Memphis Health+Fitness Magazine October 2021

Page 26

MEMPHIS FIT

By Kelsey J. Lawrence Photo by Tindall Stephens

JESSICA’S JOURNEY TO THE TOKYO OLYMPICS Powerhouse Jessica Ramsey, 30, competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer. She joined the track and field team as a shot putter and scored 12th place in her Olympic debut. While glory is often saved for medal earners, she’s still one of the top athletes in the world and has her eyes firmly set on Paris. It’s Jessica’s Olympic ambition that brought the Florida native to the MidSouth in 2016 to train under Ole Miss Track and Field coaches Connie PriceSmith and John Smith. “Coach Connie is a four-time Olympian, so she told me about the experience,” Jessica says. “She taught me how to go to sleep, what to eat, how to stay focused, and to go in with a mindset that this is just another meet.” She may have approached the U.S. Olympic Trials as “just another meet,” but by the time they were over, Jessica set a new record with a throw of 20.12 meters and qualified with just one throw. It also made her the third American woman in the world to throw more than 20 meters in the shot put.

Training Herself While Training Others

24

Ramping up for Tokyo was hectic because she was practicing twice a day in the months prior, while also holding down a job as an assistant manager at Insomnia Cookies on Beale Street.


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