What's Next?! PARIS OLYMPIC UPDATE

hey everyone um so we're a few weeks past the Olympic selection haven't really done an update and I'm getting kind of a lot of the same questions so we're just going to go through some questions and how I'm feeling and talk about what's next Gwen did you get selected for the Olympics I did not get selected for the Olympics I am an alternate as is Katie zir so there are two alternates could you just walk us through and help everyone understand when nobody Auto qualified there were two spots that became available for discretionary can you give us a look into the window of time that they were doing and like the policy that was in place for that because a lot of people would say to you hey you won the 2016 Olympics like you should be go to the Olympics again so can you just give us some insight and information on that so according to the policy they couldn't look past um two years so they looked at 2023 and 2024 results they couldn't um you know go back into 2021 or anything like that um and then yeah they looked at the the document basically said if it's going to be based on discretion they need to pick somebody that has uh chance of winning a medal and they actually reached out to everyone who was on this list like you could hit certain markers to get on this list I think there's you know five or six of us on the list and they reached out to us and they said answer these two questions first one is why are you the most likely candidate to be able to win a medal in the individual and why are you the most likely candidate to win a metal in the Rel so they had each of us fill that out um you know when I filled that out I felt very confident like I felt like I had a very strong case as to why I could win a medal um but I'm sure everyone that filled out that document felt the same way yep and then ultimately you you know you weren't selected were you given any insight as to why you weren't selected I was told the other athletes showed consistency and consistency shows metal potential do you believe consistency shows medal potential I the the people who were selected were Taylor Spivey and Kiren Casper and I think they um you know did a phenomenal Job showing up at least like in Yokohama they were fourth and fifth Auto qualification there was third they they didn't do that meet that um but they think they did have probably some of their best performances that they've had at that race and I think that was looked at and you know I think you know there was a question that I got was like if you were on the committee like would have you selected differently like obviously I would have selected myself but obviously I'm also biased towards myself so um yeah I don't want to you know downport the other athletes I think that they're um yeah good athletes we've gotten a lot of questions around what's next for you um but I think maybe before we go into what's next can you maybe be rewind and give us a recap of like the last two years for you from when you started racing in you know February of 23 and then you know till right now it's June of 2024 and maybe give us like some of your highs and lows along the way and and what um yeah I think uh you know I'm going to answer that with as well talking about the Olympic selection like my whole goal was to make it to the Olympics and when I started this journey in 2023 I don't think think I was naive about how hard it would be to get into races and so I couldn't get into wtcs races you know even this Olympic selection like if you look at person for example she had nine opportunities at the wtcs level to prove herself and I had two where I had more than a week's notice and so um yeah I think I I underestimated the ability to have opportunities to qualify and then you know in in 2023 when I realized that they were going to sub in other people but not sub me in I realized very quickly like I needed to earn points to get into races to be in the top five and just earn it the hard way and so I went out you know I was very proud that I was able to win four World Cups in one season um you know as a breastfeeding mom you know started racing less than four months postpartum like those things I think I'm really proud of and if you've ever been a woman who's had a baby I think you'd you'd understand that um yeah and then when 2024 started I was super excited I was like oh my gosh here we go we get to go to Abu Dhabi we get to go to Yokohama we get to go to Kari and two of those opportunities were taken away from me and so that was something that again put this big hurdle in place for me me to to qualify for the Olympics and yeah I think you know just Abu Dhabi being canceled and usat T taking K gari away from me after I was in the top five I think were were another two huge obstacles that I had to overcome and wasn't able to do that before all this like last year when I was competing and wasn't able to get into wtcs races Like Pat you know this other people that are in my circle I talked a lot about like what I wanted to do and people are always like oh just want to go to the Olympics and be done and that was never it like I always wanted to finish the 2024 season and go after um you know the world championships in 2025 so that's always been on my radar since last year and that's something that I am yeah going to do so I'm going to um you know finish out this wtcs series so there's hurg there's a race in China and there's a race the Grand Final in Spain and then um compete next year as well in the wtcs circuit and you know obviously there's a lot of talk around additional Series in Long course uh does something like the T100 or the Ironman Pro Series you know peque your interest yeah have a lot of people asking me like are you going to go to Long course why not t00 you'd be great at it it's the perfect distance for you and um yeah you know they they offered me a lot of money to do it this year they offered me early on in the year I said no way they offered to me again um after not being selected for the Olympics and that's just not really something I have interest in right now so going to do a pass on that for the year do you just if you somehow got the fever to do that tomorrow do you even have a triathlon bike that you could do it on I do not have a TT bike um and you're happy about that that's not a knock at your sponsor you're you're I have not asked for a TT bike nor will I ask for a TT bike all right cool um you know talk to us about what has