{"id":197522,"date":"2024-06-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=197522"},"modified":"2024-06-13T19:15:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T19:15:40","slug":"soldier-athletes-work-to-earn-olympic-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=197522","title":{"rendered":"Soldier athletes work to earn Olympic spots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Spc. Benard Keter, Staff Sgt. Leonard Korir and Sgt. Anthony Rotich, World Class Athlete Program, lead a team of elite runners in 4 X 400-meter drills during training near Fort Carson, Colorado. They’re hoping to make the U.S. Olympic team so they can compete in Paris this summer. (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins)
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Army News Service<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 Motivation. Drive. Spirit. As Soldiers with the World Athlete Program at Fort Carson, Colorado, push themselves, they have one goal \u2013 to qualify for the summer Olympics and Paralympics.<\/p>\n

The WCAP coaching and high-performance team consists of former Olympians and experts in strength and conditioning, athletic training, nutrition and massage therapy. They work with the active, Guard and Reserve Soldier athletes to keep them in peak performance.<\/p>\n

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\n Military shoppers should consider shopping for items located on the outer perimeter aisles of their commissary to find healthy items.
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Nutrition<\/strong><\/p>\n

When each athlete comes into the program, nutritionist Maj. Kelly Kaim runs a full blood panel and goes over their diets.<\/p>\n

\u201cNutrition can be a huge factor in winning or losing, and each individual needs to be treated differently to maximize their success,\u201d Kaim said.<\/p>\n

Track and field athlete Sgt. Anthony Rotich said it was a game changer for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found out I was anemic and was told I shouldn\u2019t be running,\u201d he said. \u201cI took an iron supplement for two years and really started performing. It really made a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said nutrition, training and recovery were all important. Rotich is an 11-time NCAA All-American and achieved the Olympic standard in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase event with an overall finish time of 8:13:74.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtein helps me to stabilize the blood sugar levels,\u201d said Sgt. Colett Rampf, radiologist specialist. \u201cYou have to implement protein because at the end of the day, for running, the first thing your body burns is muscle mass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rampf is a 7-time NCAA All-American and also runs the 3,000-meter Steeplechase. She hopes to make the Olympic team at the trials June 21-30 in Eugene, Oregon.<\/p>\n

Kaim said nutrition is important not only for the athletes but for all Soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers should get adequate protein to protect muscle mass and have a good strength training program in place,\u201d she said. \u201cThe longer someone serves, the more time and money is invested in them, so education is crucial for the continuation of our military readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Pvt. Guadalupe Gutierrez, a boxer assigned to the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program receives training from Boxing Technical Advisor Charles Leverette during training in Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 5, 2022. Gutierrez recently joined the World Class Athlete Program and is preparing for competitions. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Michael Hunnisett)
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Coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n

With more than 20 years of experience, Lt. Col. Jason Barber acts as the strength and conditioning coach for the Soldier athletes. He\u2019s also an Olympic weightlifting coach and USA Track and Field coach.<\/p>\n

He said it\u2019s vital for the coaches and support team to travel with the athletes as they compete at the elite level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s vital to be embedded not only into the WCAP program but with the teams as they travel,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know that not only are people routing for them, but they have people there who know them, care for them every day, train them and are in the fight with them. That concept gives us the edge over our competition both in the U.S. and overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff Sgt. Samuel Kosgei qualified for the Olympic trials in 2020 and won the Marine Corps Marathon in 2014 and 2016. He coaches the track and field team.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job is to motivate them and encourage them to accomplish their mission to make the Olympic team. It\u2019s an honor to work with these guys,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know my job is just to remind them that we\u2019re here for one mission, to make the Olympic team. We are a team, with the Army, we work as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Sgt. Anthony Rotich, Capt. Samuel Chelanga, Spc. Benard Keter and Staff Sgt. Leonard Korir, World Class Athlete Program, Fort Carson, Colorado, run 4 X 400s during track and field training March 12, 2024. (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins)
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Camaraderie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though the WCAP Soldier athletes are competitive, they work as a team to motivate each other to earn their respective spots on the Olympic team.<\/p>\n

Kosgei said the runners work as a team because they have a lot of volume in training, sometimes running 100 miles a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you work individually, you\u2019ll be exhausted,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you have your battle buddy helping you, pushing you on the weekdays you feel like you don\u2019t want to do it, you know your battle buddy will keep you going.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his goal is to build them, motivate them and get the job done, help them pick each other up and check on each other. He said one runner does 25 miles a day while the others do 16 miles.\u00a0The team runs with him for those 16 miles, and then he does the rest on his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was only doing 30 miles until I came here, and then I started running 90 miles,\u201d Rotich said with a smile. He said he wouldn\u2019t be where he is today without the support he receives from his teammates, family and support team.<\/p>\n

Staff Sgt. Leonard Korir, motor transport operator, said training with the team helped him secure his spot on the 2024 Paris U.S. Olympic team and the 2016 Rio U.S. Olympic team. He earned a bronze medal at the marathon Olympic trials in Orlando April 3 and was announced as an official member of the marathon team for the Paris Olympics June 6.<\/p>\n

He said during their 4 X 400 repeats, they switch. In track, the 4 X 400 is the meter mileage athletes will run and then recover as they perform each lap around a track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can take the first one, you take the next one, we do like that and before you know it, we\u2019ve done 25 laps,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about teamwork. We train with each other. If we ever see someone falling back, we encourage them. We check on them. We stay together. If you\u2019re not feeling good, you can run together with the team, get motivated and before you know it, you\u2019ve finished the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

With coaches motivating them and the nutritionist and strength and conditioning coaches there to keep them in top form, the Soldier athletes can focus on the final upcoming trials to qualify for the summer Olympics in Paris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army Spc. Benard Keter, Staff Sgt. Leonard Korir and Sgt. Anthony Rotich, World Class Athlete Program, lead a team of elite runners in 4 X 400-meter drills during training near Fort Carson, Colorado. They’re hoping to make the U.S. Olympic team so they can compete in Paris this summer. (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197524,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197522"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197529,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197522\/revisions\/197529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/197524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}