ROANOKE, Va. – We’re just a couple of days away from the opening ceremony and the excitement is building here at home for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Nicola Cranmer, manager of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Women’s Professional Cycling team, coaches a few cyclists that are headed to Paris.
“It’s really fun when you work with somebody that has Olympic aspirations, and you know they’re very focused, very driven, and yeah it makes it a little bit easier for me,” Cranmer said.
Jennifer Valente is among those athletes preparing for the global competition.
“The Olympics for whatever reason are just so universally understood as something that’s special,” Valente said.
The mountains and hills in Roanoke, along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Mill Mountain, can be a challenge for cyclists, making the area the perfect training area for the cyclists.
“This is my third Olympics,” Valente said. “I think that I have gone into each of the last two and then this one with a little bit of a different mindset, and they’ve all certainly been with really high aspirations and really high hopes.”
All eyes will be on the television soon. Virginia Tech Communications expert Megan Duncan said we’ll be seeing many women’s success stories in particular this year.
“Specifically with summer Olympics, women’s sports get more prime-time attention in the U.S. than the male Olympic sports,” Duncan said.
Cranmer will be headed over to Paris to show support to her team next week.
“Just anybody’s Olympic story is always really inspiring,” Cranmer said.