When he was a sophomore in high school, former Hendersonville High multi-sport standout Grant Rivers started dreaming of one day competing in the Olympics in Track and Field.
Rivers was one of the Athletes on show recently during the National Track and Field Championships at the National Sports Center.
Now, he’s on the verge of making that dream a reality.
Rivers, who became a Bermuda citizen over the winter and who set the Bermuda Pole Vault Record back in February when he was competing for North Carolina State, is now training for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“It is official,” Rivers, a graduate of North Carolina State University, said. “I am now working with the Bermudian National coaches when I’m in Bermuda, and I’m also working with the Team USA coach Andy Eggert and one of the best decathletes in American, Soloman Simmons, when I’m in Raleigh.”
Rivers need s to have the No. 1 or No. 2 score in his event, the decathlon, in order to represent Bermuda at the Olympics. He has his first major test coming up next month. The Bermuda National Athletics Association approved Rivers to represent the country at the World University Games, which will be held July 3rd – 14th in Naples, Italy.
“A lot is riding on how I do there, and I’m excited to go,” Rivers, a 2013 HHS graduate, said.” Bermuda National Athletics Association President Donna Raynor told me if I did well in Italy that I would be put on the Elite List. Once you’re on that list, the country does provide you with some funding.”
“But I have to eat. So, I’ll likely be getting a part-time job, which means less time for training,” he said.
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