Virginia “Ginny” Fuchs finally got the call on Wednesday that she’s been waiting for - the one to let her know she is officially an Olympian headed to the Tokyo Olympics.
The flyweight from Houston will be headed to her first Olympics, but the process was anything but easy.
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Due to COVID-19, both Continental qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics were canceled, which forced the qualifications to be based on Fuchs’ performance at the 2019 Pan American Games, where Fuchs finished with a silver in her division. The second of the two qualifiers was supposed to happen last month. Since then, the 33-year-old Fuchs was told by officials that her spot looked extremely likely, but it wasn’t yet completely certain.
That changed on Wednesday afternoon when Fuchs got the official call from USA National Team head coach Billy Walsh and USA High Performance Director Matt Johnson. She told KPRC 2 that her first thought was a very ecstatic “finally!”
“I was filled with so much excitement,” Fuchs said. “These past 11 years (with) all the hard work, hours, tears, pain was worth it.”
This excitement has been building for a while. Back in 2016, Fuchs won her weight class at the USA Olympic Trials, only to fall just short in subsequent qualifiers. Even still, the team thought enough of her that she was still team captain and went along with the team to that year’s Games in Rio, even if she wasn’t officially an Olympian.
But now, she is officially an Olympian.
“I have been waiting to call myself an Olympian for so long,” Fuchs said. “To hear myself say it is the best accomplishment I think I will ever get to say in my life.”