Olympian-to-be Adelaide Aquilla of Ohio State University reflects on her road to the 2020 Tokyo Games.
A. Aquilla Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Because it was a sort of family rule that you selected a sport when you got to middle school, Adelaide Aquilla began her quest to many Big Ten and NCAA championships and participating for the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Aquilla played other sports as a child, including soccer and volleyball, before settling on shot put as the individual event in which she would go on to achieve Olympic success.
“I Tried Soccer first but I was Terrible at it, so I Switched to Volleyball.
Somehow, I managed to get to track. Aquilla informed me, “We had this thing at my middle school where if you finished every event on the track in a season, you earned a sweater.” Shot put was my event that week, and I did really well for a middle schooler.
I persisted because my coaches told me to; I never received the promised sweater, but I suppose competing in the Olympics will have to do.
Aquilla came close to enrolling at Miami University before ultimately deciding to walk on at Ohio State, a few years before the Tokyo Olympics.
Together, my dad and I sat down and mapped out exactly what it would take for me to pay for college or trade school. Because of the regular exposure to top-tier competition at Ohio State, I felt my skills would improve dramatically if I made the move there.
The Ohio native said that despite breaking the Magnificat High School record in both the shot put and weight throw, she was still underweight and not a particularly good thrower at the time.
Once she arrived in Columbus, she dedicated herself to the weight room and worked on the finer points of her throwing technique.
Coach Ashley Kovacs, who spent the previous seven years with the Ohio State Buckeyes, has been credited with helping Acquilla make tremendous strides after being hired by Vanderbilt.
In her time in University, Ashley Gained a wealth of Valuable Expertise.
She has seen what it’s like to compete at the highest levels across the board. Aquila gushed over how lucky he was to have access to her knowledge and that of her husband, a world-class athlete who has competed on the international stage and won multiple titles.
“If you want to go professional in track, they have all the resources on what you need to do, how far you need to throw. The knowledge I’ve gained from working with Ashley and Joe has been invaluable to me and the rest of the team.
Aquilla elevated her performance to a new level in 2019, garnering second-team All-American accolades, before going on to dominate even more the next two years.
She won the 2020 and 2021 Big Ten indoor titles, was named to the first team of All-Americans in both years, and won the NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the same year. On June 17, 2021, Aquilla was honoured as Ohio State’s female athlete of the year.
The Experience has been Overwhelming.
In my head, I’m still just a walk-on who doesn’t have a chance to compete with the likes of these other elite throwers.
Aquilla remarked, “It’s weird for me to alter my thinking and realise that I’m an exceptional thrower at the collegiate and professional levels. Bringing home two national crowns and three Big Ten titles in the last three years is nothing short of a blessing. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the ride.
After her undergraduate season ended, she competed in and placed third at the United States Olympic Trials in June, securing her spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Entire Stadium was Beautiful,” Aquilla Gushed about her time in Tokyo.
That was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was fantastic to compete over there. It was strangely silent, especially without any sort of ventilation. Coming from the Olympic Trials, where the stadium was practically packed, was a strange experience.
One more outdoor season and two more indoor seasons are still on the table for Aquilla at Ohio State, where he has already set personal bests with throws of 18.12 metres and 19.12 metres, respectively.
Conclusion
Aquilla has improved her throw by more than 17 feet since high school, and now she has her sights set on breaking the national indoor and outdoor distance records. “Break both of those and then the next big objective after that is to throw 20 metres,” she says.