actually been you know really enjoyable maybe on this return and what you're looking forward to uh you know the rest of the season and in 2025 yeah I think my return to Tron has been enjoy enjoy enjoyable because I've really focused on my why my why my reason like why I'm doing this um and that's not just about like winning but it's more about like what motivates me who do I want to embody as a person um you know I think uh you didn't ask me this but I'm just thinking of like there's been multiple times throughout the year where I've had other athletes come up to me and been like we need to change this we need to do this and this needs to change to make Trion better and people listen to youwen you should you should make the change and I laugh because like I I don't have the ability to change things and I think people think my voice matters and I I think it does in a way but um you know for the really the things that people want changed I'm not able to change that and back in my previous campaign um you know in 26 going into 2016 I think a lot of people don't know just some of like the politics that were very frustrating for me and a big reason why I quit Tron and and this time around um when I see things that are frustrating or um rules not being followed or things like that I'm somebody who's always going to say something and I think that makes people angry at me um for sticking up for um you know what what's what should be done and what's fair um but I do think you know this time around I there may be those same issues but this time around you know I say something when something's not right and I think that makes me feel like I even if I'm not making a difference it makes me feel like I'm able to make a difference and that makes this feel more enjoyable as well like hopefully for the future Generations things might be better yep and you know you kind of got me a little sidetracked here but you you talked about one of your reasons for leaving and you know a common misconception that people have is you left Triathlon because you went and made a ton of money over at Nike running can you um can you clear that up for all of us and maybe and share some insight on that process and experience I've never heard that before um but yeah I mean I definitely you know I've never been in in sport for the money um and I think I've I made way less money by switching to running and um you know as well like I could could do the T100 and get paid way more right now um but I choose not to do that for the money either and I really am motivated by you know for me last year it was about like being bold and this year it's about um you know dealing being adaptable um being curious and these are things that I want to embody and um you know being a role model to to my children and so that's really things that I yeah are are things that really motivate me and keep me happy and enjoying this process Gwen let's talk about the last week just emotionally how has it been for you as an athlete and just not just as an athlete but as a person how has that been yeah emotionally I I would say um honestly the the hardest part of this year for me was when I was taken out of Kari it was a complete surprise to me I felt like I had earned my spot there um and I just got an email after I'd been on the start list for a week I got an email and said hey we're taking you off we're putting somebody else in and um I was just devastated um probably still not over that but you know the Olympics I kind of knew what the selection was I knew what the process was I knew the documents they were going to go through and and what they were going to do and um I fully expected you know once I got taken out of C leari I knew like wow if they're going to take me out of races there's no way they're going to put me into a Race So I've always said from day one of this journey that if I didn't Auto qualify that I wouldn't then be selected and so yeah I filled out this document and was convinced myself that I was the only logical choice to be picked but I also knew that um based on history that they would never choose me so when I got that like when I got the news it wasn't like Devastation like it was from Kari or you know even after Yokohama I was pretty upset emotionally and took some time away as a family just to kind of get away from Tron I um yeah you know Yokohama Was a Race it it was an interesting race for me because it showed me that I can still win at this level and even though other like I got 15th Place right and I remember like last year there was a race I think it was uh what race was it there was a race uh Sunderland that I got into and race that wtcs and after that P's like quen you can win again I was like you're ridiculous like I I didn't feel that back then but Yokohama to me showed me that I do have the capability to win at this level so um to to finish that race and 15th was just um pure something that I made a mistake and so that that that was really hard for me to process this is a question from social media that you put out but one of the questions asked about uh La 2028 is it too early to ask that question oh you know what's funny is La 2028 so when I was pregnant with George and I was swimming I was swimming with Morgan piar and Taylor nib and they're like quen you should come back for 2028 in their minds they were like it's impossible to do 2024 I think if you look at like what I tried to accomplish basically only having literally two opportunities to do it like it would have been insane um I still think I could have done it I didn't Point anyway they were like you should come back for 2028 like home games we could win the win the relay um so anyway I'm not gonna answer that question yet I I think it's so far away there's so many other things like um you know Pat and I possibly more children I definitely want to keep competing so there's a lot um to work into that mix and I don't really know you know like right now I feel like I am still really fit I'm still at my best but I'm 38 years old like four more years how will I feel I don't know going to wait and see

Channel: Gwen Jorgensen

Views: 44,328

Keywords: gwen jorgensen, marathon training, gwen jorgensen nutrition, global triathlon network, gtn, toyko2020, flo track, gwen jorgonson, polar watch running, triathlon taren, olympic trials, professional runner training, pro runner vlog

Id: iVdeyawCHtE

Length: 12min 55sec (775 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 16 2024