In the men’s 800 meter race Monday, Boise-native Nick Symmonds clocked the fastest time by an American at Hayward Field in Eugene, OR. The performance earned him a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
The 28-year-old Symmonds was at the back of the pack early in the race, but began to methodically picked off his competition. It was a flashback to the 2008 Olympic trials when he also made the U.S. team.
“Once you’re an Olympian, you're always an Olympian," Symmonds said afterwards. "And so, coming into this, I said you know, heaven forbid something happens and I get tripped, you can’t take that away from me, I’m always going to be an Olympian. But with that being said, that bitter taste in my mouth of ’08 of not making the finals has stuck with me for 4 years and there’s only one way to erase that and that’s to go out to London and win a medal.”
Symmonds says his goal now is to medal in the London games.