As more than 11,000 athletes compete in Rio for gold, silver and bronze, one Olympian is giving back to her community 6,000 miles away.
San Jose native Polina Edmunds, who represented the U.S. in figure skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was busy in a Sunnyvale warehouse Monday sorting school supplies for Family Giving Tree’s annual back-to-school backpack drive.
“Education is really important to me, it’s such a necessity for people to be able to go to school,” said Edmunds, who is joining Santa Clara University this fall to study communications. She’s also getting ready for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“I’m really excited to stay in my hometown and continue training … Hopefully I qualify, I really want to be a top contender,” Edmunds said smiling as she packed pencils, pens and erasers into hampers while chatting with her figure skating crew, looking impeccable in a pink top, her long blonde hair which is usually pulled back in the rink, hanging loose. Poise, grace, consistency, strength, are all words that apply to this 18-year-old.
Edmunds is the perfect example of someone who’s been there, done that, but wants to do it again. And again.
She is cheering for Team USA, tweeting at Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and the rest of the women’s gymnastics squad in Rio. She’s good friends with Raisman, but doesn’t want to play favorites.
“Our ladies are doing really well, they’re really strong, really inspirational, they’re going to set the floor on fire,” she said. As for Biles, who is anything but human on the gymnastics floor, and the perfect example of humility off the mat, Edmunds finds her “amazing.” “The tricks that she is doing are unbelievable, I’m so proud of the USA to have someone so amazing and so dominant,” she said.
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She’s also rooting for beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings, her favorite Bay Area athlete, who’s also from Archbishop Mitty High School, Edmund’s alma mater in San Jose.
Qualifying for the Olympics is never easy, as Edmunds testifies. “It’s a lot of work to get to the Olympic Games. For me it took 13 years … You really need to prove that you’re a champion even before you get to the games so that the judges already know you’re capable of doing what you’re about to do,” Edmunds said. “The focus and the hours you have to put in are just tremendous. So for everyone who gets through, it’s a great accomplishment.”
As for the pressure level, Edmunds says, “The pressure is really big, especially because you’re representing your country in front of the whole world, and in front of millions of people. Not only that, but you’re also representing yourself, your hometown, your coaches, so it all comes down to that one moment. But at the same time such a small percentage of athletes get to go through that, you really have to enjoy every moment and relish all the emotions that are coming at you.”
Emotions are high in Rio right now.
At one point during the qualifiers in Rio, Raisman was overheard saying that she felt like “projectile vomiting” during her act.
Edmunds knows about those butterflies.
“Even though the rings are everywhere, and it’s intimidating, and the media is insane, and it’s unlike everything else, I would say enjoy every minute, because it goes by really fast,” Edmunds said.
So what’s life really like in the Olympic Village? “It’s really cool, there are so many athletes from every country that everyone’s always running around,” Edmunds said. “You could be outside, training all day, but mostly you kind of keep it mellow, practice in your own room. You kind of have to treat it like you’re not even at the Olympics, treat it like you’re in training or in practice every day. In order to squash those butterflies down, stay calm and focused on your goal. Because the second you let the hysteria and nervousness act up, you get all jittery and second guess yourself.
In the village, all the athletes have tremendous respect for each other, cheering on each other’s teams. “I never felt homesick, it’s such an honor to be there, that you never want to leave,” Edmunds said. “When you’re done competing, it’s the fun part, ‘cos you get to use your badge and watch all the other events.”
In the fall, Edmunds will be off to Russia and Japan to take part in skating competitions to qualify for the Winter Games. For now, she’s happy sorting backpacks.
By the end of the day, Family Giving Tree has collected more than 37,000 of them, all of which will be sent to students enrolled in the federally-assisted meal program in Bay Area schools. “There are 350,000 kids in need in the Bay Area,” Edmunds, an ambassador for the Family Giving Tree, said. "This is just one way of helping them."
