Kennedy Blades defeated an Olympic silver medalist to win the wrestling Olympic Trials and punch her ticket to Paris. But there's still something missing for her, and she can feel it.
"This whole time I've been thinking about Olympic gold rather than just being an Olympian. There's something missing. That's why I'm more hungry still to keep training," Blades said.
Blades' father introduced her and her sister, Karina, to the sport when they were young. The sisters, 10 months apart in age, were quickly drawn to combat sports. Despite trying others, they couldn't help but return to wrestling.
Growing up, they wrestled boys and girls at their gym. Blades said she felt respected early on, after she and her sister really proved themselves.
"It was great that people started recognizing us, because then it would help us push even more in the wrestling room," Blades said.
She did the math at a young age: 2024 was going to be the year she was eligible for the Olympic Games. Blades said after watching the 2012 London Olympics, she told herself she was going to work her whole life to make it to the Games one day.
Blades recalls doing the calculations and saying, "2024 is the year I can win the Olympics. Perfect, that's my goal."
Her coach, Izzy Martinez, said he and Blades both have only one goal in Paris: a gold medal. He noted that her mindset and determination set her apart from other athletes.
Blades, 20, has been with Martinez for years. They've worked together on both a domestic and international stage, competing all around the world. Blades refers to Martinez as "the Yoda of wrestling."
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She said they both expect to come home with a gold medal.
"She won't break. She'll keep going and finds a way to win," Martinez said.
Blades said she knows she has the talent to be good; she just had to work on her mentality.
The night before the trials, Blades said she wrote in a notebook given to her by a trainer, "I'm an Olympic champion," over and over.
"I couldn’t stop. I closed my book, and the next day I did it again and again and again," Blades said. "I think I've kind of manipulated my head into thinking, 'You’re the champion. Let's get what's yours.'"
But after winning the trials, she still didn't feel fully complete. She said she knew there was more to come.
That's why winning a gold medal would mean so much to her. Blades said she believes it would fill the hole of what she's missing.
"I know once that happens, that satisfaction that I was missing after I won the Olympic Trials, that'll fill in," Blades said.
