with her family was an overall great experience, Erin says the outcome is hard to swallow. Watching her child have so much drive — pouring blood, sweat and tears into a sport and being so excited to make the team just to be let down hurts.
“As a mom, it’s hard to see your child sad. But the good thing is she is pretty motivated to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Games,” Erin said. “It was weird. It was exciting to see the team doing well, but hard to see your kid not participating.”
How the Training Wheels Came Off
Erin says Olivia has been biking since she was 5 years old and from the outset she took the sport seriously.
“She did her first race in training wheels and competed in a little grassroots race in Fort Collins and a couple of little boys beat her,” Erin said. “She was so upset, so, so mad and crying, and they ended up having a second kids race where she blew past everyone.”
Erin didn’t know her family’s life was about to change then, but it did. From that point on, Olivia raced in local races and moved up in different road programs for kids until those in the industry finally suggested to the Cummins that then 11-year-old Olivia should consider competing in nationals.
“We were like, ‘What is nationals?’,” laughed Erin. “My husband and I grew up riding bikes, but we didn’t come from a cycling family background. Most kids who are into bike racing, their parents have also been bike racers or many of them are professionals.”
That year, Olivia raced in nationals and came in second place, making it obvious to the Cummins that their daughter was a pretty good bicyclist. That’s when the life-changing dedication began. The family of four began traveling all over the country for bike races and had Olivia join the Olympic Development Program when she was 15.
Now, Erin says her daughter is already getting back on the bike striding right into her collegiate athletic career at Colorado Mesa University. With the next Olympics on the horizon, Erin hopes the outcome at those games will be a big shift.
“Olivia has a chance to be the leader of the team because it is quite possible that none of the current athletes will return,” Erin said.
So, the race to L.A. begins, and Erin says she is ready to jump on her daughter’s support team again though she knows the journey can be an emotional rollercoaster.
“I am so proud of Olivia,” Erin said. “The way she handled her situation, she was personally going through a lot, but she was able to do what she needed to do with a smile on her face and in a mature manner. She totally understands and respects the decisions that were made even if it wasn’t what she wanted.”
.13 seconds away from Representing Jamaica in the Olympics
UNC Junior Track and Field star Jerome Campbell hoped to live out his Olympic dreams of representing his native country Jamaica in the Paris Olympics Games. In his pursuit, Campbell posted his second-fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles on the fourth and final day of the Jamaican Olympic Trials. While his time was impressive, Campbell ran a 13.32, he placed just .13 seconds behind the third and final spot on the Jamaican Team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Campbell will return to UNC to compete in the 2024-25 track and field program.
Bears Work Hard Behind the Scenes
Alumni are hard at work to make sure the Olympic competitions go off without a hitch, including:
- 14 alumni are employed with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Most of these Bears graduated with a Sport and Exercise Science degree and are working in operations, marketing/communications or athletic training jobs.
- Six alumni are employed with the Special Olympics organization and most majored in Recreation, Communication Studies and Journalism.
—Sydney Kern
