{"id":91295,"date":"2024-03-05T15:46:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T20:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=91295"},"modified":"2024-03-06T08:58:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T13:58:29","slug":"brock-grad-secures-spot-in-paris-2024-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/03\/brock-grad-secures-spot-in-paris-2024-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock grad secures spot in Paris 2024 Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After years of dedication and sacrifice, Brock University graduate Hannah Taylor (BSM &#8217;21) will make her dreams a reality when she steps into the wrestling arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor secured her spot on Team Canada at the Pan-American Olympic Qualifiers in Acapulco, Mexico, on Feb. 29.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I won my final match, I broke down and cried. For years I\u2019ve been dreaming of going to the Olympics even before ever knowing what sport would take me there,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;To describe the feeling is extremely difficult.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Her performance at the <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2024\/01\/brock-grad-hannah-taylor-grapples-with-olympic-dreams\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">international qualification tournament<\/a> included a strategic approach. She competed at the Pan-Am Championships the previous week to enhance her seeding in the women\u2019s 57-kilogram weight class, entering the qualifiers as the third seed.<\/p>\n<p>In the quarter-final match, Taylor overcame Jacqueline Hernandez Gonzalez from Honduras, securing a 10-0 victory by superiority and setting the stage for her final showdown against Alma Valencia Escoto from Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Valencia Escoto&#8217;s attempts to cut into Taylor&#8217;s early lead, the Canadian wrestler emerged victorious with an 8-4 win.<\/p>\n<p>Taylor is no stranger to the podium. She\u2019s been a member of the national team since 2019 and has claimed nine national championships, including two bronze medals at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships.<\/p>\n<p>During her time at Brock, Taylor won four Ontario University Athletics (OUA) gold medals in conjunction with two OUA Outstanding Wrestler of the Year awards. She won U SPORTS silver and three golds on the national stage, including U SPORTS Rookie of the Year in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>A native of Summerside, P.E.I., Taylor&#8217;s journey to the Olympics is not just a personal triumph but also a source of inspiration for aspiring athletes across Canada.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ve received hundreds of messages from people around Canada, and especially from Prince Edward Island saying how proud I\u2019ve made them,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;Making it to this level will hopefully inspire the next generation of athletes in Canada to dream big.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Taylor is one of more than 280 wrestlers who will compete across 18 weight categories at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The wrestling events will take place from Monday, Aug. 5 to Sunday, Aug. 11 at the Champ de Mars Arena.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I was younger, I used to play the Olympic game on my PlayStation, I used to watch the Olympics and I didn\u2019t care what sport it was going to be, I knew my dream was to go to the Olympics,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;Now that this moment is finally here, I can\u2019t even put it into words.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After years of dedication and sacrifice, Brock University graduate Hannah Taylor (BSM &#8217;21) will make her dreams a reality when she steps into the arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":91296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,36,7484,3319,1,58],"tags":[256,4437,7488,8969,4883,307,699],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91295"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91314,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91295\/revisions\/91314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}