INPERSON
Dreams of Gold
Junior Olympian aims
for 2024 medal.
BY PAUL GLASSER
G
race Howard, a sixth grade student at
South Fayette Middle School, hopes
to compete at the 2024 Summer
Olympics.
She has already started on the path by
winning her third medal at the Junior
Olympics in Sacramento in July. More than
7,500 youngsters from across the country
competed in a variety of events. Grace won
sixth place in the high jump competition
for girls age 11-12 with a jump of 4 feet, 11
inches. She says she excels at the high jump
because she’s 5 feet, 3 inches tall and has
long legs.
“It’s almost like you are floating in the air,”
Grace says.
She was nervous before she competed but
used tips from her coaches to take her mind
off of the task at hand. Grace likes cupcakes,
so she pretends there is a cupcake tree over
the bar.
“If you don’t think about it too hard, it
comes more naturally,” she says. “My coaches
are a big part of this, because without them I
wouldn’t have gone to the Junior Olympics in
the first place.”
“MY COACHES
ARE A BIG
PART OF THIS,
BECAUSE
WITHOUT THEM
I WOULDN’T
HAVE GONE TO
THE JUNIOR
OLYMPICS
IN THE FIRST
PLACE.”
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PHOTOS BY
BILLY'D DUTRIEUILLE