PAIN, THEN GOLD
Armstrong recalls the highs and lows of an exhilarating Olympic adventure
County knew Hunter Armstrong because he was a football player and then a standout swimmer at Dover High School.
Central Ohio knows him as a star at Ohio State.
Stark County tuned in when Armstrong went to the Olympic Trials, becoming aware of his important developmental stint with the Canton City Schools regional team.
The world was watching when Armstrong made Team USA and won a gold medal. The medal came with an asterisk, but that’s part of an untold Olympic story shared by Armstrong a month later as he settles into college life in Columbus.
Here are five of his takeaways from his Olympic experience:
Topic 1: Late to the sport, Armstrong wasn’t supposed to make Team USA out of the Olympic Trials. In Tokyo, he came within one one-hundredth of a second of making the finals in his specialty, the 100-meter backstroke.
Armstrong: “I’d never been to an international meet. My biggest meet was the NCAAS a month and a half before the Trials. I went into the Olympic semifinals, unfortunately, overthinking, because ... because I was terrified . ... And I abandoned all race strategy in hopes to just take my swims to the next level.
“I had held back on every one of my swims, because it hurt too much. So going into that semifinal, I’m like, ‘OK, it’s kind of like your last chance.’ Ironically I didn’t want to end up missing the finals by a tiny fraction. I just gave it everything I had, and I just overswam the first 50. I went out too fast and ... died.
“It taught me valuable lessons, to deal with disappointment, to trust my body and my training, and to not throw everything out the window at the biggest race of your life.”
Topic 2: His 100 backstroke semifinal became more than a matter of pushing through pain, as all top swimmers must.
Armstrong: “It was beyond pain. It was muscle failure. My legs were not working. My arms were not working. In that moment, it was pure fear. How am I going to finish this race? I know people are passing me, because I can’t do anytuscarawas thing. My body just shut down.
“I feared for that moment, like ... this is something so many people have worked for, and everybody’s watching, and I’m here to prove myself. I felt I let everybody down in that moment. The amount of support I got afterward really helped me get through.”
Topic 3: Armstrong, Andrew Wilson, Tom Shields and Blake Pieroni were entrusted to get Team USA to the 400 medley relay finals, while the finals team, Ryan Murphy, Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel and Zach Apple, rested.
The plan worked perfectly. Armstrong and the group reached the finals. The finals group set a world record the next day. All eight men received gold medals. Armstrong:
“When I watched them win that medal, I broke down. It was just pure pride. Team USA for swims was 70% first-timers. We were seeing a complete shift on our Olympic team and so many people doubted us.”
Topic 4: The road to Tokyo and back has been a soul-searching journey.
Armstrong: “I thought I was supposed to be there, and I was supposed to do something. Honestly, there was a moment when I felt I let God down because ... I wanted to sort of share my story and my faith on the world’s biggest stage, and I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain.”
Topic 5: Armstrong is all in as an Ohio State student and swimmer as a wave of public appearances ebbs. A few months ago, when he was “just an Olympic Trials long shot,” he said he dreamed of being an actor.
Armstrong: “It’s funny you would bring that up. I went to Tusky Valley and spoke to the volleyball team and the soccer team and cross country. A girl came up to me and said she was really happy to see a successful athlete be a part of theater, because those two don’t often go together.
“She told me she was sort of made fun of for being an athlete and being in theater. At my high school, my brother was an good athlete who also was in theater, so I thought that was normal. I didn’t think it was as cliche as High School Musical ... “jocks can’t sing.” Apparently some places are like that.
“I hope I can share the story of you can do whatever you like to do. Don’t follow what other people think.”
“I hope I can share the story of you can do whatever you like to do. Don’t follow what other people think.”
Hunter Armstrong