Triangle summer stars to Winter Games competitors: Just soak it in
Posted February 14, 2022 2:07 p.m. EST
Updated February 14, 2022 2:10 p.m. EST
From swimmers to runners to divers, the Triangle was well represented in Tokyo. Now those athletes are cheering on their fellow Olympians in the Winter Games.
While the events may be different, the skill, grit, pressure and glory are all still there.
For Andrew Capobianco, of Holly Springs, the transition from the Olympic podium to training for an NCAA diving championship at Indiana University means "Life is pretty much back to normal," he said.
In the last Summer Olympics, Capobianco won a silver medal in the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard.
This winter, between training and studying and doing the normal stuff of a standout 22-year-old athlete, he's watching the Olympics in Beijing.
"I really like watching the figure skating because that's pretty similar to diving in a way, with the preciseness and all the spins that they do," he said.
He offered this advice to his Winter Games counterparts on Team USA: "Take it all in while you can. I know that's hard to do when you're competing."
He hopes his work in the pool now pays off in another Olympic wow moment in Paris in 2024.
Swimmer Claire Curzan had a similar message for the Winter Olympians.
While watching the Games in her down time, Curzan has been shattering records. She broke the national high school record in the 100-yard backstroke at 50.47 seconds, then set a national record in the 100-yard butterfly: 49.23 seconds.
This all came after she earned a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics for swimming the butterfly in the women's medley.
Her message to her winter counterparts: Savor the moment.
"Definitely just soak the whole experience up," she said. "For me, it definitely passed by in the blink of an eye."
This fall, Curzan will enroll at Stanford University.
While she savors her memories of Tokyo, she, too, is planning on a trip to Paris in 2024.
"It still hasn't really sunk in," she said. "People look at me as an Olympian, but I still feel like a teenager. I'm so grateful for any opportunity I've had, and I'm excited for the future."
