-I'm glad they came to a decision like that
so now we can readjust our schedule,
readjust our training, and prepare for next year.
I think the hardest thing that I've realized --
and it's same as an athlete -- is like, man,
you spend too much time out of the pool,
you start to lose things.
You start to lose the feel of the water, even just mentally.
You lose that edge, and so to compete
in the Olympics in a few months, we wouldn't be at our peak.
And so it's good now to have that peace of mind.
Okay, we've got time again.
Now we're just prayerful that all of this whole pandemic
can blow over,
which it doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon.
-You know, we all understand the circumstances.
It's hard to describe how I feel.
Karate is the first time being in the Olympics,
and so you can imagine the excitement
and all the things that I was looking forward to do.
Obviously, this is such an unfortunate environment
where a lot of people's health are at risk,
so I think it's really important that they put athletes
and everybody else's health first and try to plan everything
'cause the athletes aren't able to train.
Training and imagining myself
performing at the Olympics is really, right now,
the only thing that's getting me through all of this.
No matter how long they postpone it,
the Olympics is still the goal.
-I feel lucky that I can still go out for a run.
Like, you know, all I need is a pair of shoes,
and I can go run anywhere.
I can do most of my gym stuff in my living room.
You know, we do some real lifts,
like Olympic lifting and stuff, and we can't do that right now.
But, you know, for the most part,
I just feel lucky that that I can go for my runs
and I can do most of my training and try and just avoid,
you know, getting sick as much as possible.
-Team USA is doing a really great job
of making sure we have mental health resources
during such an unsure time, so I do really appreciate that.
So I took advantage of that opportunity,
and I talked to a therapist
just because I wanted to know how best to navigate this.
You know, I don't want to just, you know --
taking it day by day only works so much,
so I got some really great advice,
and she basically said, like, "What can we do now?
What can we do later?
And what can we do never?"
And -- as far as, like, control.
So, like, I'm only focused
on what you can do right now, right?
So, like, for me, I can train right now.
I can, you know, focus and do well in school right now.
You know, I can play with my dog and enjoy, you know,
hanging out outside right now.
You know, later, you know, figure out
how I'm going to financially deal with the aftermath of this.
-I'm in a fortunate position where I can wait a year
for the Olympics to happen, so I do have that flexibility,
and I've planned for that in my life to be competing next year.
I feel for a lot of athletes who this was gonna be their last go.
And many of the athletics contracts
are based around Olympic years and world championships years,
so if you're already an accomplished athlete
who's a global medalist, you're probably fine,
but there's a lot of athletes who are at my level,
who are trying to make a large breakthrough
who really need those Olympic years
to kind of get you those faster times,
get you those better appearances.
If there's a possibility to delay the Games a year,
and that's supported by the United States of America
and the USOC,
I think that I would look to them to support us
as athletes through the difficult next year financially
so that we would be able to get to those Games
and be a competitor there.
-The Games could actually be a really cool way
to bring people back together and unite people
and, you know, have that uplifting.
It always has that uplifting effect
and, you know, makes people feel very patriotic and everything,
but I think maybe now more than ever, we kind of need that.
We need, like, a rallying force.
We need something to celebrate.
We need something to cheer for and get excited about
and say, you know, "Go, Team USA" about.
So I think it could be really special after tumultuous times.