Aspiring Olympians at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center have been watching the games with a deep interest. Many of the young athletes know people competing at the Olympics and hope to compete in the games someday themselves.
"It's really fun to watch...cause I know a few people from archery like Zach Garrett and Mackenzie Brown, both of my really good coaches, and it's really fun to just watch them shoot," 14-year-old archer Jerome Cataoma said.
Henry Wright, 14, of Carlsbad said his favorite athlete is local archer Brady Ellison. “He’s a longtime champ, great representative of the USA.”
Lily Lucero’s former coach, Mackenzie Brown, is also competing in archery.
"She’s the only woman from the US that’s shooting in Rio, so I find that really inspiring just to see that she's out there doing what she loves, really obtained what she's been working so hard for the last few years,” Lucero told NBC 7.
Brown is just one of several Olympians who trained in Chula Vista before heading to Rio.
From archery and rowing to BMX racing, the center has sent many in search of Olympic gold.
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“And they've come so far, and that's kind of the end goal really is to be an Olympian, just the highest point of archery,” Lucero told NBC 7.
As these kids train, they know they may be inspiring the next generation of young athletes there if and when they head to their own Olympic games.
