Cloudy with a Chance of Olympics
A handful of current and former NC State athletes train for the summer 2021 games that may not happen.
By Jack Daly ’01
NC State swimmer Nyls Korstanje has been obsessed with Japan for a decade. A budding athlete when he was in elementary school, he opened his first bank account and called it “Tokyo 2020” in a nod to the 2020 Summer Olympics. “It’s always been the Olympics I wanted to make,” he says.
COVID-19 deferred the dreams of Korstanje, who is from the Netherlands, by one year — the International Olympics Committee announced last March that it was moving the games to the summer of 2021. Korstanje and other Olympic hopefuls with Wolfpack ties have spent the time since assuming the revised plan will proceed. They are back in their training routines, traveling for competitions and strategizing how best to peak in late July or early August, when in Japan for the games. All systems go, in other words.
But with one big catch: As they trained, it was still a question whether the IOC or Japanese government would pull the plug again.
Former Wolfpack swimmer Justin Ress ’19 was deep in preparation for the 2020 games when the pandemic shut things down. Out of the pool for the longest stretch in years, he embraced mountain biking and video games. The summer brought small steps back to normalcy — albeit training in hot outdoor pools — before meets resumed in the fall. Ress is now pointing toward the U.S. Olympics trials in June.
But for Ress, it’s sometimes hard not to get wrapped up in the uncertainty. Ress has heard the rumors the games might be canceled. USA Swimming has said not to pay attention, but what happens if COVID-19 wins again? Ress has been swimming for the professional International Swimming League, but it’s not necessarily a permanent option. “I don’t really have any definitive plans,” he says.
Olympics or no, Nick Gwiazdowski ’16 has a clearer path. The former NC State great wrestles for the Titan Mercury wrestling club, which supports Olympic-caliber athletes as they pursue international careers. Tokyo is certainly a beacon for Gwiazdowski, but its presence does not dramatically change his day-to-day. Regardless of what the next major competition is, Gwiazdowski knows there will be one.
“I have a hard time letting something control my life,” Gwiazdowski says. “What’s in my control is my effort when I show up to practice and when I show up to compete.”
Korstanje has trained at home in the Netherlands, but plans to return to NC State in the fall, with two more years of eligibility remaining after his Olympic adventures. He says he’s hated being away from his Wolfpack teammates, but the possibility of fulfilling his childhood dreams has made it worth it.
Ultimately, names of bank accounts can be changed. And Tokyo 2021 doesn’t sound so different.
Editor’s Note: This story was reported and written before any formal decision about the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo had been handed down by the International Olympics Committee.
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