It s hard to grasp : Small Alaska town embraces state s 1st swimmer to win gold Updated: 8:25 PM PDT Jul 27, 2021 By MARK THIESSEN, Associated Press It s hard to grasp : Small Alaska town embraces state s 1st swimmer to win gold Share Updated: 8:25 PM PDT Jul 27, 2021
Hide Transcript
Show Transcript Somebody next table said, Hey, Lydia just wanted the gold and somebody else says no, it s impossible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The place went wild. It was so cool last year. Like right before Covid hit, we were all in the school and it was some trial to go to the olympic trials and we had the whole school watching on this tiny little tv and we all went crazy. You know, it was super hyped up. Like that was just then and now she s in the olympics and then one goal like that s, it s insane. It s hard to grasp for anybody here.
SEWARD, Alaska
An Olympic buzz permeates an Alaska coastal community thousands of miles away from Japan and nearly a full day after Lydia Jacoby scored a major upset to bring home gold in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke at the Tokyo Games.
Jacoby, a 17-year-old who will return for her senior year of high school in Seward, was the first Alaskan to ever qualify for the Olympics in swimming.
“We were hoping for a medal, but for her to hit the wall first was just beyond any of our expectations,” said Sarah Spanos, a swim mom who volunteers with the small team that Jacoby belongs to, the Seward Tsunami Swim Club. “And just everybody’s beaming with pride and joy and just tears, lot of tears.”